More White Heather

With yesterday's weather none too exciting, and little time available because we needed to drive in to Fort William, we decided to walk into the hills at the western end of Ormsaigbeg - see map here.  This view looks back from Maol Buidhe across the settlement which is broadly known as 'Kilchoan' but includes three crofting townships - Ormsaigbeg in the foreground, Ormsaigmore in the middle distance to the left, and Kilchoan taking up most of the rest of the flatter land around Kilchoan Bay.

The upper part of Maol Buidhe is about a square kilometre of open, rolling land bright, at this time of year, with ling coming into flower.  It seems to be a good year for heather, so these hillsides will be spectacular come mid-September, particularly if the sun is kind enough to shine on them.

After the excitement of finding our first white heather last Friday - see post here - we found two more yesterday.  We struggle to understand this, as the white flowers are very visible against the carpet of purple, and can only conclude that white heather is either like London buses - you wait several hours for one to come along, and then three arrive at the same time - or this year's conditions have brought on the white-flowering variety.

The first we found had the same dark leaves as the purple ling, while the second, like Friday's, had much paler leaves.  Both were doing very well, but we still refrained from picking a sprig.