SURFING WITH A LITTLE GULL...

Little Gull Surfin’…

It simply stands in the shallows

As if paddling its spindly red legs;

Its cowled brown head and dark bill

Stilled, as its keen eyes

Study the surfer, who strides for his fill

Of tosses and duckings and rides,

In which he invariably wallows…

Incredulously it lunges into the tide

As if aping the surfer’s own thrust;

Its cowled brown crown and straight bill

Dip and its feathered rump rises,

Whilst the surfer shoves forth for his thrill

Of rushes and ruckings and drives,

In which he invariably takes pride… 

Pete Ray

July 2017

A Little Gull seemed to watch me as I strode into the sea at Mawgan Porth and surfed into the shallows. It didn’t move away but then ducked itself into the sea as if copying what I was doing…

Rather strange…