A Late Hurrah

 Tuesday May 9

Yesterday evening, a heavily limping man walked up the front drive, clutching a lamb under his right arm. This morning, he drove up to the house, opened his boot and took out three lambs. Apparently, a ewe of his had quads which she couldn't feed, two is usually the maximum, the others are bottle fed or attached to another ewe. The mother died overnight, so he brought the other three to Heather, She now has 17 orphan lambs to look after. I hope she's got one of those multi feeding stations.

Loch Eynort is a favourite destination. At the end of the road west well down into South Uist, there is a small parking area and a small wood. The wood has Cuckoo, Chaffinch, Robin and Willow Warbler, the path through it takes one out onto the mountainside where eagles and other raptors can be seen. The loch itself can hold all sorts of different sea birds. Today, the car park already held two well spaced minibuses, taking up a lot of the room. We squeezed in but could only see a small section of the loch. Especially as the birders in the buses were also taking up all the front row spaces, including that in front of us. When they'd finished their coffee and started their walk, we were able to move further forward to watch the ebbing tide. Two pairs of Red-breasted Merganser and a few Shags is all we saw in the more than an hour's stay. We tried another watchpoint back along the road. No raptors there either. 

Maybe the RSPB reserve of Loch Druidibeg was more worthwhile. Still in South Uist but further back towards Benbecula. The reserve is based around a freshwater loch which entails a one and a quarter mile walk from the parking place. After a good look around the hills, we drove on to the end of the road, which is on the west coast. The scenery is spectacular ,especially when the sun is shining, as it was today. 

Only room for three cars here, on a flat area of moorland. Last year, we were able to drive down through a gap in the rocks to an old harbour jetty. The route now has large concrete blocks across it, preventing access.

Back to find a flat area to pull off. Pam got out to look for flowers. A Hi-Lux twin cab pick-up stopped and the young woman driver asked Pam what she was looking for. She turned out to be, with her locally born husband,  the owner of the crofting area, including the many shaggy little horses we'd come across.

 

She told Pam of the many wild flowers in the area, including some small orange orchids. The richness of the flora has been attributed to the drovers and their cattle who used to rest here. She also said that they'd blocked the path down to the harbour because of rock falls and the undermining of the jetty area making it unsafe.

Another stop back towards the main road was because Pam had seen two White-tailed Eagles soaring above the hillside. A pair, the female's larger size obvious. This was soon followed by a lone Golden Eagle. All three birds were viewable from the driver's side - and by me when I slid down and peered through the side. No photos possible.

Coot Loch, Stinky Bay, the Hardware store to get some gaffer tape for Pam's binoculars, the Chinese takeaway to order tonight's meal - and the end of the day visit to C.R. Sue and Ian came across this afternoon, we wondered if we might see them. We didn't. As we'd surmised, setting up the folding caravan and a cuppa took up the immediate time.

We were rewarded with another Golden Eagle, soaring over the wood near the watchpoint. 

A dust bathing Skylark was an entertaining few minutes.

Pam saw a Cuckoo from our front window tonight. We'd seen one previously but hadn't heard one until today. It's usually the other way round.