Archaeological Field Walk

For the last couple of days we've had the pleasure of the company of the archaeologists from the Archaeology Scotland who are running tomorrow's course at Kilchoan Learning Centre on the archaeology of graveyards with, if the weather permits, some practical work in St Comghan's churchyard in the afternoon.  This morning we did a field walk from the slopes of Ben Hiant above Bourblaige along the coast almost as far as Camas nan Geall, in fine if windy weather.

The picture shows Cara Jones, left, and Sarah, a student at Manchester University, at a cairn above Bourblaige, the first of many sites which defy easy classification.  This might be a burial cairn, but it might be no more than a field cairn.

One of the most concentrated areas of archaeological remains runs along the coast to the east of Bourblaige, along a terrace of land about 100m back from the series of curved beaches that form the shore here.  It's an area which we haven't explored before, and there's enough here to keep a team of archaeologists busy for weeks.

This bramble-covered mound is typical of what we found, but might be one of the most important sites, an elongate, boat-shaped structure built of large rocks.  This will need to be cleared of vegetation first, and then carefully mapped.

This area is a great one for deer, this one seeming remarkably unworried by our intrusion.  Along here we also found....

....the first frog spawn of 2015, though this was so large it might be toad spawn, and....

....the first toadstool of the year, a tiny object not much bigger than a thumb.

In the afternoon we went back to the same area, to spend some time at Camas nan Geall, and to discuss what might be done to conserve the graveyard there, which contains a number of Campbell headstones, some of which are broken.  It's hoped to keep the graveyard free of bracken and irises this year, so the many people who walk down to the bay can see its contents.

By that time the wind was blowing at near gale force, the rain coming across horizontally, stinging our faces.  The forecast for tonight is for winds to gale force gusting to force 10, followed by strong winds and heavy rain all through tomorrow.

Ardnamurchan Wildlife

Red deer grazing amongst the sheep in the area below the houses of the abandoned village of Glendrian yesterday afternoon.

A sea eagle soars over Mingary Castle this morning, coming low to take a close look at the work progressing there, described in the Mingary Castle blog.

Lysblink Seaways - the Missing Hour

There seem to be more and more questions surrounding the stranding of this ship.  One which hasn't been aired too much relates to events immediately after the Lysblink Seaways hit the rocks by Mingary Pier.

This clip from the Ship AIS website shows the Lysblink's track during the early hours of 18th February.  Her last position in the 'History', recorded at 1.10am, shows her position at 12.50am, and states that she was travelling at 14.5 knots.

The Ship AIS 'History' records ships' positions at ten minute intervals.  The 1.20am map should have shown her further north, almost off Tobermory, but the ship has 'disappeared'. By 1.50am she was on the rocks.

Yet the Tobermory lifeboat wasn't launched until shortly after 3.00am - this clip is from the Tobermory lifeboat's Facebook page.  So what was happening during that missing hour?

Had a "mayday" been transmitted immediately, one would have expected HM Coastguard to call out the Tobermory lifeboat within minutes, in which case she would have been launched soon after 2.00am.  What seems more likely is that the captain and crew did not declare an emergency.  Did they spent that hour contacting their owners?  Did they put the engines full astern and try to pull her off?  I think the communities of West Ardnamurchan and beyond would like to know.

Many thanks to West Coast Yachtsman, who brings the story up-to-date. The Lysblink Seaways, he reports, left Scallastle Bay at 1.00pm yesterday bound for Greenock for repairs; she's due there at about 2.00am tomorrow morning.  She is being towed by the tug Luca with a second tug, Afon Menai, bringing up the rear, and is accompanied by the Forth Jouster.

This map, courtesy West Coast Yachtsman, shows the Luca's passage through the Corryvreckan, the narrow strait between Jura and Scarba which is notorious for its strong currents and whirlpools, around nine last night.  Look carefully at the orientation of the Luca, which shows her pointing increasingly southwest until she, and her tow, are drawn into the strait, at which point, as West Coast Yachtsman so neatly puts it, she "had no choice but to go with the flow".

Archaeological Pigs

Now that all the boring stuff about 7,500 tonne ships crashing into Kilchoan is out of the way, we can concentrate on the serious things in life, like the local pig population.

We had high hopes of the pigs on our neighbouring croft.  They seemed friendly and well-behaved.  You will understand our disappointment and concern, then, when we spotted the new piglets on the loose and foraging around the dustbins.

There's been some moving around of Hughie's pigs.  This sow - Hughie loves her so much he's forgotten her name - has had her seven piglets removed and has the pleasure of Bobby's company.  Bobby, as usual, is hogging all the food, so she's in for a thin time.

Her piglets have been moved into the woodland run with the other seven piglets, so there are fourteen of them in there.  They've already escaped once, and went rampaging down the Ormsaigbeg road.  However, they showed some promise when at least some of them....

....took up archaeology.  The boot is undoubtably mesolithic, the old pot is obviously Iron Age, and the bottle is recent.

Kilchoan in the Snow

Looking across Kilchoan Bay from Ormsigbeg to the houses along Pier Road, with the lower slopes of Beinn na h-Urchrach beyond.

The centre of Kilchoan, with the forested slopes of Beinn nan Losgann.