Versatility in the face of adversity

I have been tagged.  I swore I'd never let myself be tagged again after already doing similar things at least four times.  But that was in the dim and distant past and the tag has come from Adullamite who is always so cheerful.

I think I'm supposed to tell my rapidly shrinking readership seven things about myself but that's been done, so I'll tell you seven things about today and maybe indirectly about me.  To do that I needed some photos so off I set.

And this is what I saw.

1.  I saw mist.  The sky looked blue, the sea looked blue but there was little else.  There should have been ferries, container ships, even France.

2.  I saw one of the fishing boats being winched up on to the beach.  As I stopped to watch I saw the skull and crossbones flag which reminded me of something I've seen in a local and apparently abandoned graveyard.

A grave with a skull and crossbones carved into it.  It has very much weathered over the years so I don't know what else there may be carved there.  I am fascinated to see it on a gravestone but have no idea why that should be.


Walking further along...

3.  I saw the end of the pier shrouded in mist.  For some reason the camera sees more clearly than my eyes but the far end of the pier does look a little misty here.

4. I saw two dead birds on my walk, both the same.  I've never seen dead birds on the beach before; I imagine they are usually scavenged.  When I got home I went to the RSPB site to identify them and I'm fairly sure it's a razorbill.  They shouldn't be in this area at all.

We have plenty of gulls but nothing like this.  To be honest I struggle to identify the gulls; they all look much the same to me.

5.  I saw people feeding the gulls, as usual.  At times it looks like a scene from "The Birds".  The majority of them I think must be herring gulls.

This is why.  Cheap food.

6.  Looking towards the flats along the sea front, I noticed the stone/pottery owl on a ledge.  Pigeons are a menace around here and there are bird deterrent spikes everywhere.  The pigeons pull them off, or sit beside them.  no pigeons sitting beside this owl though.  I'm wondering if there is a market for inflatable owls?

In spite of the mist, people were out and about...

fishing, a whole family fishing, with pushchair.  There may have been a child in the pushchair, there may not.

And ....

7.  I saw the first ice cream of the season.

I don't know that it demonstrates any versatility but....

Thank you Adullamite for the great honour bestowed upon me.  I'm not going to pass it on because I don't know enough people.

this should have come first, shouldn't it?  Break one rule, break them all, I say.