Stornoway for the last time... (for now)

Monday 16th June 2008
Although it was a grey start to the day, even the grey skies can be beautiful here.



But the barometer is dropping drastically. Having claimed that the good weather throughout May and early June was due to my presence I decided it was time to depart before my reputation got damaged. So tomorrow I leave the island.



As if to confirm the decision the rain began in earnest.



We went into Stornoway and the rain stopped long enough for me to photograph the seals and gulls in the harbour.




On the quayside the fishermen had their nets laid out and at first I thought they were mending them but then I realised they were measuring them for some reason.




Most of the fishing boats in the harbour are registered in Stornoway (SY) but this was a visiting Ullapool (UL) boat.







Pastel shades around the harbour.



Ever since doing blog postings about the cast iron railings and gates around Stornoway I have noticed ever more and more. Even the railings at the harbour where we parked the car today had three different types of spike.





For the past week or so, each time we have gone into the castle grounds we have passed some Jackdaws. Today this one posed for me.



And a Starling did, too.



Despite all my trips into the castle grounds I have not mentioned the Rhododendrons. There are plenty of them in the grounds. Although they can be a nuisance, blocking out the light and thereby killing all the native flora, I like them and at this time of year they add a wonderful splash of colour to all the castle pathways.



At the Woodlands Centre we had the table by the bird feeders again. Collared Doves were there and our white-cheeked Blackbird who was chasing a female around. A Siskin, a Robin and a Blue Tit also came but not as many birds as the other day.







The Thrift on the Briagh was so good today that I got out of the car and photographed it in the rain.



We're off on the early ferry tomorrow. Our journey to the Wirral down the mainland of Scotland and Northern England will on my Pensby et al blog.

In the meantime, Lewis will not be forgotten in my blog postings on Rambles from my Chair. There are still pictures I haven't posted and blog ideas floating around in my brain somewhere.

The things I shall miss most when back on Merseyside will be GB's excellent company, the sky, the sea, the calm, the quiet, the countryside, going out in the car most days (even if it's only into the castle grounds for a coffee) and the people who have been so hospitable. This five and a half weeks has been by far the longest holiday I have ever had in my life. I shall miss Lewis enormously. In the brief time I've been here I have been made to feel so at home. Where else could you go and be recognised and made welcome by someone who works on a till in a supermarket serving a population of 20,000 people.

So here is a big



to Pat and Dave (and Briagha), Fiona, Carol & Iain, Christine and Norman, Barry and Ena, Ann, Steve, and everyone else who has been so hospitable and made the holiday so brilliant.

I don't know if this is a threat or a promise but I'LL BE BACK!
 

Birds at the Woodland Centre

Saturday 14th June 2008
It's early morning and it's raining in the Minch. With a fabulous bank of clouds further round in the sky. (OK, so where else would clouds be!!!) Then we got a sunny patch in the Minch.





After a brief shop in Stornoway we went to the Woodlands Centre and got my favourite table. Once again we failed to complete the crossword but this time it was because our minds were elsewhere - as demonstrated by me repeating one of the clues back to GB as "Sorry, what was that Sound of rain or minds elsewhere in what" after he had said to me "Sound of rain or rapid feet in 3-1-3 ". The reason for the distraction was the same reason it is my favourite table - the view of the bird feeder. Today we had Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Robin, Blackbird, Collared Dove and Siskins all come down for nuts.



Because the Woodlands Centre is in the Castle Grounds - the only substantially wooded area on Lewis - it has a completely different bird fauna to the rest of the island. Some of the birds found here are only found outside Stornoway when they have a mini population explosion or are feeling adventurous. Collared Doves are one of the birds found all over the island.



Greenfinch playing peek-a-boo.



Coal Tit with the distinctive white patch on the back of its head.



Robin posing and Chaffinch not posing.




Whilst all the other birds, including its fellow Blue Tits, were struggling to get bits of nut through the mesh, this cheeky fellow came a couple of times and went down the inside of the tube to pinch a whole nut at a time.



Blue Tits taking the conventional approach.




Of today's birds the most exciting were the Blackbird and the Siskins. I Isn't the rarity of Blackbirds, it was the fact that I thought of for a while that this one could be a Ring Ouzel. It had its back to us and we could just see an occasional flask of white that looked like a collar.



It turned out to be a straightforward Blackbird with white cheek patches. Very fetching. We spent the rest of the day wondering whether, despite them being different species, one of its ancestors had had an affair with a Ring Ouzel.



The Siskins (known in Gaelic as Gelaga-bhuidhe) arrived on Lewis last autumn as a small invasion. A few stayed over the winter and into this summer, it is suspected they may have bred here though their breeding site has not been seen. Prior to this year the Siskin was only a rare passage migrant to the smaller islands and up to 1990 (when the "Birds of the Outer Hebrides" by Peter Cunningham was reprinted with corrections) it had never been seen on Long Island (the name given to Lewis and Harris combined).



On the way back home GB saw a Sandpiper or Redshank fly into a field and upon stopping we discovered some Lapwings as well.



This is a young Lapwing.



And an even younger Blackbird - this egg was found on Pat and Dave's lawn with no indication how it got there. Did some Gull or other thief drop it and the grass cushion its fall?



We called at the jetty on the way home.

In the late afternoon an enormous cruise ship passed the island, far out on the horizon.