The Taylors go to the Western Isles

It all started during last year's summer holiday when Janet picked up a copy of the Heb magazine whilst we were in South Uist. Inside was an entry slip to be filled in and posted in the hope of winning a free gourmet cookery demonstration, a gourmet dinner and a night's B&B in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis. The year before she entered a similar competition and came second winning a box of posh soaps, so this year she was hoping for better. And sure enough, when the phone rang way back in December 2009, she was told she had won the first prize! Now Janet is a pretty good cook and the thought of going all the way to Stornoway and our beloved Outer Isles to be cooped up inside learning the finer points of preparing “posh nosh” seemed a bit of a waste so she asked if the gourmet cookery could be exchanged for a few days B&B. And so, a three day break on the Isle of Lewis was negotiated. Mid-May seemed a good time to go, most birds would have arrived, the summer sun would be a possibility and there was the chance of seeing something interesting from the ferry on the crossings – well, that was the theory!

The day before departure was quite good, a bit of blue sky, green hairstreaks on one of the walks and false morel fungus by some of the tracks. Night-time temperatures were a bit low and the dreaded “ash cloud” had returned as the winds turned back to the north. Ferry day dawned a bit dull and there was fresh snow on the tops, and having said cheerio to the chalet guests we headed for Ullapool (above) for the 5.30pm ferry and for a wee treat, we decided to have dinner on the ferry. Ullapool was perishingly cold, and out to sea we could see regular, passing sleat showers, so much for summer sun! The ferry was on time and once the car was on board we nipped into the restaurant for a delicious curry and were on deck to see the Summer Isles passing by on the starboard side (nautical terms courtesy of a few weeks sail training on the Sir Winston Churchill & Malcolm Miller many years ago! http://www.tallships.org/document.asp?cat=535&doc=6636ips.org/document.asp?cat=535&doc=6636 & http://easternyachts.com/sirwinstonchurchill/! ). In the distance, on the mainland, the amazing outlines of Stac Pollaidh and Suilven were visible through the sleat showers and closer to hand the whale-back of Ben Mor Coigach and the shore-line village of Achiltibuie. The thud of the first big waves also started to rock the boat, and as the ferry Captain had promised, it got a lot rougher out in the Minch. The crossing is about 3 hours and as Stornoway came in to view the mix of cloud, showers and evening sun made a brilliant picture. The Park Guest House was just a few minutes from the ferry so once the cases had been unpacked, there was time for a quick wander through the town.

A leisurely full Scottish breakfast was taken at 8.30am before heading north towards the Butt of Lewis. On the way the Gallery at Morven (http://www.morvengallery.com/om/ ) was a must for a visit – if only money was not an issue it would be nice to purchase a few of the paintings on display, but as it was we had to settle for a more modest purchase with a distant Christmas in our thoughts. Hail from the first shower of the day, bounced off the car! The objective for the day was to visit a local weaver at Ness and from there, to stretch our legs with a walk out to the lighthouse at the Butt. First, we dropped down to the harbour at Port of Ness watching the arctic terns feeding and the sleat showers passing by at sea and over the local townships (left). One minute brilliant sun next black clouds and a downpour or sleat shower. And then it was on to Knockaird to find Callum Maclean’s house so that Janet could see his handwoven tweed. Callum uses traditional materials to produce Harris tweed, 100% pure virgin wool, dyed, spun and finished in the Outer Hebrides and hand woven by weavers in their homes in Lewis and Harris, and his own Butt of Lewis Tweed, using wool from other sources (http://www.buttoflewistextiles.co.uk/index.html). In his main weaving shed, Callum works a loom driven by pedal power and, unlike the traditional “Hattersley” loom, can weave a double width of cloth and utilises a modern system of shuttle. Janet was very impressed by the colour and patterns in some of the tweed available for sale, and after a little negotiating bought a few metres of three tweeds. As with our trip to a weaver in Harris last summer there was much discussion with Callum about the havoc wreaked by a certain Mr Haggas from Yorkshire who bought the main mill in Stornoway several years ago and set about limiting the choice of colours and tweed patterns available to the weavers, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7374779.stm/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7374779.stm. Ex-Labour Minister Brian Wilson who lives in the Isle of Lewis has been key in helping to regenerate the Harris Tweed industry recently becoming chairman of Harris Tweed Hebrides and there is now a new spinning and finishing factory operating in Carloway (left). All the industry needs now is lots of young folk learning the trade.

