Back Again

Malcolm and I have been away for a few days enjoying the delights of Torquay. It can be a little risky (to say the least), taking a break in Britain in January, but we were remarkably fortunate with the weather.

The waters of the marina, were calm and clear and attracted not only the boats and yachts, but quite a number of Shags (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) too.

Among the leisure craft in the marina, some larger, support vessels were 'parked'. It would seem that these boats are used in maintenance of off-shore wind turbines.

The low sun highlighted the many masts as the gently swayed in the light breeze.

We were delighted to see a large number of plants in full bloom. Considering that it is still only mid January, it was surprising to find Butterbur (Petasites hybridus) in flower. Back home, you would be lucky to find them blooming much before April, but here they were.

Also in full bloom around the cliffs, were these bright yellow beauties - they belong to a Crown Vetch Coronilla glauca. This is more normally found around the Mediterranean but here in Torquay, it was doing very nicely.

More to come...