Ardnamurchan 1

 Saturday Oct 1

We led the queue of a mere four vehicles onto the Corran ferry from Fishnish. Only one of them joined us on the narrow road towards Strontian, we soon got rid of him. Two Golden Eagles rose as we drove through one of the higher sections, again not possible to photograph. A Mistle Thrush landed on a telegraph pole,which was helpful.

  

When we were last in Strontian, we discovered a shop/cafe which did great bacon baps. Lots of bacon and unsmoked. Treat day. I discard half the roll and double over the remaining half which gives me even more bacon to less bread. 

It started to rain, continuing to do so as we drove to Acheracle. We knew that the estate was six miles from this village. Google maps had allowed us to put in the name of the estate, Dalilea, and took us straight there. At the end of a 1.3 mile approach track, through fields full of sheep and others with Shorthorn cattle, we reached an imposing white, turretted building, parts of it dating back to the 15C. Our wooden chalet home for the week is within sight of the house, yet feels secluded, as we have well grown trees and shrubs forming a small glade around us. Plenty of open views too, towards the loch. There's a motor launch outside, available for hire. Izzy, one of the owners, showed us in, telling us that White-tailed Eagles had nested on trees around the loch for the last few years, no sign of them at the moment. They raised a single chick this year. Even more helpful, she helped Pam carry in all the luggage. There are three steps up into the chalet, just about do-able for me - but not whilst carrying anything. A real nuisance for me, not being able to help, I was always the main carrier and packer.

The chalet is spacious, comfortable, and has all we need.

Sunday October 2

Waking to rain was not an incentive for an early start. Nor was it a good day to drive to the lighthouse, which we'd planned to do. Time for a leisurely inspection of the contents of the moth trap. Best was a slightly damaged example of a Northern Arches, new for us. This identification involved a lot of book perusal and discussion. The Lowen book was very useful. A Small Wainscot was a surprise.

 

We really needed to stock up on a few items. In the afternoon, we drove back to Achernacle, finding the shop closed. We knew that the shop in Strontian closed at 3, it being a Sunday, we got there with ten minutes to spare.

After this.....  we drove to the car park overlooking the loch, discovered which way the wind was blowing the rain, and I settled behind my scope. There was still some rain getting in. Pam  spotted a Grebe species. I saw it in my bins, thinking that it was Slavonian Grebe shaped, rather than Little Grebe. By the time I'd got my scope it had disappeared, to remain a mystery. We know that Slavonians gather on this loch in the Autumn, so it was a feasible sighting.

But....I found another Otter, busy fishing the narrow inlet leading to the river. Now raining even harder, we returned to the comfort of the chalet.

Monday October 3

Incessant rain al day. 

Another leisurely moth trap emptying. A surprising variety of moths considering the overnight weather.A huge number of tiny black flies too, this is what the bottom egg box looked like.

 

There were our first beetles too, three Dor type and one Sexton. Far too many Crane and Caddis flies, as usual for the Autumn. Our first Ichneumon wasps too.

Too many of the Carpets keep their wings tightly closed, making identification very difficult. These two were helpful.

Grey Pine Carpet

Spruce Carpet

Both of these are familiar from home, as were Merveille du Jour, Black Rustic and Chestnut, to name a few.

Driving along our estate track, we suddenly noticed a few pigs in a deeply rutted field corner, protected by an electric fence. These few became eleven. Some spotted, some lop eared, one Saddleback type. The progeny of a Large White sow and a mixed race boar, he includes Saddleback and Gloucester Old Spot in his lineage. They are being fattened up for butchery. Izzy gave us a pack of sausages, made at home from a previous litter.

 

Just to go out really, we drove to Strontian for papers and fuel. At either end of this drawn out village, there is a camera-pointing policeman which seems to follow the car as it passes.

 

A side road to Kentra produced a few waders, Curlew, Oystercatchers and Redshank - and a sheep roadblock. They were going nowhere. A tightly massed flock of black sheep with some white. As it was a dead end road, we gave in gracefully and reversed.

I managed to watch half of Pointless tonight, after finding out that the TV only works on BBC IPlayer, ITV hub, etc. 

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the England T20 innings against Pakistan in the 7th and deciding game. They made over 200 runs, Brooks looks really good. They won easily, taking the series. A good warm-up for the World Cup. I watched it on my laptop with Sky Go.