The Western Isles and Mull
Pauline and Ian’s 2009 Oddessey!
Afraid it’s a case of ‘started well’ but ‘fizzled out’ towards the end …… Those of you who have been peeking at my zenfolio site will already have an idea about how it went ………
Tues 26th May
Drive to Oban and sail to Mull for our first ever visit to the Inner Isles. Weather sunny with a cool wind. We were booked on a site 800 yards from the pier so watching the ferry come and go was entertaining! Not being all that distant from the mainland it was no surprise to have all the common birds visiting the bird feeders on the permanent pitch next door! At least 7 siskin were counted, also greenfinch, chaffinch and goldfinch. Great, blue and coal tits seemed to be taking the sunflower seed – at a guess to feed large youngsters? Starling, Song Thrush, Pied Wag, House Sparrow, Robin, Collared Dove and Pied Wags came and picked around the dropped seed too. A 4am get up, long drive and a short sail and I was ready to pull the bed out by 8pm!
Wed 27th May
Weather dull overcast, low cloud, warm-ish. Off to recce the south west corner which impressed me quite a bit. 2 male Whinchat on territory and a male hunting hen harrier were clocked up. Followed by two separate Golden Eagles! We were told by some birders about a White tailed Eagle nest viewable from the road and (despite police notices re No Parking – gives the game away straight off that there is something to look at!!) we pulled up for a few mins sure enough there was the nest with a downy youngster and the adult sat off to one side. Corking views through telescope!! We followed this up with a pair of Merlin which had a fledged youngster with them! Raptor day par excellence! (None within reach of the camera unfortunately) but my minds eye can still see that ‘barn door’ sat preening in a big fir tree!
Got back on site late (still light tho) to spot that next door now had a black actinic lamp moth trap out back ….. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven!
Thu 28th May
Weather same as yesterday. I was hopping about waiting for next door (Andy and Hazel) to put in an appearance and check the moth trap! When he did come out I was after him like a rat up a drainpipe!! The haul were pristine singles of Elephant Hawk, Peppered and Pale Prominent plus quite a few micros which interested Andy greatly …… We set off on a new circuit to Salen, Tobermory and Dervaig. After taking ages getting parked in a very busy Tobermory and preparing to get fish and chips I suddenly started feeling sick and very ill ……… I had a sleep – missed the fish and chips and we continued on a route. The best bit of the day was looking down from the road above Loch na Keal and counting six Great Northern Divers below!! A barn owl evaded the camera on the way back just before dark – flitting and perching on posts beside the road ….. Encouragement from me had persuaded Andy to put the ‘big lamp’ out and its light guided us back to our pitch!
Friday 29th May
Hopping from one foot to another waiting for Andy – didn’t dare go to the showers in case I missed the action! Two macro moths in the trap – one was a Pale Prominent ……. And the other neither of us recognised – ooh and the hairs went up on the back of my neck. A quick refer to the book found The Saxon – Resident Nationally Scarce B recorded from Mull previously but a first for Andy and for me. We both photographed it – but – somehow I have managed to lose or delete my pics of it much to my disgust with myself…… Another fine missed opportunity ……..
Ian spent 5 hours on the shore waiting for the otter which finally arrived in the soft evening lighting and I spent the day photographing red deer on site, plus all the common birds ………
Sat 30th May
A text messages from Cal Mac last night saying the 08.15 boat to the isles would be delayed till 13.00hrs didn’t overly worry us. We got up at 5am and headed to the pier for the 07.30hrs boat off Mull back to Oban …. No boat – cancelled – had gone to Coll and Tiree instead. We were to nip up the road 10 mins to the Lochaline ferry (which I still naively believed at this point would take us to Oban…..) did it heck – it took us where it always goes – across to Ardnamurchan then we were to drive to the Corran Ferry and drive again to Oban….. I still wasn’t fazed – I’m on holiday and this is island travel. We almost had what could have been a fatal accident in the middle of nowhere – a van decided to overtake a huge 40 tonne truck not knowing we where bumbling towards him. He appeared around the truck on our side of the road without warning and got back on his own side in front of the truck – missing us by inches – not feet. . . . In Oban we were told the ferry would now go at 17.00 hrs and I had realised I had left my glasses in the showers on Mull …. Ian went out as a foot passenger on the Mull boat which was now back from Coll and Tiree. By the time the site had got my frantic answaphone messages the boat and Ian were leaving Mull again – sans glasses….. Hazel posted them to us by the Tues bless her. Oban pier still looked like war had broken out and at 17.00 hrs we were told 18.00 hrs ……. At 19.00hrs (almost 12 hours late) the Lord of the Isles showed up and loaded us for the Uists. The Clansman remained chained to the dockside with ominous banging and clanging coming from its bowels …….. We all disembarked at 00.30hrs and chased in a snake through the darkness up the island to our various destinations. We found the keys in the shed to our place – unloaded – found the kettle and the bed and were asleep for 03.00am!
