A Kilchoan Diary

Sanna Fire - Pictures

2012-02-04T10:39:00.004Z

Such a tragedy - we have to remember that this isn't a building which has burnt, it's a home.

Major Fire at Sanna

2012-02-04T09:28:00.005Z

Reports are coming in of a major fire in a house at Sanna. The Kilchoan fire brigade was on site at 8.00pm last night, and teams from Strontian and Acharacle joined them an hour later. By 4.00 this morning appliances from Lochaline and Fort William had joined a second Kilchoan team in tackling the blaze, and this morning Kinlochleven and a second Fort team were on site.

The house involved is the one on the left of the picture. It has only recently been completed, having been built on the site of, and incorporating the old structure of Peggy Rose's house. It's now called Tigh Peigi. It was occupied at the time, but the family safely evacuated the premises.

The fire seems to have started in the loft. By the time Kilchoan brigade reached the scene, it was well alight, with smoke billowing from the chimney area. As soon as they started to work their way towards the seat of the blaze, flames began to appear along the ridge and quickly spread. Water from the nearby hydrant was used, and hoses run across to Sanna Burn - all to no avail. The fire is still alight, so it looks as if the fire brigades will be on site all day.

Any event like this is a tragedy for those concerned. Our thoughts are very much with the family.

Another Mystery?

2012-02-03T14:09:00.002Z

With the mysterious finds at Trevor's campsite, and the suggestion that what we're finding there is a fossilised dinosaur, the stones along the Ormsaigbeg seashore are starting to do strange things - like stand up on their ends.

Many thanks to Calum MacPail for the picture.

The Mystery Thickens

2012-02-02T12:29:00.004Z

Yesterday's beautiful weather enabled us to take some much better pictures of the site in Trevor Potts' Ardnamurchan Campsite, and these have drawn interest from both the local press and an eminent university's geology department.

The top picture shows the excavated area, with a very hard, granular limestone forming the base of the site and a limey shale above it - seen at the bottom of the face. These are of Jurassic age, about 130 million years ago, and dip gently away to the right. Above them is a much more massive ingeous intrusion, a cone sheet from the Ardnamurchan volcano, aged about 60 million years ago.

The mysterious structure is to the right. Click on the picture and it's circled in white.

This is a close-up of the western end the structure. Now that more of the rock has been cleared, it's obviously not an igneous dyke - but quite what it is has become even more of a mystery.

The white material seems to be calcium carbonate, of which limestone and modern reefs are formed. Its compact, upright structure suggest that it might be a 'reef knoll', perhaps an isolated reef which sat, like a mound, on a warm, shallow sea floor - the underlying limestone layer.

But the real excitement has come from finding objects like this within the structure. It's about 100mm across and has every appearance of being of organic origin - but it isn't like any fossil that The Diary has ever seen. It's closest resemblance is to a coral, but it doesn't appear to have some of the most important features of a coral. It may also be an ancient algal structure called a stromatolite - but we really don't know. There's a blog dedicated to these strange creatures here.

This is another view of the fossil, looking down from above. The biological structures seem to go round it, and to contain a darker, more massive infilling.

This picture shows the strange, tube-like structures and, to the left of the shadow, a couple of the 'golf balls'. We're finding more and more 'golf balls', not all of them perfectly spherical, some resembling button mushrooms. The surfaces of some of these show what might again be markings of biological origin.

One geology professor who saw these pictures commented, "These things are very weird. I've never seen anything like them before."

Trevor Potts runs the Ardnamurchan Campsite, website here.

A Sustainable Lifestyle

2012-02-02T09:09:00.003Z

Tom Bryson, who farms Craigard Croft here in Ormsaigbeg, is keeping a blog describing his efforts to develop a sustainable lifestyle. Amongst other activities, he keeps some unusual chicken breeds - the picture shows his flock of French Bresse Gauloise which was seriously depleted by a mink.

His blog is here.

Druim na Gearr Leacainn

2012-02-01T16:31:00.007Z

When we left the house soon after ten this morning to climb the southern slope of Druim na Gearr Leacainn, the ridge that runs along the back of Ormsaigbeg, the only frost was a thin coating on the roof of the car. But the higher we climbed, the more the small burns that run off the ridge were frozen, and the worse the conditions became underfoot.

So we weren't paying much attention when we rounded the shoulder of a spur and came across these three fine young red deer stags. It's the first time we've seen deer on this side of the ridge, browsing across the Ormsaigbeg common grazings. This huge area of common land is almost deserted at this time of year: the only other life we saw all morning were a few sheep and two woodcocks, both of which left it until the last moment to get up, giving us a tremendous shock.

This is the view we had from the western end of the ridge, looking across a small valley to the rounded summit of Dubh Chreag, the black crag. This is spectacularly broken country, and the winter colours, of dead heather and the sudden green of spagnum moss, quite breathtaking.

As we turned and walked eastwards along the ridge crest, Druim ne Gearr Leacainn offered views across the peninsula to Ardnamurchan Point Lighthouse, which looked almost tropical with the surround of blue sea and sky....

....but one of the twin lochans tucked in behind the ridge was covered in a thin skin of ice. The hill immediately beyond the lochan is Stacan Dubha, the black cliff or precipice, while the summit beyond is Meall an Tarmachain, Ptarmigan Hill.

The eastern end of the ridge falls away to the village of Kilchoan, with West Ardnamurchan's highest hill, Ben Hiant, rising behind it. It seems like weeks since we last had a full day's sunshine, so it was a joy to be walking in the hills again, and good see the village basking in the sun's warmth.

Sunrise Today

2012-02-01T16:08:00.003Z

Sunrise over Morvern and the Sound of Mull, 8.35 this morning; air temperature 1C with a ground frost; yesterday's maximum 3C; stiff southeaster blowing straight out of the sun. Brrrr!

Geological Mystery

2012-01-31T12:26:00.002Z

As soon as he was back from the Antarctic, Trevor Potts, who runs the Ardnamurchan Campsite, began work on clearing a site for his new house. The groundwork is being done by Hughie MacLachlan of local firm H MacLachlan Contracts.

This shows the slope to the left of the first picture, where Hughie has dug back into layers of Jurassic shale and limestone, but one area, shown to the right of this photo, seems to cut vertically through the sedimentary layers. At first sight it might be an igneous dyke, but it yielded some very strange structures.

These balls, a bit bigger than a golf ball, are embedded in the rock - the one on the left is still stuck in to a chunk of it. When broken open, they don't seem to have any structure.

It's difficult to tell whether they are of igneous origin or not. In many ways, they resemble the concretions that can be found in shales, such as the famous ones at Whitby and Robin Hood's Bay in Yorkshire - but these won't be found in a dyke.

To add to the mystery, an elongated tube-like structure of uniform cross-section runs up at an angle through the dyke. It, too, has these 'balls' embedded in it.

If anyone has any idea what these may be, we would be very interested to hear. Trevor has preserved the exposure, which will be at the back of his house, as well as a number of the 'balls' and sections of the 'tube'.

Trevor runs the Ardnamurchan Campsite, website here.

A Second Beached Whale?

2012-01-30T16:40:00.004Z

'The Raptor' was scrambling over the rocks between Sanna and Portuairk yesterday when he came across these remains fairly high up on the shore.

They may be the carcass of the whale beached at Sanna towards the end of December (Diary entry here) but, if they are, something has made short work of the flesh which was on the beast then.

'The Raptor' describes these remains as being 'about ten foot long' and with the head missing. This certainly seems the sort of size that pilot whale would have been but it could also be a second one.

Whether it's a new or the same one, can anyone explain what may have happened to the flesh?

Many thanks to 'The Raptor' for the pictures.

Cobbles - 2

2012-01-29T14:35:00.000Z

The Diary's identification of rock types is very much a hit-and-miss affair, so it was good to have Rob Gill, who runs GEOSEC Slides, a small business based in Achnaha, write in with a couple of photographs to show how rock identification should be done.

Rob says, "I found this cobble at Ormsaigbeg a couple of years ago. As it was obviously different from most others I took it to Achnaha and made a section from a bit of it. It is a garnet amphibolite (or possibly granulite) most probably Lewisian. I cannot prove that, though it is difficult to think where else it could have come from. The spots are garnets surrounded by a rim of feldspar, a depletion zone as the garnets grew at the expense of the amphibole.

"I do not know its source, but is quite distinctive, so it might be possible to trace it."

This picture shows Rob's thin section, with the distinctive pink of the garnets surrounded by paler felspar, set in a matrix of finer crystals.

Metamorphic rocks such as this are fascinating to study. It may have started as something like a mudstone, which was deeply buried in the core of a mountain chain, and heated and squeezed so a totally new set of minerals grew. During this process, however, some minerals may have grown and been absorbed again, changing into others.

It's also interesting to grapple with the idea that, if it is Lewisian in age, it's over a billion years old.

Rob's website, which is here, is well worth a visit to see the beautiful rock thin sections he produces.

Sunrise

2012-01-29T14:21:00.001Z

Sunrise yesterday.

Many thanks to 'Kilchoan Early Bird'

A Kilchoan Publisher - 2

2012-01-28T14:17:00.000Z

From Jenny Chapman

Nigel was a senior lecturer in Computer Science at University College London, when we decided to move back to Scotland in 1994 so I could study at Edinburgh College of Art - we had lived and worked in St. Andrews. Nigel had already been commissioned to write a book on programming for a major publisher so, instead of seeking another academic post, he decided to write full time.

In summer 1999 we visited West Ardnamurchan for the first time. We chose West Ardnamurchan for that holiday, from the Highlands in general, by sticking a pin in a map - this is literally true. We had not visited the peninsula before. By then we were working on our first jointly-authored college textbook, "Digital Multimedia", commissioned by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. We were living near Edinburgh in the Borders and took a short working holiday, staying in Achosnich, working in the little garden there on student exercises and projects for the book.

In autumn 1999 we decided to move here, to work from home in a more peaceful environment. The property market in the Edinburgh/Borders area was okay at the time, so we were able to sell our house there within weeks. We rented Kilmory Cottage for the winter while we looked for a house to buy here.

The 1st edition of "Digital Multimedia" was completed in Kilmory Cottage. As usual, we did the typesetting ourselves, so had to submit the complete files ready for printing. There was no broadband then, so in mid-winter, in the pitch dark and a howling gale, we drove up to the point where the Kilmory road meets the "main" road to post the CD containing the files to the publisher. We put the package in the little postbox at the turn of the road down towards Kilmory. That launched our textbook-writing career. "Digital Multimedia" is now a bestselling college textbook, used in almost all the countries of the world - even in unlikely places such as the Maldives, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.

The 2nd and 3rd editions of "Digital Multimedia" were written in Achnaha, and the chapters on digital images, animation and video used material featuring the local area. The video chapter featured work from the award-winning multimedia short film, "3 Minutes Silence", using footage filmed at Sanna and Castle Tioram.

We also drew on the local area for examples for our practical textbook, "Digital Media Tools", and our third major textbook was "Web Design: A Complete Introduction", published in 2006. Both were written in Achnaha.

As for so many people, everything went well for us till 2007. There were many changes in the publishing industry owing to the global recession. Between 2007 and 2009 our publisher, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, changed a great deal, with much of the responsibility for British publications passing to the parent company in the USA.

