A Walk Through the Village

The weather picked up yesterday afternoon - if not enough for these lambs to feel they could play out in the open - but the sun came out between showers so, despite a brisk wind, we walked through the village, meeting a number of other people who were also out taking exercise.

The sighting of this house martin caused us considerable excitement, hence the poor quality of the picture. It's the first we've seen in the village, the only other ones being at Ardslignish, where there is a lonely pair nesting where ten or twenty used to. Our one was in the company of a swarm of sand martins - there seem to be more than ever of them this year - and some swallows, all of which were swooping and diving around the trees on Cruachan croft.

House martin numbers crashed last summer, with none nesting in their usual places along Ormsaigbeg. We had hoped to see them back this year, but they haven't come.

We passed the owner of the old manse putting up what he described as an anemometer, though we suspect it is a new sign advertising his business. Either way, The Diary expressed its surprise at finding at the owner of a manse engaged in hard manual work on a Sunday. Dave and Stella Cash run Meall mo Chridh, a restaurant with rooms - more details here.

With the sun out, and their daughter, Phoebe's horse decorating the field, Meall mo Chridh looked lovely, though The Diary couldn't help noticing that there were no house martins feeding across this field - it used to be one of their favourite places.

Some further excitement came from finding the first orchid of the year in Kilchoan, in the grass verge opposite the Kilchoan House Hotel. We found heaps of them flowering amidst the heather to the south of Grigadale two weeks ago, so either they were early or Kilchoan is late. However, this was a much more brightly coloured specimen than anything we saw around Grigadale.