Sun 31st May
Weather hot blue and breezy – us bleary-eyed!
We set off for Loch Eyenort and Arinambane and had cracking views of a White tailed Eagle and two different Red- throated Divers, but the windy weather was keeping small stuff down – presumably on eggs and out of sight. On the way back I spied an otter in the now calm late evening waters of Loch Bee. A pair of Common Tern were weighing up the island in the loch outside our cottage – very noisily and an oystercatcher yelped every time I put my nose out of the back door!
Mon 1st June
Dawned very blue, not so hot – very cool strong wind.
Off to North Uist. It was a Hen Harrier day – a male in one spot hunting, then a Short eared Owl, then another male with prey, then a female flying away and finally a male over the ridge on the Committee Road. From the road we could hear Golden Plover calling, a kestrel hunted and hovered, 2 Ravens went on their way ‘chuntering’ to each other and coming down on the other side, two Short-eared owls hunting on territory.
On to Bernaray where we lounged a bit in the sun and watched Little Terns coming and going on hunting trips into the bay and noticed two Sanderling in a flock of Dunlin below us on the beach.
Tues 2nd June
Weather dawned very misty sea foggy, which lifted to sun but a cold strong wind. Off to South Uist and two of my favourite haunts – Peninerine and Rubha Ardvule. We spied a Buzzards nest with one chick in beside the road and watched it grow through our two weeks. The daisy and buttercup with a few pansies machair was splendid. Rubha Ardvule was quieter than normal I thought but a Brent Goose flew in and landed on Loch Ardvule. Plenty Dunlin and a few Sanderling picked thro the seaweed. All the usual nests with eggs in were scattered around: oystercatcher, terns, common, herring and black-headed gulls. Didn’t see a single Ringed Plover nest this time?
Wed 3rd June
Weather bright blue, sun and cloud and a very cold wind
Male and female 4-spotted Chasers were in the ditches beside the road going past Loch Druidebeg to Loch Skipport. The Royal Fern looked super abundant on all the islands in the loch. A Golden Eagle was watched flying over the ‘radar hill’ on South Uist. Back at the cottage I was sitting on the bed facing the window and loch just removing my clothes when I looked up to see a Short-eared Owl flying straight for the window – oh wow! It lifted up over the drainpipe and the roof as easily as a bus ticket caught in a breeze – magic!
Thurs 4th June
Weather bright clue, very cold wind, then steadily milky to cloudy and a few spots of what? Rain?
Off up North Uist again via the Committee Road for a raptor top-up! We saw and photographed a Whimbrel on the way. Two Short-eared Owls were watched again hunting below the lower plantations. A mobile phone alert from Brian the local bird recorder told us there was a Snowy Owl at Baleshare! This prompted me to twitch. I missed the one at Balranald last year (Ian and David saw it distantly but I was unable to walk having done my knee in). So I twitched and set off. This led to a row as I wouldn’t stop for Ian to photograph a snipe on a post on the way (I said there were plenty of snipe on posts and only one snowy owl) yep you guessed it – not another snipe posed on a post for the whole of the rest of the holiday ……. And I haven’t been forgiven for not stopping for the first and only one either ……… We had distant view through the scope of the owl and were asked not to chase after it with our big lenses as it was tired looking and had, we heard later possibly been chased off Balranald by over enthusiastic photographers ……. So we were good and left it be. After this we went to another fave of mine – Clachan Shanda where Ian noted that plenty of Adderstongue Fern was springing up and the orchids were all in production. We began to really notice at this point that an invasion of Painted Lady Butterflies was growing by the second – we had no trouble thinking that there were hundreds of thousands and even millions in the islands alone never mind the mainland. Of course we missed Springwatch (hard choice that – do we come back to the cottage early to watch the telly – or stay out and watch wildlife for real? Yeah I really struggled with that choice – not a bit!!)
