I suppose we’ve had fairly typical January weather with a good mix of sunshine, rain and wind. There’s been very little snow down to sea level but we have had some fairly strong winds blowing in off the Irish Sea. Our latest find of fish boxes down on the beach included specimens from Holland and Brittany. Every evening brings a different vista across Wigtown Bay. Here is the view a few days ago as the sun struggled through between multiple cloud layers.


Last weekend we had high tide in the late afternoon along with some calm weather so we launched the kayaks for a paddle round Barlocco Island. It was flat calm in Kirkandrews Bay but we did find a few waves and a bit of swell as we rounded the west side of Barlocco. We saw an otter just behind where Gabrielle is paddling then a few minutes later a huge seal surfaced between our kayaks. I was facing the other way so I didn’t see it but Gabrielle assures me that it was a large specimen. We’ll have to make a return visit with the camera at the ready.

Saturday and Sunday were the clearest days we’ve had since we moved into Craig Cottage. We could see the Isle of Man clearly for the whole weekend. This is the Isle of Man off in the distance behind a collection of pointy rocks just up the coast from Kirkandrews.

By the time we returned to base, the sun was well on the way to setting and we enjoyed the best sunset of the year so far: