I vowed that next time there was a foggy morning I'd go out and try to film spider's webs, and while it is harder than it looks this is one from today. Why pearls of wisdom? Well don't they look remarkably like pearls and wasn't Robert the Bruce taught a lesson by a spider?

Woke this morning to an impressive sky, reminded me of Lord of the Rings! 

Mute swans taking off.

I counted 96 swans in a single group in the river today, amazing! A mix of Whoopers in from Iceland and Mute swans. So I rushed down there and was able to get some nice photos without frightening them. Its a priviledge to see them.

Sweetheart Abbey, named after John Balliol and his wife, built in 1290 approx. near Dumfries.

And Barnacle Geese are here too, in their thousands, in fact the entire population of barnacle geese who breed in summer in the islands north of Norway on the Arctic Circle are here overwintering on the Solway estuary. Lovely.  Called barnacle geese because they were thought to grow out of barnacles, how strange is that?

All the way from Iceland, whooper swans are here in the south of Scotland for the winter, and we are delighted to have them as our guests. 

Wonderful sky this morning. 

 Sometimes the birds just come to me! Three cock pheasants just walked quietly past the garden thinking they were safe behind the fence but I was upstairs and they were very obvious! Nice.

A Curlew hunts for small crustaceans in the silt while the tide prepares to flood once more.