Whilst writing up a walk Risk Assessment for the Outdoor Class, I came across a Stoat trying to kill a Rabbit, four times it’s size. Hard to see in the photo, from my phone, in the middle you can make out the black ‘paint dipped’ tail of the stoat on top of the rabbit, the rabbit ran off and escaped.

There is a lot to see on this walk and it has good vistas out onto the River Forth Estuary and beyond.

Lots of Hoar Frost about along the beach edge. Although still enough kindling for my kelly kettle. These are ideal to make a warming hot drink using materials such as twigs, leaves or dried seaweed.

The temperature was well below freezing as my water bottle had frozen after twenty minutes walking, the sun was out though and walking abck along the skyline on the way back proved to be a little bit warmer. I was trying to ID every tree, to no avail, to practice for a block of walking/bushcraft/John Muir sessions over the next five weeks with the Outdoor Class.

This carcass was just off the main path, no circle of feathers – tell tale sign of a sparrowhawk – so maybe a fox had snatched off the body and taken back to it’s den ?