Sornasairidh - possibly the marshiest ground on Islay!

Those of you who know me know I've crossed some pretty dodgy ground before in my traverses of Islay's lesser known terrain! Well, to reintroduce my daughter to the joys of Islay walking, we did a walk on Monday to surpass them all! Normally we count potential obstacles en route - rivers, fences, bogs - anything that poses a potential problem to the facility of the walk. We gave up counting on this occasion - but I might just be telling you that to deter you from finding one of Islay's lesser known jewels - viz a viz the delightful little ruin at Sornasairidh, which nestles unassumingly beneath another of Islay's lesser known jewels - Beinn nam Fitheach (appropriately named Mountain of the Ravens).

We climbed a deer fence, marched through marsh, managed (just!) to negotiate the widest ditch on Islay AND find my fallen-out-of-pocket GPS in the bracken. Was it worth it! Anyone else who was out on Monday will know it was!
Becky

BIRDS: Fieldfare, Raven, Jackdaw, Blackbird, Twite, Dunnock, Robin, Wren, Starling, Great Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Grey Heron, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Curlew, Buzzard, Rock Dove, Song Thrush, Pied Wagtail

OTHER: Red Deer, Fox Moth caterpillar, Rhizocarpon geographicum, Fuscidea cyathoides (both lichens)

Loch a' Mhala and Beinn nam Fitheach

Sornasairidh and Beinn nam Fitheach

Buzzard

Fungi at Killinallan

Fuscidea cyathoides

Sheep and Robin at Killinallan

Starlings at Craigens

Flock of Twite at Killinallan

Lovely colours at Sanaigmore

Lovely colours at Sanaigmore yesterday.  We walked east from the Gallery along the shore, eventually reaching what Marie McEwan calls 'The Mushroom Rocks', which are huge boulders that have been undercut by the sea into all sorts of weird shapes.  The tide was too high for us to really see them properly, but they are still impressive, with the waves surging round them.  You can easily appreciate the abrasive power of the water that has created the formations. When the tide is right it is possible to walk right round some of them.

Birdlife on these remote rocky shores is actually quite limited.  A flock of around twenty Ringed plover flew off the sandy bit of the beach when we first arrived, and Rock pipits constantly complained about our intrusion into their airspace as we moved along. A large, dark winged wader with a white rump flew out of one of the wee coves, but it was a long way off before I caught up with it with the binoculars.  Probably a Greenshank, but only probably.  Out at sea, a steady stream of small parties of Auks were all flying right to left and there were a few very distant small gulls, almost certainly Kittiwakes.  Closer to the shore there was a steady movement of individual Herring, Common and Great Black backed Gulls, again the vast majority of which were flying from east to west.  Back at the Outback there was a huge flock of barnacle geese in the fields over the road, and a small group of around six Twite bounced past.  Some Chough called.  It was a great day.  Coffee was good too...

Carl