Snow on the hills

The hills behind Bowmore this afternoon with the first substantial covering of the winter. If at least some forecasts are to be believed, it could be the last, too. Or not!
Malcolm

November evening in Bowmore

Blacksmith workshop - Pennycraig

Three phone pictures of John Calderwood's old blacksmith workshop by the road at Pennycraig, 2kms north of Bowmore.

Rainbow from Bowmore

Good rainbow weather at the moment!

Squall over Bowmore

A wintry squall passing over Bowmore this afternoon (Malcolm)

Rainbows

A couple of snaps of the glorious rainbow that straddled the sky from Bowmore at around 2 oclock this afternoon.  We had a little sunshine today, let us hope that this most traditional symbol of better times ahead is not pulling our legs...!
Carl

Jura from Bowmore

Taken yesterday - Carl

Glorious Evening

Bowmore from Carnain this evening.  A hard frost is developing - Carl

Stormy weather

There's a lot of weather about at the moment. In the last few days, we've had gales with gusts up to 60 mph, lightning and thunder, hail, heavy rain squalls, drizzle, mist, low cloud, and occasional bursts of sun, and so all the usual components of late autumn/early winter on Islay.
The sun broke through just now (Sunday pm) and produced this rainbow while close by yet another squall was passing over Bowmore.
Malcolm

Not much happening!

Regular readers, of which we know we have many, will have noticed the paucity of posts of late. The main posters, Carl, Becky, Mark and myself, are either away (Becky, Carl), have just been away (me), or have left the island (Mark), resulting in the present drought. However, a drought is not what has been happening outside in the last few days with 32 mm of rain in the last 36 hours, and another 20 mm in the previous three days. That's over 2 inches in old money, and not only is the island saturated, but photography has been fairly pointless, too. Where I live in Bruichladdich I normally have a view across Loch Indaal to Bowmore. From Friday evening until mid-afternoon today (Sunday), Bowmore was invisible because of the thick mist enveloping the island. And even now, the hills are still shrouded.
So here's what my view is just now. Sunny Islay it is not!
Malcolm

Stooks of oats outside Bowmore - photo by Walter Rintoul

People with fish on Bowmore Pier

I thought it would be good to put some old photographs from Islay up on the blog.  This is quite a well known shot of a group showing off their catch on Bowmore pier.  Most of the fish appear to be flatfish - good sized plaice probably.  You can just see a man in a skiff behind the group to the left of the photograph.  There is another skiff drawn up on the slip.  The surface of the pier appears to have been wooden in those days.

You will notice that very few of the children are wearing shoes.

I have heard of people trying to catch white fish in Loch Indaal in the recent past, but have never heard of anyone being successful with anything apart from puchie (Saithe or Coalfish Pollachius virens) and Lythe (Pollock Pollachius pollachius).  I have never heard of anyone catching significant numbers of flatfish in recent years - which is probably a legacy of over zealous trawling.

Photo is from the Museum of Islay Life

Cattle on Main Street Bowmore - Walter Rintoul

Another shot by Walter Rintoul from yesteryear...  Dairy cattle too...

The Lights of Loch Indaal

That would be a good name for a song...
Bowmore, Port Charlotte and Bruichladdich  yesterday evening.
Carl

Barnacle geese and Bowmore