Sunshine and Fires

For the first time this year, with the sun out and the temperature into double figures, yesterday evening we were able to sit on the terrace high up at the back of our garden and look out across the Sound of Mull. It's a wonderful place to watch the ships moving, in this case the Cal Mac ferry Clansman passing the Kingdom of Fife, a brightly-painted anchor-handling vessel which came into the Sound from the north and stopped briefly in the channel - perhaps so the crew could enjoy their tea.

At times conversation became quite difficult, as this robin perched on the old fence post just behind us and sang his heart out. Perhaps he, too, was thrilled with the blue sky and the joy of knowing that summer isn't far away.

But, as the evening drew on, we noticed a brown smudge grow across the eastern horizon; and blackened particles began drifting out of the sky to settle on the ground. Somewhere, a large fire was burning.

In the last week, moor fires have been burning across large swathes of Scotland. As well as the fire at Achnaha (story here), Kilchoan Fire Brigade was called to a hill fire at Acharacle, and was yesterday covering the whole peninsula as Strontian and Acharacle brigades went to deal with a fire on Morvern - which is probably where this smoke came from.

We've had some rain in the last few days, but nothing like enough to damp down the tinder-dry hills. If the sun shines again this coming week, the fire teams are going to be busy again.