Gisla

 

On Tuesday GB took me over to Gisla in Uig to meet Carol and Jenny and have a look at their beautiful garden and Jenny's woodturning.



We passed through Achmore on the way.


And went past a dun - the remains of an Iron Age fort built out in a loch.


A grass of the Briza genus in the garden.



And some beautiful lichens in the unpolluted air.

For more pictures of Carol and Jenny's garden see my Rambles blog.



Some of Jenny's wood-turning at Gisla Woodcraft.


We came back over the moors and past all the shielings.

Monday 8th June

 

The start of a day of wall to wall sunshine.



We paid a brief trip into Stornoway where I took a look at the fishing boats in the harbour.


Lews Castle from the harbour.


Looking across towards the Woodlands Centre.


We drove around past the golf course....


...and through the woods....


...to the Woodlands Centre for coffee.


GB enjoying the sun.




Inside views of the Woodlands Centre - they make a change from pictures of Florentines and Tunnocks Tea-cakes.

Training Ship Gunilla

 
There are often quite interesting boats in Stornoway Harbour. This week the training ship Gunilla was tied up there.

The view from Eagleton (again)

 

This was the scene at 8 pm on Wednesday.


There are worse views than this to wake up to at 4.45 on a Thursday morning.


The mountains of mainland Scotland were clearly visible across the Minch.


Iain's croft has sheep on it but an adjacent croft has some cattle (and I managed to spell Iain correctly this time!) . They were lowing away at 5 o'clock this morning.

Trawlers and Herring Gulls

 :



Down in the harbour on Wednesday there were a few trawlers sitting by the quayside.



Herring Gulls were helping to clean the nets.

Arthur Pink and a small world

 
A while ago a blogger left a comment asking me if I knew where the grave of the cleric Arthur Pink (1886-1952) was to be found and whether I could take a photo. I went into the library today and a most helpful reference librarian told me straight off that he was buried in Sandwick cemetery but in an unmarked grave. She then went on to tell me a lot about Arthur Pink and it turned out that when he moved to the islands in the 1940s he and his wife Vera lived at no 27 Lewis Street. It is, as they say, a small world. That was the address of my former sister-in-law for a while!

Sheep and more sheep

 

On Monday evening I went to Pat and David's for dinner. This the view of GB's with its notorious red garage door across the valley.


Bringing in the sheep at the back of Pat and David's.

GB and I aren't the only ones to do the crossword.


On Tuesday a pair of Ravens were tumbling around together but kept just disappearing around the corner of the cliff top every time I managed to focus the camera on them.



There are sheep on Ian and Carleo's croft. I love the way they add some life and movement to the scene.


Out in Bayble Bay movement is created by passing boats like this trawler surrounded by raucous gulls looking for an easy meal.


On Tuesday a Painted Lady landed briefly in the garden.

On Mist and Midges

 

On Sunday evening the mist rolled in from the sea.


First thing Monday morning I was reminded why the Western Isles have so much wind - it is to blow the Highland Midges out to sea. The day began calm and misty - and midgy. Ouch! Last year I was inspired to go into great detail about the pesky little blighters and yet that was a year that was less midgy than most and I left before the full season started up. Wind or midges? When the midges are out I'd prefer the wind. When it's windy I'd prefer the midges. Fickle, that's me.


Once the mist or harr cleared we had a glorious sunny day.


But a bank of mist stayed out on the horizon, hiding the mainland, for the whole day and rolled back in to land again as the evening began.


This is a Silver Y moth. Unlike most moths the Silver Y flies during the day. It is hard to photograph because it is very active and constantly flutters its wings whilst feeding.


It is so-called for its very obvious silvery white y-shaped marking on its forewings. Apart from the abundant Green-veined White buterflies and Garden Tiger caterpillars these are the only large Lepidoptera I have seen on the Island since my arrival this time.


Judging by its behaviour this was another Silver Y but it was a pale buff colour and from what I could see it was either some sort of aberration without a silver Y on its wings or it was very worn. Silver Y's are migrants and can travel hundreds of miles so the latter is quite possible but this specimen did not seem at all ragged. Strange.....