That first afternoon we walked a section of the West
Highland way from Carnish to Pobull Fhinn leaving a car at either end. The dogs
had great fun in many muddy puddles and crystal clear lochs. The humans observed
an abundance of wildflowers, Red Deer, Mute Swan, a very hairy caterpillar and
a buzzard. The dogs slept well that evening and so did the humans, the rain had
stopped and the sky was blue but there had still been a brisk breeze bringing
an abundance of fresh air.
Dogs + Mud = Muddy Dogs
Zooooooooom
Just one of the spectacular views
clean-er dogs
red deer
a very hairy caterpillar
Buzzard
The second day there was a debate about where to go, as we
had had a long walk the day before we opted for a quieter day on Berneray.
First stop of the day was to Seal View and we were not disappointed. Sitting on
the bench we looked out to some rocks sticking up out of the water and spotted
a couple of harbour seals. Further watching and inspection with a pair of
binoculars revealed that there were 14 seals in total, behind us there was a
field full of small black Hebridean Sheep and Lambs.
Panorama of one of the views on the way to Berneray
Can you spot all the seals in this photo?
Seal and sheep watching over we carried on round the road
and parked near the hostel. From the car it was a short walk to the beach where
the dogs could run about and play tug with long stems of kelp and we could look
over to Harris and Lewis and watch the bird life.
Lewis and Harris
Oystercatchers
The return journey has us stop off at Balranald where there
were twitchers galore all carrying tripods and telescopes and not venturing too
far from the car park all in the hope of seeing a corn bunting. We dropped down
onto the beach and then walked round to the headland before going back to the
cars on the dunes. We spotted Mergansers, Redshank, acres of Meadow Daisy’s (it
looked like it had snowed on the dune) and half a dozen corn buntings. Not bad
considering we had three energetic dogs running round and only a pair of relatively small (compared to the twitchers) binoculars each.
Balranald panorama
Redshank
Acres of Meadow Daisies
Corn Bunting
The third day was a full days trip complete with packed
lunch. The plan was to park at the Grenitote Picnic area and walk round the
Udal outcrop visiting the cemetery and trip point along the way. The sun shone
and turned the sea a turquoise - aquamarine colour, who needs the Bahamas? So
warm was the sun that once more the shoes and socks came off, the trouser legs
were rolled up and I paddled with the dogs. On the walk round the eastern side
to the cemetery we spotted seals and also that it was raining quite heavily on
Berneray where we had been yesterday. The little cemetery was a lovely spot to
rest in and as we looked out to sea there was a grey seal out at sea looking
back at us. The rain clouds were now over Harris and Lewis while we were still
in glorious sunshine but we decided to move on before they came over to dampen
our day out. As we made our way round the headland we found some tiny little
yellow violets growing wild and also a lot of sheep so the dogs went back on
their leads.
Lewis and Harris from Udal
Raining on Berneray
Hilda with Cemetery in background
grey seal
Rain over Lewis and Harris
We climbed up to the Trig point where we had planned on
having lunch, but when we got there the wind was relentless so we admired the
fantastic clear view of St Kilda before dropping down to the most North
Westerly beach on Udal where we sat on a handy outcrop of rocks to eat our
sandwiches. We didn't rush lunch or the walk down the beach as we were
sheltered from the breeze. At the bottom end of the beach we spotted great
flocks of sandpipers and eider ducks. From the next beach we spotted what we
thought were great northern divers, but they moved too fast for complete
certainty in identification. The dogs racked up a total of 5 beaches that day
and we saw only a couple of other people on our walk and always in the
distance.
St Kilda panorama
Trig Point
Looking down onto the beach
View from the Lunch Spot
Eider Ducks
Reflections
It was decided to take the Committee Road back; this is known locally as Raptor Alley. If we were going to spot either a golden or sea eagle then this was the place it would happen. We drove slowly along it and saw plenty of twitchers camped out in motorhomes and cars, a few peat-cutters at work but no birds of prey. Not until we were almost at the end when a short eared owl appeared and glided along parallel to the car for about quarter of a mile.
Short Eared Owl
My friend's house looks out over a bay and as well as the
most amazing sunsets there is a whole host of wildlife to see. I Think every
evening and most mornings we saw a male Harris Hawk out hunting in the
surrounding fields and one afternoon a Sea Eagle suddenly appeared, flew along
their property boundary and then disappeared behind a hill. We were all too
stunned to grab camera and it close enough that you didn't need binoculars.
Sunset across the bay
North Uist Photos
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