By mid-2009, John Wiley Inc. had completely altered Wiley's policy with regard to British authors. We had contracts for new books - they were cancelled. We had agreements to proceed with new editions - they were cancelled too. Our existing textbooks would remain in print, but there would be no new commissions. For years we had been depending on publishing a new book or new edition about every 18 months, in order to earn enough to live on. Suddenly, that stopped. We had to find a way forward on our own.

First, we decided to try to sell PDF versions of the chapters of our existing books. Fortunately, we had been able to retain all the electronic rights for the latest editions. We created the MacAvon Media web site and download store - www.macavonmedia.com - and started publishing electronic (PDF) versions of the existing books, and built a new support structure for lecturers around the world. macavonmedia.com made a little bit of money, but only a little bit.

By early 2011 it was clear that it wouldn't be enough to pay the bills. Times were very tough in publishing generally, and there was little or no chance of new commissions for textbooks. We decided that we would go ahead anyway, and publish new titles ourselves. "Chapman and Chapman" was a well-established "brand", known internationally, so we had a reasonable chance of success.

It's too soon to say whether success will really result, but we are now actively publishing, and just beginning to sell MacAvon Media paperbacks and Kindle editions. Broadband internet connection in this remote area has made it possible to do this work from here. Without it, we could not.

Many thanks to Jenny for the two articles.

Gortenfern

2012-01-27T19:31:00.002Z

Today's sunshine is a reminder of the beauty of Ardnamurchan on a summer's day - as illustrated by this superb shot of the beach at Gortenfern taken by Paul Howes.

Low Tide

2012-01-27T16:43:00.006Z

Spring tides have come with the new moon and, with them, a change in the weather. We woke to snow on the hills and some slushy remains on sheltered roofs, though it must also have rained a fair amount overnight. During the morning the sky steadily cleared and the sun came out, angling low across the landscape.

We wandered along the Ormsaigbeg beach in the early afternoon when the tide was at its lowest, looking across Kilchoan Bay to the Coastguard shed and the distant, snow-covered hills of Morvern.

This barnacle-encrusted anchor near the end of the jetty is usually covered by the sea. It's neatly placed so that those of us who kayak in to the jetty scrape against it. The trouble with anchors, by their nature, is that they are difficult to move.

Still water and low tide make for good hunting amongst the seaweed for the grey heron who owns this waterfront. They seem to be the most solitary of birds and, when two are seen together, they always seem to be quarrelling. This one never allows us closer than about fifty metres, when he lets out a harsh cry, takes off, and flaps a short distance down the coast, a performance that's repeated several times as we follow him.

Sedan Seaweed Carrier

2012-01-26T11:50:00.006Z

The strain of transporting seaweed up from the beach using a wheelbarrow (see earlier blog entry here) was too much for us, so The Diary invented and built this machine, using a wicker log basket. The idea came from the old sedan chair, last seen in use in the UK during the 19th century.

Readers of The Diary may be becoming seriously worried about the author's sanity but should be reassured. This is nothing new, and probably derives from spending thirty years working in an impoverished national education system, where resources were less provided than invented - and, incidentally, teaching some history.

The important thing is that the sedan seaweed carrier works. The trouble is that the seaweed, having lain on the beaches since the last storm, is so slimy it is quite disgusting to handle.

What we need now is another thumping good storm.

Aurora Group

2012-01-26T11:08:00.002Z

With the sun becoming more active, we're putting together an Aurora Group on West Ardnamurchan, drawing together the sort of people who are prepared to get up at any hour of the night to see an aurora display.

If you live on West Ardnamurchan and would like to participate by agreeing

- to be contacted by another member of the group at any time to see an event

- to phone other people if you see an event.

....contact The Diary.

Many thanks to The-Dan on Flickr for the picture, more here.

Local Businesses

2012-01-25T10:55:00.002Z

Over the next few weeks, The Diary has invited local businessmen and women to write about their businesses. So far, three have agreed to, but if there are any other businesses who would like to submit entries, they would be very much welcomed.

The first business is MacAvon Media, based in Achnaha.

A Kilchoan Publisher - 1

2012-01-25T10:50:00.001Z

From Jenny Chapman

When I was young, I used to read the place of publication on books' copyright pages. Exotic cities fired my imagination: London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Sydney..., and now, Kilchoan.

Kilchoan's the official record in all the cataloguing for printed books published by MacAvon Media, a company run by Nigel and I. We started publishing in print in November 2011 under the imprint "MacAvon Media". Although our first book only reached booksellers in December, we have already sold copies in the USA and Europe as well as the UK.

In the past two months we have published two small books in a series of four - the "Web Security Topics" series - see new Web site here, and look inside the book here. The remaining two in the series will be published in March and May 2012. There are several other titles scheduled for 2012: a complete new textbook "Web Security: A Complete Introduction" to be published in early summer 2012, a substantial practical textbook on Photoshop in the spring, and a complete introduction to HTML5 and CSS3 in early autumn.

Although all will be published in paperback, most MacAvon Media books will also be published as Kindle e-books. We also provide PDF versions, and are running a free PDF offer for purchasers of MacAvon Media paperbacks.

We do every part of the work ourselves, not only writing the content, but copy editing, proof reading, illustrating, typesetting, complete book design (interior and cover), publication, promotion, "Search Inside" files for Amazon, publicity - and all the Web design and development work to promote, support and sell the books.

MacAvon Media produces and publishes technical books, college textbooks and related digital content. In November 2011 we started publishing our own work in print for the first time. Until then all our titles were published in print by major international publishers, and MacAvon Media only published electronic versions for sale from macavonmedia.com.

Our book "Digital Multimedia" is a bestselling textbook, currently in its 3rd edition. It is the standard course text on the subject, used in colleges and universities all around the world, from China to Saudi Arabia, from Finland to Greece, from Canada to Brazil, from Korea to Australia, and in very many more countries. It is also the standard course text in the UK, and popular in Scottish colleges and universities.

www.macavonmedia.com operates as a downloads store, from which students and other readers can buy and download chapters of our books and supporting material. Through our sire, MacAvon Media also provides an extensive range of free support services for college lecturers all round the world who use Chapman and Chapman textbooks - free PDF evaluation copies of our books, complete lectures slides in a range of formats, facilities to create course bundles of cheap PDF chapters for students, etc. Lecturers and instructors apply for free accounts, which then give them access to all this material to download when they need it.

Through our large companion Web sites for our big textbooks - sites such as www.webdesignbook.org - we provide a range of free support material for students. All of the design and development for all our Web sites has been done entirely by us.

We work 7 days a week. Our books are used in almost every country of the world. In many countries, what we think of here as Sunday is a full working day. So, for example, the first thing I had to do when I got up this Sunday was approve an application for a MacAvon Media Lecturer's Account from a lecturer in Jordan, who needed lecture slides for "Digital Multimedia" immediately.

We are not only dependent upon computers, but utterly dependent upon the internet and a broadband connection to it. We communicate with lecturers and students all round the world via email and Web sites. Transactions via the MacAvon Media site, which both sells PDF publications and provides free material for lecturers - all through personal accounts - may require attention at any time. We have to keep connected. Power cuts are therefore a serious problem ... so Kilchoan is not the ideal place for work like this in some ways, though good in others.

Leisure is also a serious problem - we don't have any. Perhaps we live in the outdoor capital of the UK, but we rarely see it. The life is not as people imagine it to be. As we are so confined to our home/place of work, we are also utterly dependent on local services remaining local, and remaining services.

In case anyone wonders, writing and publishing technical books is not a way to get rich quick, or ever. It's a great deal of hard work for very little money. But we are educators, and that's the work we do. Anyone thinking of writing or self-publishing to make money would do very much better to write vampire stories or thrillers.

MacAvon Media is not a web design business and does not do commercial web design or development. In the past we have created a few small sites for local businesses, primarily as a favour. We no longer even have the time for that. Nor can MacAvon Media undertake publishing for any other authors. We are overwhelmed just trying to keep on top of our own work.

MacAvon Media may officially be published in Kilchoan, but the company is run from that hive of business activity, Achnaha

That Dratted Man Again....

2012-01-24T15:17:00.004Z

There's me, minding my own business and doing a bit of fishing near the end of the jetty this afternoon....

....catching a few crabs - something I can't do there in summer with all those people around, messing about in boats and.... the children! Little blighters catch the crabs I like, making a lot of noise about it, so.... well, I can't go anywhere near, can I?

Anyway, I suddenly saw this man again, same one as I almost bumped in to a couple of weeks ago along Ormsaigbeg. Just like the last time, he was standing very still, pointing something at me.

Now, I'm not too fond of humans that close. I don't mind them when they're well away from me but, even then, humans usually means dogs, and dogs are big trouble.

So I'm afraid I didn't hang around, moving off slowly, on the surface, so I could keep an eye on him, and giving the occasional bark to say I wasn't too pleased at the disturbance....

....until I was well away from him, when I dived and headed for deeper water.

See earlier otter post here.

Aurora

2012-01-24T15:01:00.001Z

As predicted, the Northern Lights were out over Scotland and the North of England last night - pictures available here. Sadly, here in Kilchoan the clouds were out in force so we saw nothing.

There's a strong chance of the displays continuing. For those who haven't already come across it, what's happening can be followed on AuroraWatch, here. You can ask the site to send you an email when things get interesting.

After the Whelks

2012-01-23T16:15:00.004Z

All day the wind has been set in the northwest bringing sunny intervals and wintry showers. At ten this morning the thermometer was stuck at 2C which, with the wind chill, probably made the actual temperature closer to zero. With a new moon today, this all made for perfect conditions for going after the whelks.

Of all the activities followed by the crofters to make a living, the whelks are the hardest - and it's an occupation usually pursued by the women. May Angus spent two and a half hours this morning bent double out on the kelp beds as the tide dropped towards low. The first half hour or so, she said, were a bit of a waste of time as the tide wasn't low enough and such whelks as could be found were small. Later, in a slightly different place and the sea further out, she began to pick good, big ones.

Two and a half hours of bitterly cold, back-breaking toil brought two and a half stone - that's about 15 kilograms - of the molluscs. May has no idea what she'll be paid for what she's collecting as prices vary so much. Around Christmas time, when the demand is highest, she might get £100 or more for a bag.

She'll be out on the shoreline after the whelks again tomorrow. A strong onshore wind is about the only weather that will put her off - it keeps the tide high, so the best whelks are inaccessible.

Whelks are the common periwinkle, Littorina littorea, winkles in England. Along with seaweed, fish and other shellfish, they are a traditional crofting crop. The Ormsaigbeg crofts are organised so each croft has a length of shoreline, giving access to beach and sea. These days, the whelks go for export.

Fertilisation

2012-01-22T14:54:00.006Z

Seaweed, everyone keeps telling us, is by far the best fertiliser for the garden. It's the traditional fertiliser of the croft lands, used on the old lazybeds, and it contains virtually all the nutrients the soil needs. Better still, there's loads of it along the beaches after the winter storms, it has been washed free of salt by the recent rain, and it's free.

So, this morning, with our vegetable beds largely empty of crops and the sun making fleeting appearances, we set off with wheelbarrow and garden fork to collect some from the beach below our house.

