On Sunday, after long and careful planning, we met Diana, Caroline and Nigel for a return trip to the Isle of May.  Last time we took Caroline & Nigel’s daughters and it was a rough old ride there and back; the girls had envisioned a genteel turn in an enclosed cruiser and were slightly traumatised by the full on drenching, nowhere to hide experience of the RiB.   Caroline nobly took the alternate option of sailing on the Princess, with the remit of being at the head of the queue for teas and coffees when we disembarked.

It was like gliding on the way out.  I kept shouting to Nigel “This time last year we were crying,” but the return journey reminded us of the thalassic power beneath; we Christened it the Cellardyke Exfoliation Experience and I was encrusted with salt by the time we made landfall.

Happily the queue for the chipper was not too long and Diana had also prepared some salads and pudding.  The isle itself was packed with birds, and if the pictures are similar to last year’s, then that’s a bonus.  Count included guillemot, razorbill, shag, cormorant, eider duck, arctic tern, puffin, pied wagtail, kittiwake, greater and lesser black backed gull, black headed gull, herring gull, oyster catcher and bunnies.  The Arctic terns had not laid many eggs yet, so were not aggressive, indeed they were very shy and I only saw one.