An alarming morning. The house fire alarm started going off before 7 a.m and continued to do so in ever shortening bursts as John struggle to cancel it. He thinks a guest must have been smoking in the bedroom. We think it was the lone man with a kayak on top of his car.
Then we were told that the trap battery emitted a high pitched whistle in the night which woke Jane, who's a very light sleeper. She woke John and insisted he deal with it as he is 'the man of the house'. He unplugged it at about 2 a.m. Embarrassing, but they were ever so good natured about it. To our faces anyway. To boot.... the trap only contained two Caddis flies.
After packing and visiting the shop for postcards, we left at 9.15. Our last visit to Fidden for another year, we love it there. The north of the island is better all round but we would not forsake Fidden. I've never seen a fuller tide, it filled all the creeks and covered the rocks, to the detriment of birds. It did look stunning. The ever present Dunlin, Ringed Plover and two Whimbrel.
The Ringed Plover look very bright, are they the northern sub-species?
The bonus was our first Snipe startled into flight by a walker. They breed in the iris beds and are hard to find.
The Ringed Plover look very bright, are they the northern sub-species?
Arriving at the T junction we met the P's driving into the car park, in a hurry as they wanted to catch the Iona ferry which was just drawing in to the jetty. I hope they got it - and saw Corncrakes well.
The lambs look much fitter this year after a better winter for the grass. The rams look awesome. I love the mountain sheep with their black faces and legs best. We are now seeing the less than lovely large white breed with an unattractive face, brought in to increase the meat yield.
We took the slow route to Dervaig, around Loch Scridain and Loch na Keil, scenically stunning on another hot and cloudless morning. Not perfect as the sunshine was hazy. At last, a Whimbrel allowed me to take a decent photograph with the light absolutely right.
Petrol and a shop visit at Salen, lunch overlooking the estuary past the rotting boat hulks. Red Breasted Mergansers and Eider, a nest building Willow Warbler, collecting feathers before flying quite a way to the house on the hill behind us.
We needed to visit Tobermory for provisions for to-morrow's boat trip. Stugeron and Sun Lotion particularly, plus something for lunch. It is an eight hour trip. I got a message from Richard to say that the boat would be leaving later to-morrow morning. Fine. Both my pager and my phone burst into life at Salen. May 1st messages on the pager and a text from J, who has arrived on Uist to-day.
We had to wait for the chemist to open, lunch hour closing ! We got what we needed before driving to Glengorm Castle. Ravens at the town dump as always, the latter a blot on the beautiful landscape but soon left behind. I bought a book on the Uist Ferry last year, written by a woman who had left a Suffolk Farm for a castle in Mull, via Dervaig first. We know that her son has taken over the Sealife Survey vessel from his father and they sold the castle. Her inlaws who she had escaped from, followed them here and moved to the 'house at the gate' of the castle. I had fun picking them out. The castle is no longer run as a hotel but as a restaurant, we had an iced coffee and a cake sitting at an outside table. The menu looked good and the situation lovely, all meat resourced on the estate. Unfortunately they close at 5 p.m.
I barked up the wrong tree there. The place they bought is 'round the corner'.
The track to Loch Frisa has really deteriorated. We lurched and pothole dipped our way to the pull-off where I did the word games and Pam looked out - successfully. A female Hen Harrier showed above the rocky ridge.
Time to go on to Cathy's. The historic 'pencil' tower on the church is encircled by a network of scaffolding. Must ask her why.
The design of the 1904 tower was based on Irish watchtowers such Cashel, Enniskillen, Clonmacnoise and Kilmacduagh, though here the tower was not free-standing, instead forming the west end of the church.
We had a wonderfully warm welcome and a hug and catchup from Cathy. She feels like we do about Blake and Sheila. Bliss to be shown to the room we always have, unpack and relax. The WiFi here is brilliant in comparison. Fingers crossed that it continues.
Cathy now has a 13 year old miniature donkey which she put in a field with an orphaned lamb to keep it company. The donkey, Lily, often makes a helluva racket because the lamb keeps hiding from her. It's entertaining here.
We took the slow route to Dervaig, around Loch Scridain and Loch na Keil, scenically stunning on another hot and cloudless morning. Not perfect as the sunshine was hazy. At last, a Whimbrel allowed me to take a decent photograph with the light absolutely right.
Petrol and a shop visit at Salen, lunch overlooking the estuary past the rotting boat hulks. Red Breasted Mergansers and Eider, a nest building Willow Warbler, collecting feathers before flying quite a way to the house on the hill behind us.
We needed to visit Tobermory for provisions for to-morrow's boat trip. Stugeron and Sun Lotion particularly, plus something for lunch. It is an eight hour trip. I got a message from Richard to say that the boat would be leaving later to-morrow morning. Fine. Both my pager and my phone burst into life at Salen. May 1st messages on the pager and a text from J, who has arrived on Uist to-day.
We had to wait for the chemist to open, lunch hour closing ! We got what we needed before driving to Glengorm Castle. Ravens at the town dump as always, the latter a blot on the beautiful landscape but soon left behind. I bought a book on the Uist Ferry last year, written by a woman who had left a Suffolk Farm for a castle in Mull, via Dervaig first. We know that her son has taken over the Sealife Survey vessel from his father and they sold the castle. Her inlaws who she had escaped from, followed them here and moved to the 'house at the gate' of the castle. I had fun picking them out. The castle is no longer run as a hotel but as a restaurant, we had an iced coffee and a cake sitting at an outside table. The menu looked good and the situation lovely, all meat resourced on the estate. Unfortunately they close at 5 p.m.
I barked up the wrong tree there. The place they bought is 'round the corner'.
The track to Loch Frisa has really deteriorated. We lurched and pothole dipped our way to the pull-off where I did the word games and Pam looked out - successfully. A female Hen Harrier showed above the rocky ridge.
Time to go on to Cathy's. The historic 'pencil' tower on the church is encircled by a network of scaffolding. Must ask her why.
The design of the 1904 tower was based on Irish watchtowers such Cashel, Enniskillen, Clonmacnoise and Kilmacduagh, though here the tower was not free-standing, instead forming the west end of the church.
We had a wonderfully warm welcome and a hug and catchup from Cathy. She feels like we do about Blake and Sheila. Bliss to be shown to the room we always have, unpack and relax. The WiFi here is brilliant in comparison. Fingers crossed that it continues.
Cathy now has a 13 year old miniature donkey which she put in a field with an orphaned lamb to keep it company. The donkey, Lily, often makes a helluva racket because the lamb keeps hiding from her. It's entertaining here.
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