With a distinct chill in the air, and a day that started fine but trailed away into greyness and rain, there's a feeling that we're moving from summer - such as it was - into autumn. The number of visitors has dropped off and, with the English schools going back, the type of visitor we have up here will change: for example, this is the weekend of the annual Antler Rally, which sees bikers take over the Community Centre, with their campsite on the football field. Summer is a fading memory, perhaps symbolised by the tattered flag over the Regatta Committee bothy.
Some people are still very busy, with these crofters working to harvest as much from the fields as possibly before the grass stops growing. This field along Ormsaigbeg is giving a second silage crop this year, something The Diary can't remember in previous years.
The roadsides are beginning to look distinctly autumnal, with a good showing of blackberries, but there are no acorns or hazel nuts, and a sparse crop of rowanberries.
Despite this, there are hoards of young sparrows, their numbers already dwindling as our cats and the local sparrow hawk take their toll. By the time we get into full winter most will have disappeared.
With a distinct chill in the air, and a day that started fine but trailed away into greyness and rain, there's a feeling that we're moving from summer - such as it was - into autumn. The number of visitors has dropped off and, with the English schools going back, the type of visitor we have up here will change: for example, this is the weekend of the annual Antler Rally, which sees bikers take over the Community Centre, with their campsite on the football field. Summer is a fading memory, perhaps symbolised by the tattered flag over the Regatta Committee bothy.
Some people are still very busy, with these crofters working to harvest as much from the fields as possibly before the grass stops growing. This field along Ormsaigbeg is giving a second silage crop this year, something The Diary can't remember in previous years.
The roadsides are beginning to look distinctly autumnal, with a good showing of blackberries, but there are no acorns or hazel nuts, and a sparse crop of rowanberries.
Despite this, there are hoards of young sparrows, their numbers already dwindling as our cats and the local sparrow hawk take their toll. By the time we get into full winter most will have disappeared.
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