Rain makes an unwelcome splash

A FLURRY on the surface and a panicked splashing in the water only yards away from my feet as I walked along the beach on the first bright day for weeks: it was a shoal of big mullet caught unawares as they basked in the shallow water warmed by the sun.

Then, a sudden explosion of wings, and a chorus of alarm cries as four turnstones, invisible amongst the seaweed, rose from under my feet and went skimming away to further up the shore. Out on the channel, great northern divers, mergansers and cormorants dived and reappeared, breaking the glittering skin of the water. After weeks of fogs and downpours, overnight, the world had been transformed.

October weather on the southwest coast would have surely tested any rambler’s resolve. Farmers and fishermen had to go out in it; ramblers didn’t. Only the brave braved the mucky paths.