Devon weekend - part two

Early(ish) the next day, we set off for the southern most tip of Devon at Prawle Point. I hadn't been here for years and it was a real pleasure to come to this remote part of our busy island! I guess it's not remote in the true sense of the word, but it was wonderfully quiet and peaceful and beautiful. Dave, our host, led us up the hill towards the coast guard watch point. If you click to enlarge, you will see the coast guard building at the top of the hill.This is the lovely view looking east from the top.I put this photo in by mistake. It's the same view as the one above, but from lower down the hill and doesn't have the same impact I think. I couldn't find a way to delete it once it was in here so, here it stays! (-:This is the view from the top. For any sufferers of vertigo, I wouldn't recommend walking much further towards the cliff edge! (-:We wanted to do a spot of sea-watching so we made our way further down the cliff edge to get a better angle for seeing birds out at sea.It wasn't the best weather conditions for sea-watching, but we love doing it anyway. There is something very relaxing but exciting at the same time about sea-watching. I love it!One of the things I love most about watching sea birds from a high cliff is the different perspective you get from watching birds on their level or from looking down on them. There were plenty of Herring Gulls loafing around the cliffs here as well as the odd Fulmar. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a photo of the Fulmar, but this Herring Gull was obliging.This rocky island had a colony of Herring Gulls nesting. It is attached to the mainland only at high tide. Dave told us the story about one enterprising fox that used to slip over to the island at low tide to predate the Herring Gull nests. One time however, he mistimed his visit and because of the variation in level of the rising tide, had to spend several days on there!This is the view looking west. I love the morning sunlight on the rock formation.This rock has been completely hollowed out. A good place to shelter if caught out in a storm!On the way back down the hill, we passed these old Coast Guard cottages. I wish one was a B&B. I would LOVE to stay in one for a week or two!One of our target birds for the weekend was the Cirl Bunting. This bird is right on the northern edge of it's breeding range in Europe and the only place it is found in this country nowadays is in the southern part of Devon. This is a male and these two photos are heavily cropped as he was in the process of feeding young so we didn't want to get close and disturb him.You can see he has some food in his bill. They rely heavily on Grasshoppers at this time of year.As we were heading back to the car to start making our slow way back home, we came across these young Barn Swallows waiting to be fed by their parents. There must've been about fifteen of these noisy youngsters twittering away. A great way to end our weekend in Devon.
All the scenic photos show up better when clicked on to enlarge them I think.