Sunshine, the beach and a Heron

The sun has been shining here in Clifden since the week end, the temperature reached 19 degrees in some areas, which is almost unheard of for the month of March. Are we warming up quite literally for a long hot Summer? Others may dispute this but the last really hot Summer that I can remember in Connemara was in 1995. We usually get a mixture of fine days and wet days/weeks, the latter standing out more in my memory for the last couple of years. Let's hope 2012 will be a good one. There is no place finer than Connemara in good weather, it's a bit like being in the world's best holiday destination all Summer long, for free!
To day, I grabbed my camera and drove out to Ardmore beach ( below ), just outside the town, where I took some pictures and was lucky enough to spot a heron.

Here it is looking along the shore line. It stood perfectly still for what seemed like a long while.

Here's a close up. I love the reflection in the water, I'm going to have fun with this in paint..

And then it moved and I noticed a companion in the distance..

One last picture looking back up the beach, a glorious day.