Surf & Snow

Sunday brought what one might expect of an early Easter - a fierce westerly gale overnight on Saturday, followed by a day of hail, sleet, rain, the occasional sunny moment, and enough of a surf for Rachael to feel she could hone her skills on the sets at Sanna.

By this morning the wind had dropped to dead calm and there were enough breaks in the cloud to see that Beinn Talaidh on Mull had collected a fresh cap of snow, along with....

....some of the other hills on southern Mull. The more distant ship is the Hebridean Princess heading south on her cruise, the nearer is the Loch Linnhe, the local Kilchoan-Tobermory ferry on her first run of the day. The ferries are now on a summer timetable which many more sailings each day, though there are none on Sunday yet.

The red breasted merganser male was paddling around the obstacles at the end of the slipway at nine this morning, looking a bit lonely. A week ago he was with his mate, so either she has deserted him for someone even more handsome or she's on their nest.

The bay was beautifully peaceful in the early morning calm, the only sounds being the occasional suck of a wave and the call of the sea birds. Not that there were many - a few gulls, a small group of mallard, three greylag geese, and the usual excitable oystercatchers.

Occasional watery patches of sunlight moved across the hills, this one lighting some of the houses in Pier Road. In the background are the twin peaks of Stallachan Dubha, with the shoulder of Ben Hiant rising to the left.

Many thanks to Ben and Rachael for the top photo.