North of Loch Sgioport Redshank are calling and a flock of lapwing rises from boggy ground by the Catholic Church, a statue of the Virgin draped in lichen. All day orographic cloud sits over Hekla. To the east coast, north of Loch Sgioport where, in wilderness, we yomp through heather and peat hags and rose and ochre sphagnum. On headlands crowberry, and cotton grass blows in the wind. A rusting otter trap above a seaweed inlet. Sunlight intensifies colour on the sea. Stepping- stones crossing tidal inlets will submerge, so watch the tide in this maze of inlets and lochans.
Tough terrain in a coastal solitude that requires micro-navigation and David's orienteering skills.
West coast. Howe More with ruined chapels I remember, and stones festooned in lichen. The Poles are thatching several cottages afresh, with heather. A walker newly off the ferry invites us inside the hostel – a lime-washed thatched cottage its roof weighted with stones. The west coast is machair, fertile shell-sand with flowers. An expanse of buttercups, an intense fragrance of white clover and long headed poppies. A bright and warm afternoon and the fragrance of white clover as the sun stimulates the release of nectar is sublime. Too many choices: the flowers of the machair with views of Hekla, and a high bank of cobbles separates machair and the white sands. The shingle is a tern nesting colony, so not wanting to disturb them I watch from the fringe of machair below. Ringed plover are nesting and a young bird runs before me. Cryptic colouring hides it, only a spurt of running reveals it. Terns fly in with fish to feed chicks hidden in the cobbles. It’s exciting to watch and hear. A man with a camera walks on the cobble embankment, slowly, watching the terns and disturbing them. They screech and he ducks they dive. He wears a hat and they dive, each time aborting the plunge close to his head. Light transfixes their wings.
A wonderful wilderness challenge north of Loch Sgioport- not an opportunity to linger over photography. Howmore Bay gave contrasting choices. Wish I had taken more images of the tern colony on its cobble strand.
At 4.10 am I’m awake to watch a sublime sunrise at Ceol Na Mara, Music of the Sea
work in progress
A wonderful wilderness challenge north of Loch Sgioport- not an opportunity to linger over photography. Howmore Bay gave contrasting choices. Wish I had taken more images of the tern colony on its cobble strand.
At 4.10 am I’m awake to watch a sublime sunrise at Ceol Na Mara, Music of the Sea
work in progress
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