Knowing nothing about the subject, we tried to avoid the stems of the kelp, but getting the 'leaves' out from between these rubbery, elastic stalks is far from easy. And the seaweed, as well as being gelatinous and messy, smells. So we loaded the barrow, in the process covering ourselves with brown slime.

The beach is only about 250 metres, in a straight line, from our house. Sadly, the straight line runs straight up a steep, muddy, slippery slope down which yesterday's 20mm of rain is still running. Although we had attached a strop to the front of the barrow, so one of us could pull while the other pushed, it was the devil of a job getting our precious load of fertilizer up the slope.

We were half way up the slope when a sea eagle sailed by, turning to stare down at us before continuing across Kilchoan Bay. Its white tail was picked out by the low winter sunlight, it was flying low and in the typically unhurried fashion of its species, so it would have made a perfect picture. Sadly, The Diary's hands were too covered in slime to use the camera.

We managed four barrowloads before we collapsed. There are probably quantum laws of physics which explain why mass and volume are reduced by transport because, once we'd spread our weed across the beds, it seemed to have shrunk. At this rate it's going to take us weeks to fertilise our vegetable patch.

District Nurses

2012-01-22T14:26:00.001Z

Many thanks indeed to journalist Tom Peterkin whose balanced article on the imminent loss of our District Nurses was published on Saturday in the Scotsman. The article can be read here.

It's the Time of Year When...

2012-01-21T14:46:00.002Z

....a self respecting great tit is enjoying a peanut when a gust of wind almost knocks him tail over toes.

....a wildflower has to try to prove that it isn't midwinter at all, but spring.

....a sheep manages to find a gap in a fence and finds herself in a paradise of succulent, neatly-trimmed grass.

District Nurses - Public Meeting

2012-01-21T14:23:00.001Z

Please read important notice about a public meeting, here.

Comments

2012-01-21T11:18:00.003Z

Comments are very, very welcome , but The Diary apologises to its readers for some inappropriate comments posted over the last few weeks. As a result, comments are having to be moderated again, which means they don't appear immediately.

A stag grazes near the cairn at the top of the road that leads down to Kilmory and Fascadale.

Aurora

2012-01-20T16:36:00.002Z

We may be in for an auroral display this weekend - see website here.

It's pouring with rain in Kilchoan, and the forecast is poor until Sunday, but some readers may be more fortunate.

Cobbles - 1

2012-01-20T15:06:00.000Z

The image of perfect beaches is of sand and shallow, turquoise water - like those at Sanna. Yet beaches like the one pictured, which runs along part of the Ormsaigbeg shore, have a different fascination: their pebbles. Strictly, most of these aren't pebbles but cobbles, which are defined as between 64 millimetres (2.5 in) and 256 millimetres (10.1 in) in length.

The joy of our local cobbles is that they are of such variety. Most were brought here around 10,000 years ago at the height of the last glaciation, and dumped, along with sand, silt and clay, to form the local soils. The sea rose as the ice melted, and eroded them out of the soil to build a beach.

Some of these cobbles have come from miles away, carried in on the river of ice. This is a granite, possibly the Strontian granite. It is formed of two main, pale-coloured minerals, felspar and quartz, and some dark minerals like biotite mica and hornblende.

This is another granite, but pinker. The colour comes from variations in the felspar, pink felspar often being the variety orthoclase. This cobble may, again, be derived from the Strontian granite but, since the glaciers eroded miles back into the Scottish highlands, it may be from much further afield.

'Granite' is very much a generic name, variations in the mineral content producing a spectrum of granite types. If plagioclase felspar is dominant over orthoclase, the granite may become a granodiorite.

This cobble is a 'granite', but the dark patches tell something of its history. Granites form from magma which wells up from deep within the crust, and then cools underground. As a result, the melt cools slowly, producing large crystals. But this granite, as it rose in the crust, picked up pieces of the surrounding rock, partially absorbing them. The dark patches are known as 'xenoliths', foreign rocks.

The Distillery - Planning

2012-01-19T19:22:00.004Z

Further to Tuesday's Diary entry about the distillery, here, details of the planning application can be found on the Highland Council website. The site can be accessed at http://wam.highland.gov.uk/wam/, the relevant Reference Number being 12/00017/ful

All the Best Birds....

2012-01-19T10:38:00.003Z

As Sue Cameron put it when she sent this photo to The Diary, "All the best birds go to Ockle!'

This looks like a tawny owl, the one that has the classic "too-whit, too-whoo" call, though quite what it's doing in Ockle in broad daylight is a bit of a mystery.

If readers would like to look at some more beautiful pictures of tawny owls, they're here.

Many thanks to Sue Cameron for the picture.

Sue runs Ockle Holidays, website here.

Stormy Skies

2012-01-18T20:03:00.003Z

The wind has gone around into the west and is bringing sharp showers in from the Atlantic. Snow is forecast.

This view looks along Ormsaigbeg to the mountains of Mull in the distance.

Bay to Bay - 2

2012-01-18T14:34:00.001Z

Walking westwards from Fascadale Bay and approaching our destination of the small inlet called Port Eigin-aig (see earlier post here) we started to come across more and more signs of farm workings. This picture shows a stone wall with, in the background, a field which, in high summer, is probably covered in bracken - a sure sign that the soil is good.

The location is some distance from other settlements: Fascadale, Glendrian and Plocaig, the nearest villages, are all about two miles away over rough going. On the other hand, the fields are only a few hundred metres from Port Eigin-aig.

There are several piles of stones in the field, evidence that a great deal of work went in to clearing the land for cultivation. Search as we did, however, we could not find anything that resembled house or byre walls, so either the farming family lived elsewhere and walked to the field each day, or they built impermanent shelters. If the latter was the case, either they used the field as a summer sheiling or they lived in considerable poverty and deprivation.

Port Eigin-aig is a small, rocky bay with a constantly-shifting shingle beach, across which a small stream carves its way. The place must have been heavily used as a great deal of time was invested in building a rock roadway to the right, enabling carts to access the shore. Almost certainly, the main users of the port were the people of landlocked Glendrian, who collected seaweed for fertilizer and kept their fishing boats there. In the old days, herring, mackerel and other species which teemed in these waters would have been an essential part of their diet.

By this time the sky had clouded over and the southeast wind was keener than ever, so we did not linger, leaving with the thought that, on a fine summer's day, this would be a wonderful place for a swim.

Port Eigin-aig is marked on the map here.

The Ardnamurchan Distillery

2012-01-17T10:16:00.000Z

Adelphi Distillery Ltd has recently submitted detailed plans to Highland Council for the construction of a small, compact whisky distillery here on West Ardnamurchan, a prospect which fills The Diary with joy. For a start, it's a wonderful place to distill whisky surrounded, as it is, with several other fine distilleries, and then there's the prospect of employment in an area which badly needs these sorts of opportunities.

However, as with all major developments in such outstanding scenery, there are worries which have to be allayed. These were dealt with at a recent Community Council meeting (link here) by Donald Houston of Ardnamurchan Estate, who is a Director of Adelphi Distillery. Adelphi, established in 1826, is pumping several millions of pounds into the scheme, which is being developed at Glen More.

The above picture shows that the completed buildings will have a low visual impact. Assurances were also given that the proposed year-round Visitor Centre at the distillery would not take business away from the nearby Nadurra Visitor Centre (seen at left, website here), that, with two places to visit, visitor numbers could increase.

A planning application was submitted to Highland Council early in January, but the Community Council, which is normally consulted on all applications, felt enthusiastic about the project, not least because it will create at least three jobs initially, a number which could rise to nine. An early decision by Highland Council is essential if the scheme is to ahead.

A feature of the distillery is that it will be largely powered by local wood. A chipping facility has already been built on the Estate, and this will provide the heat for the distilling. While there will be some increase in traffic down the B8007, for example to bring in casks and malting barley, everything is being done to keep this to a minimum. The 'draff', the solid residue left after fermentation, will be fed to Estate cattle.

Adelphi, which currently selects fine casks from other distilleries for bottling, currently sells most of its produce abroad, but we are fortunate that, by special arrangement, a selection of its whiskies is available here in West Ardnamurchan, at The Ferry Stores.

An information sheet with more details can be downloaded here.

Adelphi's website is here, and Ardnamurchan Estate's here.

Buzzards - Better News

2012-01-16T14:21:00.003Z

A few days ago The Diary was extremely worried about the state of buzzard life along Ormsaigbeg, which had dropped from a healthy population of four before the December storms to one solitary individual. He'd stopped flying high and giving his characteristic, mewling call; he spent his time wandering round a field forlornly looking for worms; and, when disturbed, he simply sat and looked at us.

All that has changed. As we walked back along the road yesterday there were three buzzards wheeling high above us; all were calling; and one we saw sitting by the road took off as soon as he spotted us.

We're thrilled, but the local mouse population is probably disgusted at developments.

District Nurses - Developments

2012-01-16T11:21:00.004Z

In an interview with The Herald, Stewart and Judy Pote, who live and run a small business in Achnaha (pictured), have bravely gone public on the effects the loss of our District Nurses will have on them. The article is here but is carried more fully in today's printed newspaper.

Dave Thompson, our constituency MSP, is due to meet with NHS Highland today.

Camas nan Geall

2012-01-16T11:02:00.001Z

This is the first of a short series of photographs taken by Bob Jones on his round-Britain cycle ride, website here.

Bay to Bay - 1

2012-01-15T14:31:00.006Z

Today, with the dry spell continuing but the temperature struggling to lift itself above 4C at midday and a stiff southeasterly blowing to make it feel even colder, we set off on a brisk walk west from Fascadale Bay to the little port called Eigin-aig. The photograph looks across Fascadale Bay to Meall Buidhe Mor, the big, rounded yellow hill.

Wherever we went there seemed to be deer watching us, some basking in the occasional patches of low, winter sun. The groups varied from lone males through to a herd consisting of eighteen hinds and one fine stag. We were also fortunate to see an eagle sweeping low over the hills.

From the cairn at the summit of Meall Buidhe Mor, we looked back across Fascadale Bay to the wide bay on which the small crofting township of Kilmory stands. On the far side of the bay two of Ardnamurchan Estate's letting houses are visible. Most letting houses here seem to be empty at this time of year yet, as long as the weather isn't too unkind, it's a wonderful time to be walking these hills, with the bracken dead and not another soul to be seen.

About half way to our destination we passed this small lochan. It's un-named on the OS map, but the small burn that leaves its far side to plunge down a cleft in the cliffs to empty into the sea is called Slochd Dorcha, which might be translated as the 'dark hollow'. In the distance is Meall Aigin-aig, which stands over the small port which was our destination.

A map of the walk is here.

The West Ardnamurchan Regatta

2012-01-14T12:00:00.003Z

From Jacqui Chapple:

The annual West Ardnamurchan Regatta takes place in late July or early August each year - dates vary depending on tides. This year, the event will take place over Thursday 26^th and Friday 27^th of July and will include sailing, rowing, kayaking and power boat racing with

categories for all ages including children.

The main events take place on Friday when there is a fun family atmosphere and plenty of things for everyone to enjoy including stalls, a large food marquee with a barbecue and local baking and an appearance by the RNLI and Coatguard. There is also a bar.

One of the best races to watch and take part in is the raft race which attracts a large number of local competitors as well as visitors to the area who make their rafts out of all sorts of junk. Just staying afloat in this race is a feat in itself but winning of course brings that added bonus!

