Africa!

 "What do you reckon, buddy?  It's been a great summer, but.....

"....time to fly!"

Western Heather

We walked into the hills to the west of Ormsaigbeg this morning, partly to enjoy the heather continuing display but also to see if we could find some white heather, something we've done before on the top Maol Buidhe.

The day started cloudy - we've had a prolonged spell of very grey weather - but by the time we had our first view of the twin lochans from the top of the ridge at the back of Ormsaigbeg, Druim na Gearr Leacainn, the sun was trying to come out.

Frustratingly, the sky to the west of Ardnamurchan Point was a glorious blue, and the sea the colour of the Mediterranean.  This picture looks towards the lighthouse, with the height of Beinn nan Ord to the right.  The area has some of our favourite walking - wild, lonely and, at times, challenging.

By the time we'd crossed the glen that separates Druim na Gearr Leacainn from Maol Buidhe, and climbed high enough to look along the coast towards Rubhan a' Chall, the sun had finally come out, and....

....the effect of its bright light on the heather was stunning.  This view looks back towards Kilchoan, with Ben Hiant in the right distance.

All the heather varieties are past their best, with many of the flowers now brown, but there are patches, particularly in sheltered hollows like this one, where the flowers are still vibrant with colour.

Our search for white heather was disappointing.  All we found, towards the end of our walk, was one white cross-leaved heath.

By the time we started to descend towards home the sky was filled with fine weather cumulus and the wind steady in the north, the direction from which most of our best weather seems to come.

Nautical Flotsam

Staying on today's nautical theme, many thanks to Dale Meegan for sending the Diary these pictures of a beret which she found while walking along the coast between the slipway and the Millburn.  While it appears to be in quite good condition in the photograph, Dale says, "It looks as if it's been in the water and lain there for some time. Someone will have been in trouble for losing it!"  From a quick search on the internet (see, for example, here), it's likely to be a Royal Navy officer's cap, so its loss was probably more embarrassing then anything else.

Even the label on the inside of the beret is interesting, with the lower part well worth a read.  One has visions of newly-promoted officers walking around with steaming, wet berets on their heads.

Rare Fish

The unusual catch here is an Atlantic horse mackerel, Trachurus trachurus. According to the internet, the species occurs in the northeast Atlantic, Mediterranean and as far down as West Africa in large schools which shoal over sandy bottoms at depths of between 100 and 200 metres.  One site suggests it sometimes associates with herrings, a fish which, these days, is rarely caught off these coasts.

Horse mackerel may be common in deeper waters, but this is the first one people have seen here.  It was caught off Johnny Watson's boat whilst they were fishing off Glas Eilean.  Many thanks to Hughie and Sharon MacLachlan for forwarding Dyane Young's picture.  The fish was caught by family friend Tony.

Glas Bheinn Heather

According to the dictionary, the Gaelic word glas means either grey or grass-green, but neither is appropriate for this hill at the moment.  It's upper slopes are ablaze with heather, growing wherever there's enough soil, while in the less rocky lower areas heather appears to be absent.  The grazing regimes on either side are different, the upper left being Kilchoan common grazings which is largely sheep, while the lower right is Ardnamurchan Estate, which has sheep and red deer, but there may be another explanation for the difference.