Monday 8 October 2012

Never a Dull Moment

Another glorious sunrise this morning: this view looks across the entrance to Loch Sunart, with the dark outline of the island of Oronsay in front of the hills of Morvern.  Each morning the sunrise is a few minutes later and a little further into the southeast.

But the tranquility was shattered around midday with the arrival of the RAF.  We were just saying that Operation Joint Warrior seemed to have gone very quiet when four Tornados arrived to play war games across our skies around lunchtime - this one is seen passing in front of the ever-increasing array of telecommunications equipment on Meall an Inbhire opposite us on Mull.

On our walk yesterday we came across several piles of half-digested rowan berries.  Since there were no rowans anywhere in the hills where we were walking, we assumed that the berries were brought in by an animal or bird.

Nearby were accumulations of what looked like older regurgitations of rowans, mostly on areas of bare rock.  This has been a great year for rowan berries, so something is obviously gorging on them.  Is it a bird?  If so, what bird?  Can anyone make any suggestions?

Hughie arrived this evening to collect Betsy for her confinement.  The Diary rushed out with a camera to record the usual chaos that ensues when the pigs are moved, to watch in some consternation as Betsy walked calmly into the trailer - as if she knew it was time to be tucked up in some nice clean straw in Hughie's shed.  Hughie is confident that there are another ten little horrors on the way, just like last time: this photo dates back to may when they were at their most wicked.

2 comments:

  1. i think the Rowan berries are Pine Marten poo! We often get offerings on our path, always out in the open, never discretely hidden away and last week we had Rowan Berry offerings, exactly as in your photo. Jane B

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  2. Hi Jane - If it's pine marten, and I agree with you it's a strong possibility, then the pine marten is travelling huge distances in order to poo rowan berries only. The nearest rowan tree is a long way away, and there is no sign in the deposit of anything else.

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