The event culminates in a prize giving ceremony on Friday afternoon and is usually followed by a fun family ceilidh with a stomping live band at the Kilchoan Community Centre in the evening. This year, Sonafest, the local music festival will be held over the following two days – so for those wanting a wild weekend in the Highlands, then this is your opportunity to get involved.

Jacqui and John Chapple run Steading Holidays which offers a wide range of local, self-catering accommodation, website here.

Meall Sanna

2012-01-13T15:40:00.005Z

Meall Sanna, the peak at the left of this photograph, isn't an impressively high hill, nor is it a climb so much as a steep scramble, but it was a joy to be out this morning working our way across the heather-clad slopes towards its summit. It was the sort of morning that makes all the.... damper days we have here worthwhile.

From the shoulder of the hill we had a view across the bay to Portuairk, the shadows long and deep because we had set off in good time, so we were on the peak shortly after ten. The hill is part of the circle of gabbro hills left by the Ardnamurchan volcano. In the gigantic boulders scattered across the slopes we came across large crystals of a dark mineral, possibly an amphibole, which were weathering out into a rust which stained the rocks.

Near the summit is a pool of clear but peaty water. It's surprising how often pools like this are to be found near the tops of Ardnamurchan's hills. They remind us of the infinity pools of expensive hotels; every time we see one we imagine a very hot summer day and the refreshment of a plunge in their chilly waters.

Eastwards, towards the opposite wall of the gabbro intrusion, we looked down on the small township of Achnaha. Every time we see this view we're amazed at the extent of the field systems around it, and speculate as to how many people they must have supported when the village was at its peak. Its population today is only nine but they make up for their small numbers by being some of the busiest people on the peninsula, crofting and running thriving small businesses. If Portuairk is the centre of the known universe, then Achnaha is its business hub.

Parliamentary Question

2012-01-13T12:19:00.003Z

The following is a transcript of the question asked in the Scottish Parliament yesterday:

Mary Scanlon: When the issue of emergency cover and a new district nurse in west Ardnamurchan was raised in the Parliament last year, the health secretary rightly said that it is crucial that the NHS and the Scottish Ambulance Service come up with a model of service provision that is deliverable and which satisfies the community’s concerns about safety and sustainability.

From the responses that I have received this week, I know that the community is not satisfied, as it has a nurse for the whole of west Lochaber and not just west Ardnamurchan, and no local emergency cover. Will the health secretary now intervene in the matter?

Nicola Sturgeon: I said previously and I say again to Mary Scanlon that I absolutely understand the concerns of local people. I believe strongly that people who live in the remotest parts of Scotland have a right to high-quality health services but, as I have said before in the chamber, how those are delivered in some of our more remote communities will sometimes differ from how they are delivered in urban Scotland.

I remain firmly of the view that dialogue must continue so that we get to a position at which the people of the community feel that their health service cover is adequate and safe. I will continue to ensure that both the local health board and the Ambulance Service, which is a key player, continue to strive for that. I am happy to meet Mary Scanlon and local constituents if that would be helpful but, fundamentally, the issue is for the local community, working with the health services, to resolve to its satisfaction.

Many thanks to the 'Press & Journal' for letting us have this.

Meeting with Nicola Sturgeon

2012-01-13T09:05:00.004Z

Mary Scanlon MSP asked a question in the Scottish Parliament yesterday which resulted in Nicola Sturgeon, Cabinet Secretary for Health & Wellbeing, offering to meet with Mary, Mike MacKenzie MSP , Rhoda Grant MSP and representatives of the West Ardnamurchan community to discuss the ongoing problem of nursing and medical emergency provision here.

Meanwhile, Dave Thompson, our constituency MSP, has arranged a meeting with NHS Highland on Monday. Again, many thanks to Dave for his efforts on our behalf.

These are fantastic breakthroughs, and we are extremely grateful to our MSPs for all they have done for our cause. The meeting with Ms Strugeon gives us a golden opportunity to plead our case.

Two Dawns

2012-01-12T15:01:00.003Z

Shades of lilac flood the Sound of Mull as one of MacLean brothers' creel boats works a calm sea - photo taken yesterday at 8.20am.

Dawn this morning, at 9.03am, with three starlings sitting on the chimney pot of Shore Cottage, below the Ferry Stores, and the remains of the red ensign raised for last year's Regatta.

District Nurses

2012-01-12T11:16:00.002Z

Please see important post on the West Ardnamurchan News & Information site, here.

Missing Diver Found near MacLean's Nose

2012-01-11T12:15:00.005Z

Kilchoan Coastguard team were called out yesterday afternoon to assist in a search for a diver lost in the Sound of Mull. He was reported missing from the Ullapool-registered scallop boat Atlantia, and was last seen off the Red Rocks, in the middle of the Sound of Mull opposite Kilchoan, where he had entered the water at about 2.30pm.

Following a major sea search in which the Kilchoan team worked with the Tobermory Lifeboat, the Coastguard helicopter from Stornoway, the Kilchoan-Tobermory ferry and several fishing boats, the diver was located safe on the shore near MacLean's Nose at about 5.00pm. The Kilchoan team had nearly reached him, working their way along the beach from Mingary Castle, but it was his own boat that found him. He was picked up by the Coastguard helicopter and taken to hospital.

A call-out to lost divers is frequently a sorry affair, so it is very good to hear of one, in winter, with the diver in the water for over two hours, which turned out well.

Trevor Heads Home

2012-01-11T12:00:00.001Z

Trevor Potts, having spent several weeks working as a guide and lecturer on a cruise ship in Antarctica, is on his way home. He was due to fly from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires last night, and hopes to be back in the UK tomorrow.

These pictures from his trip show adelie penguins and chicks, and....

....here are more adelies 'porpoising'. Perhaps Trevor could bring a few adelies back to Kilchoan with him.

At least the weather in Antarctica looks a little better than it's been here.

Trevor Potts runs the Ardnamurchan Campsite, website here.

Community Council

2012-01-10T14:53:00.002Z

A report on last night's West Ardnamurchan Community Council meeting - including discussions on the District Nurses, Tobermory ferry, power cuts and.... yes.... our very own distillery - is on the West Ardnamurchan News & Information site, here.

Fishing Report

2012-01-10T14:49:00.001Z

For our two local creel fishermen, Titch MacLachlan and Justin Cameron, December's succession of gales posed some serious problems. On average, Titch has only been out about one day a week and, while his creel fleets haven't been lost, many have become tangled - frustrating when prices are at their highest in the run-up to Christmas. A year ago, with the weather cold but calm, the fishing was far better.

On the other hand, with fewer prawns being landed along Scotland's west coast because of the weather, prices have been good, up by between £3 and £4 per kilo on last year. Thus medium prawns which were £12 a kilo are selling at £15, and extra large - of which there aren't too many to be caught - rose from £18 to £21. By contrast, lobster prices haven't risen, staying at around £16 per kilo.

Titch MacLachlan's boat, Sylvia T, is seen here on returning from a day's fishing. His income is 90% prawns, 5% lobsters and 5% velvet crabs. This catch, being unloaded at Mingary Pier, is an exceptionally good one.

This photo shows an extra large prawn, the sort Titch wishes would fill his creels to bursting. The catch is transported to Eyemouth, from where most goes to Spain.

The Diary is a great admirer of these two young businessmen, for whom success has only come at the price of hard work in what are often very difficult conditions. May they both have a very successful 2012.

Many thanks to Titch for photos and information.

Otter Encounter

2012-01-09T15:52:00.000Z

We've seen several otters along this section of the Ormsaigbeg shoreline in the last few weeks so, with a beautiful day in store, we spent a couple of hours wandering along it hoping that we'd be in luck. We saw curlew, oystercatcher, rock pippit, grey heron, shag and several types of gull, and then....

....some two hundred metres away, the characteristic head and V-shaped wake of an otter. He was obviously carrying something in his mouth but that didn't prevent him diving so, each time he went down, we worked our way out along a jut of rock so we were almost in his path. Then we stood very still, waiting.

He came out onto the rocks right in front of us, no more than ten metres away, and immediately started on his meal, a large crab which he crunched with relish, his jaws working so fast that most of the pictures are blurred.

His meal finished he stopped for a few moments and looked directly at us, as if to say that he'd known we were there all the time. Then he turned and slipped back into the water.

The Dun at Rubha na h-Uamha

2012-01-08T14:30:00.000Z

Rubha na h-Uamha means the point of the cave, perhaps referring to the proximity of MacIain's Cave, the site of a singularly bloody massacre in 1624 - see earlier post here for location and story.

The dun lies about a kilometre northeast of the tiny village of Ockle on Ardnamurchan's spectacular north coast. The promontory on which it stands is most easily reached by following the track which leaves Ockle and wanders east towards Gortenfern and the Singing Sands. Just over a kilometre along the track there's a cairn, below which the headland can be clearly seen. Its a steep and slippery scramble down to it, a walk which should only be attempted by those who are fit and well-prepared.

It's only as the small headland is approached that the historical feature it hides begins to become visible. The 'dun', or iron-age fort, is built of the local stone and is wonderfully camouflaged into the shore end of the promontory. One can easily understand why it was built there. It's a natural defensive position, surrounded on three sides by the sea, and tucked against a great block of rock which was integrated into its fortifications. It has beaches on either side of it, onto which ships could have been pulled up at high tide.

Even in this picture, taken from the west, the walls are still difficult to see. The built structure consists of a thick wall on three sides enclosing an area about 10m by 5m. The wall on the seaward side has almost completely collapsed, and much of the rest of it is in poor condition, making it relatively easy to climb into the fort.

This photo of the view from the east shows how the built walls are invisible from that side, the natural fortification of the cliffs, with the high lookout point, being quite sufficient to deter attack.

MacIain's Cave is a short but energetic scramble along the shore to the east of here.

The land is owned by the Cameron brothers, who have three letting cottages at Ockle, website here. A map of the walk is here.

Buzzard Worries

2012-01-07T10:59:00.002Z

All last year we had four buzzards working the fields along Ormsaigbeg. They were part of the scenery. Since the end of the recent run of storms only this one remains - and pretty miserable he's looking. Instead of patrolling the skies above us, he spends time on the ground, hopping round the fields, possibly looking for worms.

Throughout the succession of gales which have harried us since early December, the buzzards haven't had a chance to hunt properly. Their main food here is mice, of which there's usually an abundance, but the buzzards attack them from the air - and any buzzard that took to the air was promptly blown away.

Buzzards have a pretty hard time even when the weather's normal. This picture, taken in early December, shows one of the four being chased by a hooded crow. They're also bothered by gulls, which sometimes set on them in packs.

Our only hope is that the missing three have been blown inland and will, over the next few days, find their way home.

Ships in the Sound

2012-01-06T07:48:00.001Z

While the Sound of Mull is rarely empty of some sort of passing shipping, for shore-side observers such as The Diary the winter months are usually much less interesting than others.

The working boats cannot take a rest. These include the big bulk carriers that plough their way down to the Glensanda super-quarry and the fish farm supply ships, such as the one above, the Viktoria Lady. She's 53m long and Norwegian. She looks like one of the 'well boats' which carry live fish but she's registered as carrying 'Hazard D' cargoes - perhaps someone can explain this.

