The Loungers & The Scrounger…
It was a lull between periods of dismal drizzle and clinging sea-mist
But the sea-wall at Mousehole, haunted by the rock pipits’ calls, insistent and shrill
Offered a view across to St Clement’s Island to a couple of characters I nearly missed:
Two lounging seals, some metres apart, silent and loitering with fine balancing skill…
It was fortunate too, that a movement alerted me to the rocks below the wall,
As the tide moved in dreckley, which it does in Mounts Bay,
Revealing a startling, preening, oystercatcher and I watched, in thrall
Of its severe scarlet eye, its red bill and legs, as it scavenged for prey…
It was some minutes later that I saw the bird again, alongside another,
Which dug and prodded between the rocks, whilst nearby the first bird lurked.
Then as the forager dragged up a crustacean, it was swiftly pilfered by the other,
The scrounger, whose theft was slick, as the hunter looked shocked and terribly irked…
Pete Ray…
19th June 2026…
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