Sunrise

6.28am this morning, and the first sunrise we've seen on this side of the peninsula since the spring.  The sunrise will now move steadily further south, so on a clear morning we'll soon be seeing the sun come up across Beinn na h-Urchrach next, and then Ben Hiant.

On the subject of weather, many thanks to Jim Caldwell who has sent me a link to a site which shows the current surface winds.  For a start it's interesting, because it shows how the wind here changed from yesterday, when it was in the northwest, to this morning, when it's firmly in the southeast - click on the word 'Earth' at bottom left to change hour and day.  Secondly, it's rather pretty. It's here.

A Good, Clear Day

Kilchoan Early Bird's picture, taken yesterday, shows the weather we're enjoying, bright sunshine, fair-weather clouds, and a brisk northerly breeze.  The view looks north across the Minch to Muck, in the foreground, and Rum.

On the other side of the peninsula, the clouds gathered around evening and, although we didn't have any rain, anyone sailing up the Sound of Mull certainly did.

Many thanks to Kilchoan Early Bird for his picture.

An Ormsaigbeg Meadow - 6

The meadow is beginning to show signs of autumn.  Where the bracken has started to encroach onto the thinner soil round its edges, the plants haven't done well and are dying early, their leaves often turning into rich shades as they fade.

Another, deeper shade is provided by this plant, which an internet search says is Hypericum androsaemum, commonly called tutsan, a name that's new to me. The big berries are interesting because it was these that the female blackcap was eating when we saw her in the garden the other day.

Bog asphodel is a pretty flower, if disliked by the crofters for the effect it can have on their sheep, but this year its seed heads are providing another splash of late colour.

The meadow is divided in two by a small burn that forms waterfalls over the scarps of dolerite that run parallel to the contours.  A honeysuckle grows above one of the plunge pools and blooms each year, but these are the last of this year's flowers.

On a steep slope above the same waterfall the mass of bell heather flowers attracted a red admiral.  While this butterfly isn't common around here, and is most often spotted when it settles on the buddleia in our garden, this is the only one we've seen so far this year.

The pair of bullfinches seem to have settled down very well into their new home in Ormsaigbeg.  We saw the male in our vegetable garden again the other day, and the female sat very patiently on a branch on the edge of the meadow while she had her picture taken.

The Night Shift

It's evening, and the night shift takes over from the sparrows, tits, chaffinches and other small birds on the peanut feeders.  These are two wood mice, which we don't mind as long as they stay outside. We're not the only people in the village who've noticed that the recent wet and cool weather has brought the mice indoors early this year - we've caught two in the attic space in the last few days.

The Heather Flowers in the Sun

We've moved into a spell of fine weather, albeit cool in the brisk wind northerly airstream.  The days are drawing in, to the point where, very shortly, we'll be seeing the sun rise through the gap between Beinn na h-Urchrach and Glas Bheinn.

The fine weather has arrived just in time for the full flowering of the heather.  This view looks from the top of the hill where the road runs down into Kilchoan and across the slipway and shop to the ridge along the back of Ormsaigbeg, Druim na Gearr Leacainn, while....

....this is the view in almost the opposite direction, from Druim na Gearr Leacainn across Kilchoan Bay to Ben Hiant.

Tucked into the small, southeast-trending glens that run down the side of the ridge, where one is out of the wind, the air is warm and filled with the insects that are feeding off the heather nectar, mainly bees, hoverflies and flies.  Butterflies are noticeably scarce at present, but in this particular glen there were three peacocks, all working their way upwind and up the glen.

All three of the heathers - bell, ling and cross-leaved heath - are in flower, though the bell heather flowers are beginning to turn brown.  The same little glen was home to some bell heather which was more pink in shade than normal.

The colours along this hillside are breathtaking, and when one walks it's like wading through a sea of lilacs, purples and pinks.