A Wander Through the Village

As so often happens here, some of the best weather of the year is kept for autumn. For anyone taking photographs, this is a wonderful time of year, with clear air and clouds adding interest to the skies. This was sunset at Ardnamurchan Point yesterday evening, picture taken by Kilchoan Early Bird - to whom, once again, many thanks - and....

....this was dawn this morning, a day after the equinox, with the sun breaking the horizon, as seen from our house, over the conical hill just to the south of Ben Hiant called Stellachan Dubha.

It seemed a perfect day to be outdoors, so I set off to walk to the CalMac pier in the full knowledge that it would take time: one of the good things about walking the lanes is that local drivers stop for a chat, though all but one has given up offering a lift.

A group of about twenty swallows were swooping round the roofs of the houses by the shop - this picture is of the Ferry House. These must be migrants from the north, taking a break to replenish their reserves on the insects being blown in on the southeasterly breeze. By the time I returned they had all departed for Africa.

Wrens are supposed to be shy birds but this one, seeking out insects in the crevices of a hawthorn by Ben Hiant croft, seemed only too happy to stay around for a picture - but hadn't learnt the first rule of modelling: stay still for a moment!

This blog carried a picture of the old manse, Meall mo Chridhe, only the other day but, with its warm colour and the way it nestles within its park of trees, here's another.

The leaves on almost all the trees are showing signs of decay, helped by almost continuous southerly breezes over the last few days. On some of the oaks the leaves are shrivelled and look ready to fall.

From Pier Road the whole of Ormsaigbeg is visible, but these are the houses at the township's eastern end, with the shop one of the central building along the waterline. All trace of the heather flowering has gone, but the dying bracken now gives the hillside a rich, coppery colour. The peak at upper right is Beinn na Seilg and the ridge to the left Druim na Gearr Leacainn.

At Mingary Pier the second Tobermory ferry of the day was just arriving. Our usual ferry, the Loch Linnhe, is away, so today's service was provided by her sister ship, the Loch Riddon.

CalMac are making plenty of changes at the ferry terminal, one of which has been to re-mark the lanes for the cars waiting to board: they now read, from left to right, "Fill Lane 1", "Then Lane 2" and "Then Lane 3". That should be clear enough.