Duck duck goose

One of the great things about walking along Belfast Lough is you'll never know what you'll see. Today there were eight Royal Navy ships heading into Belfast harbor. I heard that a cement truck was stopped on Crumlin Road in Belfast because it was feared it would launch mortar rounds at the ships. I don't know if that's true, but it sounds like the kind of thing that could happen in Post Troubles Belfast.

Back to my morning walk... Every day there's a selection of shorebirds. We've had eider ducks for a while now.

What I love about them is they hang out in groups and chatter just off the beach. If crows join up in a murder, what do ducks do? I hereby declare a dander of ducks. So they all hang out in their dander and gossip. They have this low, chatty vocabulary that makes you think they are having tea and biscuits and catching up on the news.

There are always oyster catchers, who scream at Maysie when she pulls toward them.

Lots of gulls, of course. The odd long-necked black gannett, which is fun to watch as it dives underwater.

In the burn that runs down to the ocean, there have been lots of young sea trout, who jump out of the water to snatch flies. Soon, the momma trout will swim into the burn from the ocean to lay eggs. I'm told we will have a large influx of seals (a shimmer of seals, perhaps?) in the lough to feed on the sea trout. I'll try to get a photo when that happens.

10-17