Good afternoon bloggers!

The day has gone so quickly at Lowes it feels like I’ve barely had time to pop out into the hides for long ! Half the Loch has frozen and there are groups of Mallard, Tufted Duck and a few Pochard milling about. I saw a poor little Chaffinch struggling at the feeders with a bloody eye and swollen cheeks, I wondered whether he had escaped from the clutches of Jack Sparrowhawk . We tend to forget how resilient even the little birds can be.

Thanks for your patience and understandinas we try to get the wheels  in motion over the new blog set up. Pete has been great in smoothing over a range of  blog issues. In the mean time, bear with us!

It does feel strange here without Pete or Fiona controlling from the Eagles nest and with Fiona’s recent departure from Lowes I thought a little blog farewell was in order….

As I understand, our Fiona is a seafaring, freespirited sort of lass with a love of the W est coast, so I thought a little ditty of a seafaring nature would suit the occasion well.

So here’s to Fiona  and her endearingly mad sidekick, Bella..

A Life on the Ocean Wave

A life on the ocean wave,
A-home on the rolling deep!
Where the scater'd waters rave,
And the winds their revels keep.
Like an eagle caged I pine
On this dull, unchanging shore.
Oh give me the flashing brine,
The spray and the tempest's roar.

Refrain:
A life on the ocean wave,
A-home on the rolling deep!
Where the scater'd waters rave
And the winds their revels keep,
: The winds,..... the winds...
The winds their revels...keep. :

2. Once more on the deck I stand,
Of my own swift, gliding craft.
Set sail, farewell to land,
The gale follows fair abaft.
We shoot thro' the sparkling foam,
Like an ocean bird set free.
Like the ocean bird, our home,
We'll find far out on the sea.
Refrain:

3. The land is no longer in view,
The clouds have begun to frown.
But with a stout vessel and crew,
We'll say : Let the storm come down!
And the song of our heart shall be,
While the winds and waters lave:
A life on the heaving sea,
A-home on the bounding wave!
Refrain:

Safe travels and sail on, Fiona. You will be missed.