Just outside Callum’s kitchen window is a wonderful wetland – Loch Stiapabhat, full of breeding waders and on leaving his house we drove a little way along the road so that we could watch their comings and goings as we had lunch. Following lunch we parked up at the end of the Knockaird road, packed our rucksacks and set off for the lighthouse. Knowing what was in store I also packed my 400mm zoom lens. The most amazing thing about this part of the island is the layout of the traditional strip field system, with fences everywhere, running as straight as a dye, providing crofters in the past with an equal share of the “better” agricultural ground where hay, tatties or neeps could be grown during the summer months (map at end of diary). As we got to the top of the slight hill heading towards the lighthouse, the edge of the fields was reached and we entered an area of the biggest lazy-beds you have ever seen (for lazy-beds see http://special.st-andrews.ac.uk/saspecial/index.php?a=indexes&s=gallery&key=IYToxOntpOjA7czoxOToiZmFybWluZyAtIGxhenkgYmVkcyI7fQ?a=indexes&s=gallery&key=IYToxOntpOjA7czoxOToiZmFybWluZyAtIGxhenkgYmVkcyI7fQa=indexes&s=gallery&key=IYToxOntpOjA7czoxOToiZmFybWluZyAtIGxhenkgYmVkcyI7fQ==). As mentioned in an earlier diary there is nothing “lazy” about these areas of cultivation where seaweed was carted, laid in strips, and the thin soil on mainly wet ground was then heaped on top of the seaweed to provide a growing medium. Round the next corner the lighthouse came in to view just as the next heavy hail shower pelted us with ice balls. From this most northerly point of the Outer Hebrides you could head west and bump in to St. Kilda but the next stop after that would be America. From the lighthouse you look down onto the sea below where a continuous passage of gannets glide east to the feeding grounds or west to their nest sites on St. Kilda. An amazing sight and one that made the big lens a must as I tried to capture their movements. Fulmars, rock doves, shags and a mix of gulls added to the scene but the crashing waves caused by the big swell were also worthy of the trip.

Next day started again with a brilliant breakfast followed by a test of our navigation skills as we tried to find the start of the Stornoway end of the single-track road known as the Pentland Road. This road must, in the past, have been heavily used by the local population, as they made their way to the moors to cut their peats for fuel, during the early summer months. Many people still cut peats today and, as the price of oil continues to rise, more folk are returning to source their fuel from the peat mosses. To the north of the road the highest hills in Lewis popped into view, all 300m of the highest! On the left of the road we passed a loch noted for its good fishing and a loch I tried my hand at catching supper a few years ago when we stayed in Carloway on holiday. In the end the midges won, and no matter how much midge repellent I applied which stopped the blighters from biting, it didn’t stop millions of them from getting in my ears, up my nose and in my eyes and in the end their sheer numbers saw me running from the loch to seek the sanctuary of my car. The experiences of that evening taught me to never go fishing on inland lochs unless the wind is blowing!

And so we descended from the moor into Carloway and up the hill to the Harris Tweed factory to see if they had any unusual tweeds for Janet to buy for her craft work, but not on this occasion. So we drove a little further along the road to see the recently restored black house village at Garenin Na Gearrannan (http://www.gearrannan.com/Default.asp?Page=6), an amazing project, with many houses now restored allowing a wee glimpse of how many folk on these islands used to once live. With lunch time approaching we drove a few miles north to the edge of the village of Shawbost (Siabost) having lunch by Loch a’ Bhaile, the loch cut off from the sea by a natural causeway. With lunch finished we set off across the causeway to walk a nice wee circuit taking in Shawbost village and making a list of the birds seen for the BTO Atlas project. So far though, one bird which Janet had promised by booking the visit for mid-May, was missing – the corncrake. Callum the weaver said he had heard them recently on his croft, but the bird wasn’t calling while we were there. On the walk we had lots of dunlins and oystercatchers a few twite and a recently arrived sedge warbler and the list was approaching 30 species. And then Janet beat me to it – having promised a corncrake – she heard one calling from a patch of irises. We sat by the road for about ten minutes but only heard it call briefly just once more. Thank you Janet and a great “sonic” record to end the walk.