We've seen the Harvest Anne, owned by the big land-transport company Fergusson Transport, often enough but this is a much better picture of her as she moves west down Loch Sunart towards the Sound of Mull. She delivers cargoes to fish farms up and down the west coast.

We've had plenty of cargo ships through the Sound in the last few weeks. It may be that the poor weather persuades them to take a route through these calmer waters.

Windstar (above) is a 2,700dwt Norwegian-registered cargo ship which passed us at the beginning of December. Her owners are Swedish and she carries general cargoes. The Diary doesn't want to be unkind, but the designers of ships like this must put 'good looks' a long way down their list of design priorities.

This is the 4,175dwt Grimm, a German cargo ship which is noticeable for her unusual design. She lacks the standard superstructure aft which houses crew accommodation as well as the bridge. Instead she has the bridge lifted on stalks. The design is interesting as it should reduce windage. Built in 1992, her home port is Hamburg.

Global 1 is Lithuanian, of 2,451wt and 88m length, built in 2000, and has her home port as Klaipeda. She's another general cargo ship and the first Lithuanian ship we've seen. She's very comparable to Windstar but so much better looking - and her owners have, at least, chosen a cheerful colour to paint her hull.

It always seems sad when owners give their ships unattractive names. In the old days there was a tradition that ships were female and carried women's names. As a ships' agent in East Africa, The Diary's father dealt with many shipping lines and had some sympathy for those which, like the Clan Line, named their boats after Scottish clans, or Harrisons, whose ships all carried the names of careers such as Architect or Author. This little cargo ship is the Flinterbaltica, a Dutch-registered ship of 3,400dwt built in 2004.

Fishing boats move up and down our waters whatever the time of year and are always interesting to watch. This compact black and white boat, which we've seen before, is the Atlantic Quest, SO985, a Danish-built twin-rigged trawler registered in Sligo; her home port is Killybegs.

Lastly, in these difficult days, some trawlers have to find other ways than fishing to earn their owners a crust. This one is pictured towing fish farm nets down the Sound. It seems a bit sad seeing a fishing boat reduced to such a menial task but it's a reflection on the dire state of the Scottish fishing industry.

A Fine Day

2012-01-05T18:57:00.001Z

The view across the Sound of Mull this morning a few minutes after dawn on a day when the early promise was fulfilled: we've enjoyed some beautiful weather with a brisk north-northwesterly blowing.

An Ardnamurchan Winter Holiday

2012-01-05T09:36:00.001Z

From Jenny Clifton:

"You're mad" or "You're so lucky" were the reactions we got when we told people that for Christmas all eleven of us were off to Scotland to stay in a remote house, miles from anywhere. Just before Christmas Mum turned sixty and to celebrate her birthday she wanted to take my sister and I, our partners and children to Ardnamurchan for a holiday. For mum (Joan 60) and us (the Cliftons - James, Jenny, Phoebe 2 and Max the three legged wonder dog 10) it would be our tenth visit to the best place on earth but for my sister (the Agrelas - Laura, Paulo, Tara 14, Joseph 7, Lily 5, Samuel 3 and Bella 1) it was her first. I am convinced she thought we were going to the North Pole with the provisions she packed. Mum had been saving £10 a week for two years in order to treat us all to a week at Fascadale House. We normally stay at the Lighthouse at Easter but with eleven we needed somewhere bigger.

We all live in Eastbourne and it is 621 miles door to door. We took three cars and two days to transport ourselves up, stopping overnight at Penrith. When crossing the border the kids worried that none of them spoke Scottish or had their passport. After fourteen hours of driving we arrived thrilled to find such a lovely big house set in a beautiful place with deer and cows just outside the door. The Ferry Stores were brilliant, getting a lot of our food ordered in and fetching baby milk in at a days’ notice during a gale.

We were desperate to show the newbies all our favourite places but we had to deal with the weather. On Friday it was bright but breezy. Our first visit was to Sanna beach. Joseph is doing volcanoes at school so had a hands on lesson as we drove to Sanna. Photos were taken for his project. If we thought the wind was strong on Friday it was nothing compared to the gales later in the week. After being blown about we returned to the house for Christmas decoration making: paper chains, snow flakes and letters to Father Christmas were all prepared.

Christmas Eve was wet and windy so off we went to the lighthouse for a look around. The waves were amazing and foam from the sea was blowing across the car park. The little ones found the wind too much but the big kids loved it. Back at the house we attempted to create a candle tealight runway to help Father Christmas land but the wind scuppered that so we just left milk and biscuits and sign asking him to stop.

The weather on Christmas day was even more wet and windy so only mum and I ventured out for a walk. We only had cows for company and couldn’t cross Allt a’Choire Chreagaich as the water was flooding down. The wind got up and provided a constant noise throughout the house but it still couldn’t drown out the noise of 5 over-excited children.

Tuesday was the only day without wind and rain and we made the most of it. We returned to the lighthouse for a proper explore before the whole clan took to Fascadale beach for a beach bonfire and marshmallow toasting. To celebrate 60 years of mum we tried to send off six Chinese lanterns (one for each decade). Only four made it to the sky whilst two were blown apart in our hands.

The wind continued to blow and Wednesday was our first real taste of a proper Scottish gale. The roof of one of the stone buildings was blown off. We kept the kids in all day and disappointed the younger ones as a visit to Balamory was out of the question. Mum and I went to Kilmory beach at 1pm just before the height of the storm and the wind was out of this world, so strong it blew us back up the hill to the car which thankfully was the right way up with roof box still on. Back at the house the wind was lifting the roof and had turned the sea in to a monster. No photo will ever do it justice. We had never heard wind like it and did worry the roof might lift right off. We were reassured when an Ardnamurchan Estate man came to check on the house. We lost power at 2pm - fun at first but trying to pack up to return home in the pitch black with torches and candles was very hard. Tea was cooked for 11 on a camping gas stove and the log burner kept us toasty warm. Coping without electricity for 18 hours made us appreciate what frequent power cuts must be like – us soft southerners do have it easy.

Christmas at Fascadale was fantastic – it didn’t matter that the wind and rain were almost constant. We now begin saving to bring everyone back for a summer holiday in a few years whilst we will return in April for two weeks at our beloved Lighthouse.

Flying in All Weather

2012-01-04T09:58:00.003Z

HM Coastguard helicopter is seen flying northwest along the Sound of Mull yesterday at 1.50pm, with the Glengorm communication masts to the left. The helicopter, a Sikorsky S-92, is based at Stornoway, about 45 minutes flying time from Kilchoan.

Antarctic Storms

2012-01-04T09:16:00.001Z

From Trevor Potts in Usuaia

We had an eventful last trip with storm force winds in the Drake Passage on the way to Antarctica resulting in a port hole on Deck 2 breaking and a big window about 3ft square on the deck above crashing in. This not only flooded the two passenger cabins but also the cabins opposite when the water flooded under the doors. Fortunately everyone was in a briefing at the time so no one was showered with shards of glass. It did however mean a few waves came in before it was discovered. The crew had to weld a steel plate over the big window until they could put new glass in when we were in a sheltered anchorage.

The photo does not do justice to the size of the waves as they were about 8 or 9 meters. On the way back as we approached Cape Horn we just had a regular gale, but quite a big sea from an awkward angle which made sleep all but impossible. A lot of our passengers looked as though they had suffered a bad case of domestic violence: black eyes and plasters on face and head, also quite a few stitches in lips and eyebrows.

We were however rewarded with excellent weather whilst in Antarctica with three out of four days of clear blue skies and little or no wind, making our job easier. On our visit to Palmer Station, a US scientific base, we had a great deal of ice to drive the zodiacs through. We only just made it ashore.

Trevor runs the Ardnamurchan Campsite & Study Centre, website here.

Beached Whale at Sanna

2012-01-03T11:25:00.005Z

'Kilchoan Early Bird' has just sent in these photographs of a whale washed up on one of the beaches at Sanna. The whale is about 5m long, and 'KEB' reckons that it's been dead for three weeks, so it's not in a pretty condition.

The bulbous head and gaps where the teeth used to be suggest it's a Pilot Whale. The species which is most common in North Atlantic waters is the long-finned Pilot Whale Globicephala melas. What with the finding of the trigger fish (post here), this has been an exciting week along the Sanna beaches.

More about Pilot Whales here.

Meteor Shower

2012-01-03T10:55:00.005Z

At 8.15, in yesterday morning's half-light, there was a break in the weather, with the clouds clearing for just a few minutes - and, in that short time, a magnificent shooting star fell from the vault of the sky into the cloudbank that obscured the southern horizon.

This is one of the times of year when there is a good chance of seeing shooting stars. For those of you who are fortunate enough to have clearer skies than we do, the early hours of tomorrow morning see the maximum of the Quadrantid meteorite shower. Look north-northeast, the best time being around 3.00am.

A good website to keep track of the meteor maxima this year is EarthSky, here.

New Crofting Website

2012-01-03T10:17:00.003Z

Tom Bryson has Craigard Croft in Ormsaigbeg. Tom's a farmer of wide experience in at least four continents, so his story of grappling with the crofting life are well worth reading. His blog is http://craigardcroft.blogspot.com/.

Our Emergency Services

2012-01-03T10:10:00.001Z

HM Coastguard, Kilchoan, was called out last Thursday night after a passenger on the CalMac ferry Clansman reported seeing three white flares between Coll and Ardnamurchan Point. Both the Coll and Kilchoan teams spent some time searching the waters, the Kilchoan team being fortunate that visibility from the lighthouse was good until obscured by a hail shower.

Nothing was found, but this is, in some ways, one of the worst sorts of call-out, as there is always the lingering fear that someone out there was in distress but couldn't be found in the dark vastness of the ocean.

Kilchoan Fire Brigade have attended two chimney fires recently, and wishes to remind householders that they should have their chimneys swept at least twice a year if they're burning wood, and at least once a year of their main fuel is coal.

Many thanks to our local emergency services, which include HM Coastguard, Kilchoan Fire team, our two much-valued nurses, our two doctors, the Strontian ambulance service and the local police, for all they have done for us in the last year.

Winter Walking

2012-01-02T15:05:00.004Z

With a blustery and showery westerly wind blowing this morning, and in need of a walk across land as well-drained as possible, we headed for the sheltered, east-facing slope of the long hill called Cathair Mhic Dhiarmaid - MacDiarmid's Seat. This runs parallel to the road which goes down from the Cairn to Branault, forming one side of the lovely open valley of the Achateny Water. As we came down the road a squall laid a layer of hail across the tarmac, the first of many showers we would.... enjoy.

Looking back along the road as we climbed the first slopes, we watched the next shower wrap itself around the summit of Ben Hiant, which has been snow-capped since first thing this morning. The building visible in both these shots is Braehouse Cottage, one of Ardnamurchan Estate's letting properties.

At the northern end of the hill is a shallow dell which runs parallel to the contour. Lying in it, with his chin resting on a rock, was a young stag which had died not long ago. There was some evidence that he'd become entangled in loose wire which had been left lying around when a new deer fence was built, and had then fallen down the slope into the valley.

As we worked our way along the hill it began to snow in big flakes whipped along by a sharp wind. Our progress was watched by a small group of hinds which may have been the luckless stag's harem. They seemed inquisitive rather than afraid - perhaps surprised that humans could be so foolish to be out on the hills on such a wet day.

