Catholic Church with Hekla in cloud. South Uist Aspects of Hekla on a summer’s day. Sunlit cloud swirled deep in a corrie and hung upon the mountain. Hekla, the mood changed with weather off the Atlantic and the named changed too: Hekla, Thacla, Theacla . Walking to the church, we put up a flock of lapwing and in one image they looked like punctuation marks adrift in a blue sky. The air was pure and lichens draped the statue of the Virgin.
Two birds from a flock of lapwing
South Harris: somewhere the north side of Loch Sgioport. A wonderful morning walk, with glimpses of Hekla. I can picture it now, although I took few photographs at the time. It was rough terrain and yomping is all-consuming: plunging deep in heather, crossing stepping- stones across inlets which will submerge as the tide comes in, clambering up peat hags, too focused on the ground to take pictures. After the vigour of yomping your body resonates with fitness and satisfaction. It’s soft-rough, not like unyielding rock. A rosy glow of sphagnum moss comes from the heather. An otter trap rusts above a seaweed inlet. Hardly anyone one comes here to walk this coastline of inlet and peninsula, ribbons of land threading a maze of inlet and lochan. To navigate with confidence here you must like the challenge of off-piste and have mountain marathon skills. Impossible to see where your route is taking you, or how you’ll get out of the watery maze. It is thrilling- if you have faith in your guide.
Cotton grass and inlet with Hekla in cloud
In the afternoon we crossed to the west coast to see the chapels at Howmore and to explore the west coast for a striking contrast of landscape.
Hekla from the west coast machair, with a riot of buttercups and daisies
When at first sight the machair looks pale and less interesting be ready for biodiversity. Here in the sand were long headed poppies, wild pansies and storks-bill. And to do a full count you must linger long.
A brilliant splash of buttercup gold and daisy white against a sunlit Atlantic Ocean. Machair is composed of shell-sand and when the sun shines the beaches gleam white or cream, depending on the fineness of the sand.
Machair with white clover, and Hekla in the distance
The fragrance of white clover is divine. Perhaps it’s because the flowers grow so thickly. Where can I find white clover honey from the Outer Isles to capture the sensation of a summer’s day on the machair?
Beyond the machair came sea-rounded cobbles where ringed plover and common tern were breeding. Terns flew in with fish in their bills and didn’t like the intrusion of a man standing up on the cobbles watching them, so they shrieked at him and attacked. He ducked his head as they dived close, over and over they dived. It might have seemed voyeuristic to photograph it, and it was too rapid.
Close by the ruins of chapels at Howe Moor some Polish workers were using heather to give a traditional thatch to a crofting cottage. We passed a few smart holiday cottages, newly lime-washed and thatched. The hostel was in this style and a visitor just off the ferry invited us in to look.
I last visited the Outer Isles on 23 May – 7 June 2005. My friends Jane and Nigel had also been on that trip and had several weeks ago returned from another visit. We compared notes on birding. I love the skylark accompaniment to a walk through the machair where they seem abundant. Wheatear and stonechat were frequent. Our 2015 trip was rather later in the season and perhaps that accounts for it but we had only two good sightings of a trio of red-throated divers on Loch Duinn on Barra. And I have a memory of walking those fine beaches with terns diving and this was not our experience this year. Has there been a significant decline in numbers of seabirds on the Outer Hebrides in a decade?
Beyond the machair came sea-rounded cobbles where ringed plover and common tern were breeding. Terns flew in with fish in their bills and didn’t like the intrusion of a man standing up on the cobbles watching them, so they shrieked at him and attacked. He ducked his head as they dived close, over and over they dived. It might have seemed voyeuristic to photograph it, and it was too rapid.
Close by the ruins of chapels at Howe Moor some Polish workers were using heather to give a traditional thatch to a crofting cottage. We passed a few smart holiday cottages, newly lime-washed and thatched. The hostel was in this style and a visitor just off the ferry invited us in to look.
I last visited the Outer Isles on 23 May – 7 June 2005. My friends Jane and Nigel had also been on that trip and had several weeks ago returned from another visit. We compared notes on birding. I love the skylark accompaniment to a walk through the machair where they seem abundant. Wheatear and stonechat were frequent. Our 2015 trip was rather later in the season and perhaps that accounts for it but we had only two good sightings of a trio of red-throated divers on Loch Duinn on Barra. And I have a memory of walking those fine beaches with terns diving and this was not our experience this year. Has there been a significant decline in numbers of seabirds on the Outer Hebrides in a decade?
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