Sanna

After a cold night - at some point the temperature dropped below 2C - the forecast promised a brief improvement in the weather this morning before a rapid deterioration, so we drove out to Sanna, leaving the car half a mile short of the township and climbing the small, un-named peak just to the north of Meall Sanna.  From its summit we had views across the Minches to Eigg and the snow-capped mountains of Skye and Moidart.

Looking southeast into the bowl of land formed by the Tertiary ring dykes, Achnaha was surrounded by green, the grass in the fields at last beginning to grow, though in the hills there is hardly any sign of winter loosening its grip on the vegetation.  Beyond Achnaha lies Creag an Airgid, while to the right of the picture is the dark ridge of Beinn na h-Imeilte.

To the southwest we looked through a gap in the hills to some of the houses of Portuairk.  The peak behind Portuairk is Beinn Bhuidhe, and the island lying along the horizon is Coll.

Finally, we looked straight down onto the township of Sanna, with the more distant houses of Lower Sanna appearing huddled together, while the nearer houses of Upper Sanna are more dispersed.

We scrambled down the gully in the centre of this picture into the machair land of the township, walking past the house at Sanna Bheag to....

....the southernmost of Sanna's many sandy bays.  The tide was low and, looking out to the west, the sky increasingly threatened rain or worse.

Just behind the beach we found a small group of these plants growing in the machair.  At first sight it looks like a straggly dandelion but it's coltsfoot, a plant that's well forward considering the year, already at the stage of scattering its seeds to the winds.  It's a plant that flowers and seeds before it puts out any leaves.

Hurried along the beach by a strengthening southeasterly, we passed few shore birds, those that were around, like this oystercatcher, facing stoically into the wind.

We walked along the beaches as far as the point where the Sanna Burn reaches the sea, and then followed it upstream, finally cutting across the marshy land to the east of Lower Sanna, wending our way between the increasing number of fences which, like a spiders web, criss-cross the area between Sanna and Plociag.  By this time the driving wind was bringing in first hail, then big flakes of slushy snow, finally settling down to a steady, stinging sleet, so we were relieved to reach the car.

It wasn't surprising, as we drove home, to see snow settled on the summit of Beinn na Seilg - Lochan nan Ealachan seen to the left.