Then, as so often happens in this place, the skies cleared, the sun came out, and the whole valley seemed to glow in rich, vibrant colours. This picture looks from the road up towards the ridge of Cathair Mhic Dhiarmaid. The sun didn't last long: within minutes the scene was submerged in a heavy hail storm.

The Christmas and New Year period have been very wet indeed, the heaviest rain coming on the last day of 2011, when we had 29mm, over an inch. One thing we would like to see come in with the New Year is a change in the weather.

2012

2012-01-01T00:01:00.001Z

The Diary wishes all its readers a very happy,

healthy and prosperous New Year.

The Long, Winding Road

2011-12-31T12:11:00.001Z

As each year passes we look back down a longer, windier road. The twists and turns of this year's road seem to have been harder than usual for this community. Many people, in particular, remain very worried about what will happen in February when Jessie Colquhoun, after some 35 years' dedicated service, retires and the NHS reorganises our medical services. Other services are threatened, including our ferry to Tobermory, and there is talk of Kilchoan fire station being downgraded. With the nation's disposable incomes falling, Ardnamurchan is having to work harder every year to attract visitors; and, while some prices for livestock have gone up, costs are spiralling, so maintaining incomes from crofting is a hard battle. On top of all this, the weather has been unusually unkind, with a storm as late as May, and a succession of lightning strikes and storms in December.

Despite this, the cheerful resilience of those who live in this remote place never ceases to amaze me. Even when we seem to have had more than our fair share of 'Kilchoan sunshine', and the world seems a grey place, there's never a shortage of smiles and kind words. And we are blessed with the visitors who come here, many of whom return year after year, never tiring of this place and its people.

As the pages of The Diary witness, West Ardnamurchan's beauty, its archaeology, history, wildlife, land- and seascapes offer unending opportunities for pleasure and leisure. Over the year, Gill and I have walked miles across its rugged landscapes and along its wonderfully varied coastline. Ardnamurchan's openness, its emptiness, the opportunities it offers to walk for a whole day and see no-one, are rare commodities in this crowded world. We feel very privileged.

Taken from the summit of Creag an Airgid, the hill of silver, the photograph looks northwestwards along the winding road to Sanna. The ridge in the near distance which the road so carefully skirts is Sidhean Mor (or Sithean Mor), the big hillock, and the burn which runs in the same direction as the road is Allt Uamha na Muice, which means, as well as The Diary can translate it, the stream of the cave of the pig. Beyond the tiny village of Achnaha, visible in a patch of green grass, the stream changes its name, becoming Allt Sanna, entering the sea at the northern end of Sanna's white-sand beaches.

In the middle distance, to the left of the road, is Meall Sanna, Meall meaning a round hill, while to the right are a line of hills, all part of the great ring dyke, of which the highest is Meall Clach an Daraich, the rounded hill of stone and oak. The island in the distance is Muck, with the coastline of Rhum just visible under the low cloud beyond.

This is one of about sixty photos taken on an October day when we climbed Creag an Airgid. The weather was cloudy, with a hint of rain in the breeze, and most of the pictures were disappointing. It wasn't until it was viewed on the computer screen that the almost map-like quality of this one became apparent.

Rare Fish Found at Sanna

2011-12-30T14:34:00.009Z

Beachcombing is always fun after a gale or two - one never knows what one will find - and Sanna beach must be on of the best places to enjoy this pastime, even if it's in sleety rain driven along by a stiff southeaster. Today's walk started well, with the first discovery on the grass just at the back of the beach, near the mouth of the Sanna Burn.

It didn't take long to identify this fish, even though it's not on the normal list of British sea fish, as The Diary has seen the species in rather warmer waters. It's a trigger fish, probably the grey trigger fish, Balistes capriscus. If the identification is correct, it's a long way from home. The species is normally found along the western coast of Africa, from the Mediterranean southwards, and along the eastern seaboard of the Americas, from Nova Scotia to Argentina. There are, however, reports of the fish both alive and dead in British waters - read here for a note about a dead specimen being washed up on Lewis in 2000, and here for more details. Quite why it was on the grass remains a mystery, though it was probably put there by a passer-by.

Our local fishermen should watch out for live specimens as it has a reputation for attacking people, the bite being very painful. It's also very good to eat.

We've found sea potatoes at Sanna before, usually at low tide on the sand in the bay, but a number of unusually large specimens were scattered along the upper beach, probably dug out of their burrows by the storm waves. The sea potato, Echinocardium cordatum, is a type of sea urchin. When it's alive it's covered with what looks like hair but is actually fine spines. The specimen on the left is about as large as they come, at about 9cm. More about sea potatoes here.

Meanwhile, on land the search for breaks along the power lines continues. A Scottish and Southern helicopter was working along the flanks of Meall Sanna as we walked back to the car, the machine passing over the village before heading off towards Achnaha, where electricity was finally restored about 6.00pm yesterday evening.

Good News

2011-12-30T10:10:00.005Z

There's good news for pig lovers at the beginning of the new year: this end of the peninsula boasts many fewer pigs in residence since the Friday before Christmas, when Dave Cash sent a sow and 28 piglets across to Mull. Sadly, he still has four left over here, busy making bacon. Many thanks to Dave who, with his wife Stella, runs Meall mo Chridhe.

Meanwhile, Hughie's horrible ten have been relocated into the heart of Kilchoan, into a field where an accident with a fence might mean the destruction of countless beautiful gardens on the Old Golf Course development. The Diary can't understand how Hughie sleeps peacefully at night.

Good news, too, from Portuairk, that village at the centre of the known universe, which bore the brunt of Wednesday's weather. Very little damage is reported, possibly because, if damage was there to be done, it happened during the 8th December blow. Many thanks to Donna Cameron for this picture taken during the height of the storm.

Clearing Up

2011-12-29T19:27:00.003Z

After the storm, there's the clearing-up. These days, the most time-demanding problems always seem to relate to electronics and the internet. Last time we lost a router and two telephones. This time, we're struggling with our broadband speeds which have dropped drastically following the recent power cuts, from a very acceptable download speed of 4 Mb/s to 0.23 Mb/s. The Diary has spent a long time on the telephone to India, talking to a very nice man who finally decided that the problem must be at our local exchange. He has sent a message to an engineer who will fix it over the next 48 hours - hopefully, he or she lives in Scotland rather than India, or perhaps such fixings can be done from half a world away. Meanwhile, The Diary won't be uploading pictures of more than 500 Kb.

Anne Jackson has cheered us up with this super picture of the Sanna beaches taken during the storm, during a lull when enough sunshine appeared to spark a rainbow.

More Gale Pictures

2011-12-29T12:03:00.006Z

These photographs, taken by Anne Jackson yesterday at Portuairk (above) and the Lighthouse, are a brave attempt to capture the fury of yesterday's storm but they cannot show the way the wind seemed to flatten even the largest waves, and then whipped their tops off and threw the spray in a swirling horizontal curtain across sea and land. The sound was eerie, a wild, banshee screaming, particularly where the wind passed through the branches of deciduous trees. The Raptor, who lives on the relatively protected south side of the peninsula, recorded a gust of 109 mph. The anemometer at the Lighthouse, where speeds would have been even higher, is still not working.

Power losses along the west coast of Scotland were far fewer than for the 8th December storm: this morning's news reported that only 1,000 homes were affected overnight, amongst which those on West Ardnamurchan were, inevitably, included. Serious questions have to be asked of Scottish and Southern Energy about why it is that we suffer so badly.

The power started going on and off around 12.30 yesterday afternoon and finally died at about 2.00pm. It came back at 11.00 this morning in Kilchoan, but it's still off along the north side of the peninsula. They have been told that they will have to wait until 6.00pm this evening for reconnection.

The Gale: First Pictures

2011-12-28T12:04:00.002Z

First pictures of today's gale come from 'Kilchoan Early Bird'. This one shows waves breaking against the CalMac pier at Mingary.

Sadly, this one, of the two creel boats kept in a bay near Glen More, owned and worked by two Kilchoan fishermen, comes with a caption:

Soon for sale: two west coast fishing boats.

Reason: gales.

Yet Another Gale

2011-12-28T09:33:00.003Z

There's a full southwesterly gale blowing at the moment, but it doesn't affect us too much tucked, as we are, into the southeast-facing hillside of Ormsaigbeg. It's due to go round more into the northwest, when it'll find its way round the end of the hill - and then we'll feel it. The weather is predicted to deteriorate further as the day goes on, with the highest winds coming in during the afternoon.

The Way the Wind Blows

2011-12-28T09:20:00.000Z

Many of the trees growing along our coastlines are asymmetrical, if not always so extremely as the two shown in these photographs. The one pictured above stands beside the track leading east from the tiny settlement of Ockle, the second beside the road that runs from Achnaha to Sanna.

Geography books state that the direction in which they bend is controlled by the prevailing wind. After the gale we had in May, the reason may not be quite as simple. Then, the leaves on the windward side of deciduous trees were burned by the wind and the salt spray it carried. In some cases, the leaves died altogether, and the branches remained bare throughout the summer season.

So it may be less the direction of the prevailing wind than the direction of the late spring or early-summer gales which control their growth by killing the branches that face up-wind.

Bird News

2011-12-27T10:55:00.004Z

Following Nan MacLachlan's recent discovery of this bird ring in a field in Ormsaigbeg (post here), we haven't heard back from Euring but Diary reader Allan Cowan has written in to say that its shape suggests the ring came from one of the Auk family such as the guillemots and razorbills (more details on British auks here). An extract from the Ringers' Manual which Allan sent says, "Auks rest on the rear edge of their tarsi while on rocks, and as a result the ring number on conventional rings would wear rapidly and the ring would be weakened. Special auk rings are designed so that, when fitted correctly, a flat area of the ring with no inscription is at the back of the tarsus and the inscription is at the side." Many thanks to Allan for this.

A couple of days ago we were distressed to find this greenfinch on our terrace wall showing all the symptoms of the trichomonosis disease which killed many of the species a couple of years ago, and from which they were supposed to be recovering. His feathers were fluffed up, he was obviously disorientated, and he was hopping around trying to feed but not making much of a job of it. Look closely at the picture - he has a ring on his right leg. More about trichomonosis here.

This blackbird was hopping around in a Kilchoan field this morning. Perhaps it was the Christmas high winds which removed his tail feathers.

A Lull in the Storms

2011-12-27T10:33:00.004Z

The wind dropped early yesterday evening, but not before we'd had a bad moment when the power went off at about 4.15 in the afternoon, fortunately for only a minute. The sky cleared overnight, the temperature fell to a chilly 5C, and the wind moved into the southeast and dropped to a light breeze. By 6.30 this morning a blanket of high cloud was heaving up from the southwest: this picture, taken just after 9.00am looking across Kilchoan Bay, shows the last of the disappearing sky. The forecast is for winds of over 50mph by midday tomorrow (force 9), gusting into the high 60s (force 11).

With continuing high rainfall - we had 16mm on Christmas Day and another 6mm yesterday - the crofters' flocks are struggling. There's no grass growing and the fields are trampled to mud, so they're subsisting on pellets and silage.

