The Raft

This is a PS to yesterday's post about our raft - I should say the terns' raft - which parted company with its mooring on a wild night in January and hasn't been seen since.
The following pic will give some idea how completely the terns have made themselves at home on the raft over the last few seasons:

Well, as I write (re 7pm) I am looking out over Ringhaddy Sound from the timber deck which runs along the front of the cabin. The sky is clear, the sun is low and the sound is more or less still, apart from a strip of deep water in the middle which always carries a slight ripple at this stage of an incoming tide. The terns are nowhere to be seen (as a matter of fact I haven't seen them all day), but the new raft will be ready for them when they do appear - after several hours of graft it lies on the shingle foreshore, waiting for the tide. It will float, I should think, in an hour.

Mid-morning

Lunchtime

Et voila..