Along the Laira bike track at high tide, a group of young kids shout out: It's an old man not an old woman! Up towards the wreck of the Ocean Maid there's a white-haired man sitting on the path, combing the hair of his sheepdog with long silky strokes.

This explains how the mysterious fluffy clumps of greyish black fur came to be on the verge by the path. The man looks familiar - I've seen him around and about over the years in Beaumont Park and on the coastal path.