Gales Continue

2011-12-26T14:31:00.006Z

After a day indoors yesterday - as predicted, a gale blew all day, bringing 14mm of rain with it - we drove out towards the lighthouse and parked our car near Grigadale farm. The weather hadn't changed; if anything, todays' tempest is more furious than yesterday's, though not as destructive as the storm of 8th December. Walking along the road towards the lighthouse we weren't too badly knocked around until we approached the entrance to the Visitor's Centre, when all hell seemed to be let loose.

The bay on the left was a maelstrom, with huge waves breaking on Dubh Rubha Mor, the aptly named 'great black headland', and yellowy balls of spume rocketing across the road. The wind stood in the southwest, so the heaviest waves were concentrated on the far side of the bay.

The western front of the point was also taking a severe beating, spray from the breaking waves passing right across the visitors' car park some 30m above.

The lighthouse itself was relatively protected, particularly as the tide was low by the time we reached it, but walking round it was eerie: the wind howled as it passed around the tower and through its various aerials and antennae.

The bay to the north lay in the lee of the gale so the waves weren't as spectacular, but the blue-green sea seemed beaten flat by the force of the wind. By this time the gale was building again, and we had to fight to prevent ourselves being blown off our feet as we made our way back towards the Cafe.

Winds are predicted to veer into the northwest and drop tonight, with the temperature falling from its current balmy 10C to 5 or 6C. A fair day is forecast for tomorrow, but Wednesday looks as if it'll be bringing yet more stormy weather.

Greylag Geese

2011-12-26T14:14:00.000Z

Greylag Geese on the marsh at the back of Kilchoan Bay.

Christmas Day

2011-12-25T07:47:00.000Z

Christmas Weather

2011-12-24T12:13:00.003Z

Looks like we're going to enjoy lashings of Kilchoan sunshine bathing the place over the Christmas holiday. Today we're promised sunny rays pushed on by winds at force 6 gusting to force 8, tomorrow we're expecting our turkey and Christmas pudding to be helped down by something between force 8 and force 10, and Boxing Day looks like cold mince pies - the electricity is bound to be off under the sheer weight of sunshine by then - with liquid sunlight pouring past at force 7 to force 9.

Fortunately the village is, as always, well fortified with liquids of a quite different variety so probably won't care what the weather's doing outside or whether the water also goes off. The Diary, not be a great fan of anything from the New World, will be snuggling down with a couple of bottles of very naughty St Emilion. Nectar.

Threat to Ferry Service

2011-12-23T17:05:00.001Z

As if the problems we face with the proposed changes to our nursing service were not enough, there is now a threat to the Tobermory-Kilchoan ferry service. Please read full details on the West Ardnamurchan News & Information site, here.

Pine Marten at Night

2011-12-23T15:17:00.002Z

This video was taken at night by 'Kilchoan Early Bird' in woodland near Glen More. It was filmed using a fixed camera triggered by a PIR sensor.

Wandering Ardnamurchan Albatross - Episode 2

2011-12-23T15:10:00.000Z

In his second post (see earlier one here) Trevor Potts writes from Antarctica ...

We set sail for our fourth trip to Antarctica from Ushuaia at 6 pm (9 pm GMT) on 23rd of December and if we have a good crossing should arrive for a landing in the South Shetland Islands on the afternoon of Christmas Day. Boxing Day will be just into the edge of the Weddell Sea on the east side of the peninsula and hopefully a landing on the northern tip of the continent at Brown Bluff. Brown Bluff looks like sand but is a few hundred feet thick layer of yellowish volcanic ash. Next stop a long overnight sail down the west side of the Peninsula for morning and afternoon landings on one or other of the many islands. I think we have a visit scheduled to Palmer Station, a United States Base run by their National Science Foundation, where we will see a little of the research undertaken there.

We will also attempt a passage through the narrow and beautiful Lemair Channel - we have been thwarted by ice in the channel during the last three trips. Then a long sail north overnight back to the South Shetland Islands for our fourth and final day in Antarctica where the ship sails through the narrow entrance of Neptune’s Bellows into the steaming caldera of Deception Island, a still active volcano. In the afternoon we will have a landing on one of the Islands to say a final farewell to the Chinstrap penguins before our two day sail back across the Drake Passage. We should arrive at our anchorage sometime on New Years Eve where we will have our champagne cocktail reception and farewell dinner of lobster tails or beef tenderloin. (it’s a hard life but someone has to do it).

We are scheduled to re-fuel on New Years day but we are trying to convince the Captain to be certain. We should get back on the afternoon of the 31st or we may be stuck for 24 hours unable to sail. The staff can then party in the Irish Bar ashore - but we will have to wait and see what happens.

One more trip after that and I will be flying home via Buenos Aires 10/11 January.

Trevor runs the Ardnamurchan Camp Site and Study Centre, website here.

The Lights are Going Out

2011-12-22T12:33:00.004Z

All households yesterday received a circular from NHS Highland and the Scottish Ambulance Service outlining the 'model' for the nursing service which we will be receiving as from February. It is a frightening document because it demonstrates how out-of-touch with reality they appear to be.

If we do not, as a community, act decisively, now, then the lights will be going out in Kilchoan Medical Centre. Please see today's post on the 'West Ardnamurchan News & Information' site, here.

Today's Sunshine

2011-12-22T11:56:00.000Z

Today's ray of sunshine was spotted briefly over Tobermory at 10.07am.

Wandering Ardnamurchan Albatross

2011-12-22T11:50:00.001Z

The 'Wandering Ardnamurchan Albatross' - better known as Trevor Potts who runs the Kilchoan camp site - has sent us an account of his recent weeks as a guide on a cruise ship in the Antarctic. Here is 'Episode 1' -

We have just returned to the Beagle Channel and are now at anchor awaiting the pilot to take us the 60 miles up the channel to Ushuaia. We had one of the smoothest and sunniest crossing of the Drake Channel I have had in ten years and have arrived very early so we now have an easy day in a sheltered anchorage until our scheduled plot arrives at about midnight.

Most of our passengers are elderly, age range about 70-85 years old with only a small number under 60 this makes small boat operations and landings on wet slippery boulders a challenge. Walking through mud consisting mainly of guano and deep snow is no better.

During the first two trips we had very good killer whale sightings, one pod was over 20 strong spread out around the ship at the south end of the Gerlache Strait. Minke whales and Humpback whales have been scarce with only fleeting sightings in the distance. They do tend to be more numerous and inquisitive later in the season when they are well fed after their long migratory fast. During their (southern) winter migration north to warmer tropical waters to breed they do not feed for about six months. When their calves are fat enough to stand the cold they migrate south to feed on the abundance of krill that feeds on the algae growing on the underside of the sea ice. No sea ice, no krill, very few whales, seals or penguins.

One thing that has surprised us this year are a number of bird species much further south than their usual feeding range. There are few birds that actually bread south of the Antarctic Convergence (that mixed band of water a few miles wide where the cold Antarctic waters mix with slightly warmer water from the north). This convergence zone is the biologic boundary of Antarctica and many bird species feed around it especially the various Albatross species which do not usually venture very far south of the convergence.

Birds breading south of the convergence on the South Shetland Island and the Antarctic Peninsula are, Blue eyed Shag, Cape Petrel, Skua, Kelp Gull, Wilsons Storm Petrel, Snow Petrel, Giant Petrel and of course a few Penguins, Emperor (to far south rarely seen in the Peninsula area) Gentoo, Adelie, Chinstrap and a very small number of Macaroni.

On the Bransfield Strait way south of the convergence we saw four Light Mantled Sooty Albatross (pictured above) flying together around the ship. It is very unusual to have so many together and so far south and for them to come close to the ship. They spent some hours late in the evening using the updraft from the windward side of the ship to gain height as they circled and swooped down to the waves searching for krill. At some stage during the trip we also had a Black Browed Albatross hundreds of miles south of its normal range. Both birds breed on the sub Antarctic Islands north of the convergence, such as South Georgia.

Trevor runs the Ardnamurchan Campsite & Study Centre, website here.

The Ring

2011-12-21T11:54:00.005Z

A couple of days ago The Diary was given this bird ring by Nan MacLachlan. She had found it in a field in Ormsaigbeg, still attached to a leg. She had kindly removed it from the emaciated and rather smelly remains and wrapped it in a polythene bag. Sadly, the bird was so decomposed she couldn't identify it.

After immersing the ring in a Dettol solution, it was seen to carry the code R73 660, and, in much smaller letters, BRIT. MUSEUM, LONDON S.W.7. Two minutes on the British Museum's website, using the search phrase 'bird ring', led to a link to the Euring site, where Euring stands for the European Union for Bird Ringing. Reporting is easy - there's a standard form to fill out, and an automated response arrived within minutes.

Euring co-ordinates and promotes bird ringing across Europe, its main task being to collect reports of the finding of bird rings. It's good to think that the information we've given may help researchers to understand more about a species which visits or is resident on Ardnamurchan, but it'll be interesting to see if anyone gets back to us to tell us what the bird was, and whether Nan found anything particularly unusual.

The Euring site is here.

Nurses

2011-12-20T12:08:00.001Z

Please read latest (bad) news about the Nurses on the West Ardnamurchan News & Information site, here.

Winter Wildlife

2011-12-20T09:06:00.001Z

We see far more of the local wildlife in winter than at any other time of year. Perhaps it is that they are roaming further afield in search of food, perhaps they venture closer to human habitation when there are fewer people around; perhaps also, with the closing in of the daylight hours, they have less time in which to hunt.

A week ago we saw this luxuriantly bearded fox near Swordle....

....but he didn't hang around.

Walking down to the shop this morning we stopped to watch an otter swimming westwards along the Ormsaigbeg shore. Two others then appeared going in the opposite direction, one larger than the other. When they met, both parties turned around and hurried away in opposite directions. Sadly, the light was so poor a photograph wasn't possible.

We continue to see eagles over Ormsaigbeg. While some are flying along the ridge line of Druim na Gearr Leacainn - we take these to be golden eagles - we're also seeing an eagle fly low along the coast. He's beneath us, so we've been able to see the white tail feathers of a sea eagle.

Snow on Rhum

2011-12-19T10:56:00.002Z

Looking north from the Sanna road across Allt Sanna to the ruins of Plocaig, the dark outline of Muck, and the snow-covered mountains of Rhum.

Small Sanna Treasures

2011-12-19T10:04:00.008Z

We walked at Sanna yesterday intending, in a mixture of rain and sleet showers blown on by a searching wind, to exercise quickly on the Sanna beaches before returning home for a large bowl of home-made cabbage soup, but turned southwards instead, climbing to the two large cairns on the hills which run east-west between the Sanna Burn and the sea.

But, as so often happens, we strayed further, down to what we call the shelly beach, and found ourselves children again, hunting through the coarser shell debris for treasures hidden in the sand.

The beach faces eastwards, across a wide bay towards the Cat's Face, a cliff which ends in Rubha Carrach. Above it towers Rubha an Duin Bhain, a promontory crowned by what we've always taken to be a Viking fort - in our imaginations, the Norsemen pulled their longboats up onto this beach, and tilled the coarse soils at its back.

The beach sand here is in total contrast to those which run along the south side of the bay, which are formed of a hard sand ideal for beach cricket. This stuff is gritty, full of the shattered remains of sea urchins, mussels, limpets, whelks, cones and....

....these little treasures.