At this point we had seen and heard a lot of cuckoos and heard more curlew than previous years but only heard one corncrake when normally we would be hearing lots ……..
Fri 5th June
Bright blue start, short sharp showers blew up and a gale-force wind by teatime.
Off we went to Balranald nice and early in the morning and sat watching the bay at Traigh lar on Aird an Runair. Two Great Northern Divers were on the sea. And the best bird of the hol for me – a first – a Pomarine Skua, a gorgeous full plumaged adult light phase bird, yellow cheeks, breast band and tail ‘paddles’ what a corker – you should have heard me! An Arctic Skua came and caused mayhem with the terns! (Finally just before dinnertime three came and cleared the whole bay beach of every bird – gulls, shelduck the lot disappeared – there wasn’t anything with feathers left to watch!) But before that happened there were three long tailed duck in the bay, sanderling, dunlin and turnstones on the beach. A pair of Wheatear were feeding young under the cliffs of the car park and two Corn Buntings came past and evaded both out cameras.
Gannets fished further out and all usual common waders and a few Hooded Crows knocked about …. Until the three skuas cleared the area……..
On the way back we stopped at the now publicised Golden Eagle nest. It’s a long way away on the moor even through a scope tho I could clearly make out the grey downy young and the golden feathers on the adults head sat nearby. I struggled badly with the gales blowing sand and grit and had to dive back into the camper and wash my eyes and contact lenses after just a few mins outside. What a nuisance the almost constant wind was being……
Back over the Committee Road to watch the female Hen Harrier carrying food and a Short-eared Owl just sat in the heather (keeping out of that damn wind I suspect!)
Last but not least a run up Cleitraval to see all the usual nesting waders and all sizes of chicks beside the road.
Sat 6th June
Weather dawned bright blue with a very cold strong wind and a turquoise sea. Off to South Uist and Polacher and on round to Eriskay. Just before the causeway we watched and listened to a second year Golden Eagle being chased by a Buzzard – the size and shape differences really obvious between the real eagle and the ‘Tourists Eagle’!! We parked to make our evening meal overlooking the rocks at Ceann a Gharaidh and while nipping onto my porta pottii (and husband putting new big lens to use and catching me with my pants down ……..) I suddenly realised I could see an otter on the rocks playing around! Ian stripped to underpants grabbed the camera and set off – it was freezing in the water he said ……. And when he got out there the otter had disappeared without us seeing it leave …….. I managed to photograph a Short-eared Owl both flying in the sunset and perched on a post on the way back to the cottage ….
Sun 7th June
Weather dawned bright extremely blue, wind lessened and it was warm enough at last for shirt-sleeves and no fleece. The wind went back up to gale force by nightfall though. We set off along the Iochader Road and finally heard three Corncrakes and photographed a Buzzard on a roof! We idled at Peninerine and over the River at Howmore to finish up at Rubha Ardvule.
While down here I suddenly started to feel ill again and found that I had ‘women’s problems’ after 4 or 5 years of being without. By evening I was haemorrhaging so badly that at 11.30pm we went to the local hospital on Benbecula and once they had unlocked the doors and put the lights on they were very helpful speaking to the local on call doc and giving me Ibuprofen etc. On the Mon I got seen as an emergency by the local surgery, but my fears off being air lifted out on the mediplane to Glasgow had lessened .... The rest of the holiday went on and we went places but I didn’t keep any notes and it all passed in a worried sort of blur.
Appointments are in place now I’m home and I’m due to be seen by a gyne person on Mon afternoon coming. Undaunted though I have re-booked to take a friend and myself back out to the isles the last week in July and I hope to make up in July for what I lost two weeks ago …….. and hopefully his nibs and myself usually take a hol at the beginning of September around our wedding anniversary – and where are we booked to go – yep – you guessed it – back out to the isles ……… it’s the only way to live!
Photos can only be placed in the
Gallery here at 5 per 24 hours so anyone wanting to see the full images from this holiday now just click onto my zenfolio website below and click on the hol 2009 file ………
Pauline Western Isles Odeyssey 2009.... 
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