Business as Usual

As so often happens, Storm Frank wasn't as bad as predicted, although a gust of 72mph was reported by Dominic Cooper on the more sheltered Swordle side of the peninsula, and one of 71mph by Sue Cheadle at Sanna. On the exposed southern side, although high tides accompanied the storm - picture shows Lochan nan Al by the shop this morning - the main damage seems to have been to polytunnels and to the internet, which has stopped working at several properties.

This place is very accustomed to storms and heavy rain - we had a further 36mm over the last twenty-four hours - so this morning everyone was going about their business very much as usual.

With the worst of the storm over we took a walk at Sanna, where one large shed had been blown on its side. The picture shows some of the houses in Lower Sanna with sheep sheltering from the wind and rain and, in front of them, some ducks enjoying a paddle in a puddle.

With the wind still in the southeast the waves at Sanna weren't spectacular, the main problem being the heavy showers which made taking pictures challenging, and the occasional....

....strong gusts of wind, some towards gale force, which blew stinging rain in one's face.

A unusual number of small waders were gathered along the tideline, mainly ringed plovers but including these two, which I take to be turnstones, one of which, despite the rain, was intent on taking a bath in one of the burns which runs across the beach.

The one group of birds which seem to revel in a storm are the gulls. Perhaps the fierce conditions at sea bring more food in for them, but I think that, being such acrobatic masters of the sky, they just enjoy the fun of a gale.

Many thanks to Sue and Dominic for weather reports.

Yeoman Movements

The Yeoman Bontrup came up the Sound at half past twelve midday today in fleeting sunshine, the AIS sites showing her destination as Gdansk. She had passed down the Sound yesterday, and by 3.00pm was alongside at Glensanda quarry but in this picture she doesn't look as if she's taken much aggregate on board.

Half an hour later the Yeoman Bank passed us fully loaded and bound for Port of Tyne, having spent some time anchored off Glensanda in company with the Yeoman Bridge.

This map, from the AIS Marine Traffic site, shows that the Bontrup then anchored off the northwest coast of Mull, and it looks very much as if the Bank, whose track is shown, is doing the same. The Bridge remains at anchor off Oban.

While it's wonderful to be able to follow the tracks of the ships which pass us, there's an inevitable element of frustration at not knowing the reasons for their movements. I can only assume that they're anchoring in the lee of Mull with plenty of sea room downwind, as the gales which are coming in later this afternoon and overnight are mainly southeasterlies.

In contrast to the ponderous movements of the bulk carriers, we've noticed a large increase in the number of small fish farm delivery boats busying in the Sound, like the Emma C seen here, presumably bringing food and other supplies in to the farms ahead of the coming bad weather.

It's rare to see so much orange and red on Cameron Beccario's surface winds map. The orange colour starts at about 100kph, and turns red at 120 - these presumably being mean wind speeds rather than maximum gusts. The intense depression to the west of the British Isles has been named Storm Frank.

HM Coastguard have taken the unusual step of issuing a press release in advance of the coming storm. Mark Rodaway, commander with HM Coastguard, says, ‘Our advice to people remains the same. Check the weather and tidal conditions before you set out so you can prepare your vessel accordingly, or even ask yourself whether you should be going out at all. At sea, changes in tidal streams could make conditions worse, particularly if the wind and tide are against each other, but above all, don’t take risks when a storm at sea is involved.’

This sea eagle, seen hurrying west along Ormsaigbeg this morning, is silhouetted against the gathering clouds. The wind speed has been rising since mid-morning and by five this afternoon we should be experiencing a full gale, with winds building until midnight accompanied by more heavy rain to add to the 38mm that fell last night. High tide this evening is at 8.25.

Ships in the Storm

As a nice contrast to yesterday's beautiful day, we've had a gale blowing since late last night, a relatively gentle southeasterly which seems to have kept many of the larger ferries tied up in port - but not our Raasay, which has done the usual day's runs. However, with the Clansman and Lord of the Isles in port, we were surprised to see the Loch Alainn passing us at ten this morning, travelling north. She's a sister ship to the Loch Linnhe which does the Tobermory-Kilchoan run in summer, a boat which the local crew prefer not to use in heavy weather. She was heading for Mallaig, where she has now arrived.

Quite unperturbed by the weather, the Yeoman Bontrup passed at lunchtime going south to Glensanda quarry where she joins both the Yeoman Bridge and the Yeoman Bank which are anchored between Lismore and Oban. That these three ships are together is surprising - ships earn their money while they're carrying cargo.

The forecast for the next few days is dire.  This is this morning's synoptic chart from weathercharts.org which shows the densely packed isobars which are driving today's winds, but the next low pressure system, towards bottom left, is described on the chart as 'rapidly intensifying' as it tracks towards us. The BBC is forecasting winds of up to 68mph, force 11, tomorrow night as it passes, fortunately to the west of us on its way up to Iceland. Then we have another gale forecast for Friday night.

Christmas Day Otter

While we were enjoying our Christmas lunch, an otter was visiting the pool by the bay below our house.

West of Ormsaigbeg

We haven't seen one of these for what seems like weeks but what's even more unusual is that the sun is rising over the hills of southern Mull, not Morvern, and this only happens for a week or two each year around the solstice.

With the promise of the first fine day for a long time we....

....set off from the back of the croft, heading almost due west and following the wide glen of the burn that comes down just along the road from us, by Lag na Lion croft house, with most of the glen still in the shadow of Maol Buidhe.

This brought us to the shoulder of the hill that overlooks the point called Rubhan a' Chall, with views across the northwest entrance of the Sound of Mull to the distant island of Coll.

After yesterday's long walk, we weren't going far, so we turned back, climbing Maol Buidhe to the cairn at its summit, from where there is a fine view of Kilchoan Bay and Ben Hiant and....

....down the Sound of Mull to where the clouds were already gathering. The lighthouse is at Rubha na Gall, the point just beyond it is part of Calve Island in Tobermory Bay, while to the left is Drimnin on Morvern.

We followed the spine of a small ridge down into to Ormsaigbeg, to the left of which lies land that was extensively used when Ormsaigbeg had a much larger population than it has had in crofting times. Stone walls criss-cross the area, and everywhere one walks one of conscious of the ridges and furrows of lazy beds.

These ancient walls are covered with grass or heather, and meander across the landscape. Their builders must have had good reason not to use straight lines, which would have required collecting far fewer rocks.

A satellite view of the area (from Bing maps, here), in which the old rig and furrow fields are clearly visible, gives a sense of how intensively the hillside was worked but, other than being fairly certain this was not in crofting times, I have no idea when these fields date from.