They're a cowrie, the European or Spotted Cowrie, Trivia monacha. It's common in west coast waters, but isn't easy to find as the adult is only a centimetre long. The younger forms lack the three spots of the adult shell. There's another, close relative which also inhabits northern waters, Trivia arctica, but the differences are so slight the two shells are almost indistinguishable.

The Diary has a particular affection for cowries. As children, living on the coast of East Africa, we used to search the reefs for slightly larger relatives, the money cowrie, which grew to about 1.5cm, and the exotic leopard or tiger cowrie, a giant of great beauty which sometimes exceeded 10cm.

A map of the area is here.

Sunrise

2011-12-18T16:56:00.001Z

Sunrise today - 9.02am.

Snow Bunting

2011-12-18T16:48:00.003Z

These pictures come from the camera of The Raptor, who spotted this lone snow bunting feeding along the road which goes down to the Bay House at Swordle.

As far as The Diary knows, this is the first time a snow bunting has been seen at this end of the peninsula, although it's well within the area marked on the RSPB's map as the species' winter range - see website here.

Ockle Point - 2

2011-12-18T16:18:00.001Z

The day we walked to Ockle Point (see previous post here) the sea was like steel, the only movement the slow suck of the waves as they washed around the cliffs and bays along this heavily indented coast. This view looks east towards the distant hills of Moidart, the furthest headland being Rubha Aird Druimnich the high, ridged headland.

One of the nearer bays contains a building that was once someone's home. The right-hand side was the dwelling house, the nearer side a byre in which animals would have been kept at night and through the long winter. It seems to have everything that was needed for a simple life: a small stream for water and washing, land for tilling, plenty of rough grazing for animals, bracken for bedding, and the sea for fish and kelp for fertilizer. And all sorts of unexpected materials would have been washed up by the sea including, during the Second World War, an unexploded German mine. After it had been reported, two people, a man and a woman, arrived to defuse it, after which they set fire to the contents. The mine burned red hot for three days.

There's plenty of evidence that the people who lived here worked the sea. In at least three places on the foreshore the boulders have been cleared to form places where boats could be pulled up across the shingle, the best being sheltered by a line of rocks clearly visible in the picture.

The land belongs to the Cameron brothers, who own three comfortable letting houses at Ockle which offer unsurpassed walking; website here. Many thanks to Dochie for information about the bay, and to Moira Fisher for help with Gaelic translations.

Power Cuts

2011-12-17T14:38:00.004Z

Ten days on from the 'great storm', we are still plagued by power cuts. According to our records, the tally so far is -

Thurs 8th 10.45am - Sat 10th 8.30pm

Sun 11th 1.00am - 12.00 midday

Tue 13th 2.45pm - 7.45pm

Wed 14th 6.20am - 6.40am

Thurs 15th 1.00pm - 5.15pm

Sat 17th six cuts between 5.15am and 10.00am

....making as total of almost 80 hours.

These are the Kilchoan times. Achnaha, Sanna, Portuairk, Aschosnich and the lighthouse have been off today from about 5.30am. There are a number of problems down their line, including another burnt-out pole, which the engineers are working to sort out.

The local electricity board, Scottish Hydro, are asking people to report power poles which are flashing a red light, and indication that there is a problem. It also helps them if people report a cut as soon as it happens. Their emergency number is 0800 300 999.

No-one is blaming the engineers for our problems - they have, as always, done a super job, for which we are very grateful. But, as a group of small communities, we are in the relatively unusual position of being entirely dependent on the single line which comes down the peninsula. If it is cut, there is no other way of diverting power to us. In view of this, Scottish Hydro needs to ensure that the system is as robust as possible, and last Thursday's storm suggests it isn't.

Scottish Hydro also needs to look at its lines of communication to our villages. Warnings were issued for the cut on Thursday 15th, which was to repair the first burnt-out pole. The Diary heard the news from a builder from the Borders who'd been told by someone who lives in Cambridge. Surely phone calls to the Ferry Stores, the Estate, and the two hotels, who can pass the word on, would do the job rather better.

Sea Eagle

2011-12-17T14:28:00.000Z

A sea eagle soars over the Sound of Mull today, with Tobermory Lighthouse beyond.

Siskins' Return

2011-12-16T16:16:00.002Z

It's great to have some of these pretty little birds in the garden once again, after an absence of several months. One of the pleasures is that they allow us to come so close before flying off, and one of the mysteries is why they seem to prefer feeding up-side down.

Cote d'Ormsaigbeg

2011-12-16T15:29:00.005Z

This luxury yacht came up the Sound this morning and, watched by a lone blackface sheep, rounded Sron Bheag in bright sunshine and calm winds.

We speculated what such an expensive piece of kit could be doing here. This is hardly the time of year for cruising, and the yacht didn't appear to be doing that as it passed us at some speed. It might be 'repositioning' but, again, we wondered where it could be going.

Sadly, we were unable to distinguish the boat's name, and would be very interested to know it.

In the end we decided that a well-heeled celebrity had realised what we have long known - that, given a drop of sunshine, this coast is stunningly beautiful in winter.

Yacht's Name

2011-12-16T15:14:00.000Z

For anyone with a knowledge of luxury yachts who might be able to help with the name, this is a blow-up of one of the pictures of the yacht.

Strange Glow in the Sky

2011-12-15T17:36:00.003Z

A week after the 'great storm of 2011', which was followed by seven days of wind, rain, hail, sleet and lowering grey skies, the community woke to a strange orange glow in the southeastern sky. The Diary, walking down to the shop in time for opening, was able to record this phenomenon in some detail, starting with this picture looking across Kilchoan Bay, with the crofting house Mull View on the right.

This shot, with the jetty in the foreground, shows a magnificent, glowing object, which appeared at almost exactly nine o'clock. In the right distance, the highest mountain is Ben Talla on Mull.

The local wild duck population, preening itself at the head of the bay, seemed surprisingly unmoved by this celestial firework display which by this time, after some consideration and recalling a recent trip to Africa, The Diary had finally identified as a thing called 'the sun'.

And what a beautiful morning we were treated to. Although it was chilly along the Ormsaigbeg road, it wasn't until this crossroads that frost became apparent, and at the eastern end of the village, around Glasbheinn Cottages, the temperature was still will below zero. This shot, looking along the road from below Ben Hiant croft, shows a group of Kilchoan croft houses and, above them, the peaks of Beinn na Seilg and Stacan Dubha, still wreathed in mist at half past ten.

By one in the afternoon the mist had burnt away and we were treated to warm and very welcome sunshine.

This is one of the joys of this place, that we can experience such contrasts of weather within such a short period. Of the two types, The Diary sincerely hopes that we see more of these crisp, sunny mornings than the previous week's storms, exciting as they may have been.

Lighthouse Pictures

2011-12-14T19:31:00.003Z

The Diary makes no apology for posting more pictures of the recent storms as they are sent in as they illustrate how elemental conditions were. Wherever we go we see yet more signs of the damage done: today we started noticing mature trees which have been knocked down like ninepins, and today Jonathan Ball sent a chart of data taken from the anemometer sited on top of the petrol station, which shows winds gusting there to almost 70mph last Thursday and, surprisingly, to a higher 75mph on Tuesday.

This is the bay to the south of the lighthouse, picture taken in October....

....and this shows almost the same scene during the storm.

And this is the bay to the northeast of the lighthouse looking towards Sanna Bay.

Many thanks to Anne Jackson for the pictures of the storm.

Ockle Point - 1

2011-12-14T16:31:00.001Z

We have lived here for almost sixteen years, and felt almost ashamed that we hadn't visited Ockle Point, a magnificent headland on Ardnamurchan's beautiful north coast. On a late November day we set out to rectify our omission, parking our car at the Ockle car park, and setting off past the Cameron's letting houses (details of these remote but cosy houses here) along the track heading down to the sea.

Ockle Point is formed of a thick sheet of dolerite, clearly visible in the above picture, a hard igneous rock intruded into the ancient Moine rocks during the event which produced Ardnamurchan's volcanoes. It's a cone sheet associated with Centre 1 - see earlier post here - and there are a series of them visible along the coast, the larger ones each forming their own headland. Between them are rugged bays, the country becoming more and more broken the further east one moves.

This is the view west from the point, with Swordle Bay in the foreground and the white houses of Fascadale in the distance.

This view looks in to Swordle Bay. The area of water with the white sand beach beyond the small headland is called Port an Eileann Mhoir, the port of Mary's island. The white house behind it, at the back of the beach, is one of Ardnamurchan Estate's letting houses, Swordle Bay House, details here. The nearer bay is the mouth of the Ockle Burn. In the left distance stands the peak of Ben Hiant.

The mouth of Allt Ockle can be seen on the far side of this narrow bay with its banked, shingle beach. The house behind it is occupied by a local family all the year round but, during the summer, they erect the yurt which is visible to the left. It's available to rent, details here.

The day we walked to the end of the point we stood and watched the slow wash of the sea, and said what a perfect day it was for an otter to swim by. The local otter obviously overheard us, because, two minutes later, he appeared, working his way along the surf line.

The headland is an easy walk from Ockle village, across land belonging to the Cameron brothers who have letting cottages available, website here. Map of area is here.

Another Storm

2011-12-13T12:14:00.002Z

Davie Ferguson at the Lighthouse has just reported that the anemometer, which was reading 18 m/sec (Force 8) a little earlier today, has been blown off the side of the wind turbine.

Surviving the Winter Weather

2011-12-13T11:53:00.005Z

There are as many ups as downs to the coming of real winter weather. The loss of the electricity and water supplies, the failure of the mobile signal, the hail with its accompanying lightning strikes - we had one again this morning - which take out telephone connections, burn out phones and blow up broadband routers, are all a nuisance but can be overcome in the short term. The worst aspect of winter is the seemingly unending grey of the rainy days like today when, writing this at 11.00am, there's another gale blowing and it is hardly light enough to take a photo outdoors. Picture shows Mingary House from the Cal Mac pier.

The occasional fall of snow - this one occurred on the 10 December - gives a wonderful monochromatic texture to the landscape. The view looks across Kilchoan Bay to the rocks on the far side, black because they've been swept of snow by the tide; then across the white stretch of salt march to the dark line of the trees, with the houses of the village hidden amongst them. Beyond, a heather-clad hill, brown with a powdering of snow, rises to the stark blackness of a pine plantation. In the distance stands Beinn nan Losgann, the hill of the frog or toad, where the snow has collected deep on its lower slopes and blown against the sides of the pine forestry. The white summit of Beinn an Losgann is bare of trees.

Again on the positive side, winter brings old friends visiting. In the last few days we've had both coal tits and siskins back at the nut feeders, and the goldfinches, which deserted us in the autumn in favour of the abundant thistle seeds, are beginning to drift back and pick fights with the chaffinches.

For all of us, whether its the birds along the waterfront like these oystercatchers or the sheep in the fields, it's a hard time. A number of crofters have commented on how quickly their animals have lost condition, and we can hardly walk anywhere without seeing hunched figures struggling across the fields to deliver pellets or silage to their beasts. What keeps us humans going is our sense of community, that we're all in it together and, when things go wrong, there's a neighbour who will help - and, almost as important, there's always someone with whom we can laugh at our shared tribulations.

Last Tomato

2011-12-12T18:51:00.002Z

We're exceptionally proud of this tomato, the last of the summer crop which was picked today from an unheated greenhouse.