To end the day we headed for Calanais to see the famous standing stones and to grab a simple bite to eat. The weather was starting to deteriorate and the wind was getting a bit stronger, so no nice blue sky as a back-drop to the photos of the stones. A bus arrived and disgorged about 30 foreign tourists who made their way up through the stones before being met again at the visitor centre by the bus before being whisked off to the next attraction.

The moors all around are covered with old shielings, simple buildings used in the past as temporary summer settlements by shepherds grazing their flocks on upland pastures. One or two of these building have been “modernised” and may once again be seeing summer visitors though this time without their sheep.

The road to the shielings must be one of the smallest roads to be given “A” class status anywhere in the UK, a single track road with well spaced passing places (below)! Amazing.

The ferry back to Ullapool was at 1pm which just allowed enough time to have a wander round the impressive woodlands surrounding Lews Castle (below), a building currently in need of a great deal of TLC. Buildings in the grounds though are occupied by students studying at Lews College but there is hope that funds can be raised to return the castle to its former glory. The woodlands though are the biggest and best on the islands and it was good to hear chiffchaff and blackcap singing along with the more regular woodland birds. The wind was getting stronger and the ferry was due shortly so it looked like we were due for another rough crossing. It was a good couple of days, thank you Park Guest House and thank you Isle of Lewis, good as ever.

A “mainland” diary will appear shortly – enjoy the read.

Stewart & Janet

One of Janet's tweed bags

Map showing "fields" at Ness

Gargoyle Lews Castle

All photos © Stewart Taylor

Come back Nellie

The title of the last diary was really tempting fate and sure enough the weather gods still had a few tricks up their sleeves. As the last diary was written I had just 3 days to go before finally vacating my desk at Forest Lodge, ending my 34 year stint at Abernethy. Monday was a normal day and I cycled in to work, despite the tiny skiff of snow. It was so normal that I even had a look at some of the green shield-moss sites. Tuesday and the few inches of snow that greeted me when I got out of bed meant car to the end of the track and walk to Forest Lodge. About 8" of the damn stuff had fallen by 10am and things were looking ominous. Mid afternoon and I decided it was time to send out my one and only ever “global” email to everyone in RSPB to say thanks for the cards, kind words and contributions towards my leaving presents because it was looking like I wouldn’t manage to get in to work for my final day if the snow continued to fall! Wednesday dawned just like so many days this year with 12" of snow lying outside and about an additional inch accumulating every hour – so no work today. Urgent phone calls were made to RSPB HQ to ask the computer staff not to cut of my RSPB log-in and account because at some stage I would need to go in, for my final day, if only to finish off bits of the annual report, a research contract and to clear my desk. The brilliant IT folk not only didn’t cut me off they told me how I could connect up to the RSPB server and catch up with the heap of emails that had piled in following my farewell one of the previous day. Outside it was still snowing and chalet guests Jim and Angie put on a brave face and donned boots and waterproofs and went for a walk round the village. The snow brought unusual birds into the garden with 2 mistle thrushes (left) looking for anything they could eat under the seed feeders. They were joined by a couple of song thrushes that pecked around in the areas I had cleared of snow. Initially the song thrushes completely ignored the brown bread and ground-based fat cake, but by the end of the day they realised they were edible and competed with great spot woodpecker and starlings to get their fill. Much snow clearing during the day just to keep the driveway open.

Thursday morning saw the snow finally stop just after 7am after almost 48 hours, again, and snow depth measurements around the house varied between 18" and 20", the heaviest single snow fall of the winter. Didn’t British Summer Time officially start on 28th March? More avalanches of masses of snow off the house roof, usually just after the drive way had been cleared and generally a day spent clearing snow. With the temperature at +3 degrees C by 10am it was obvious that the snow would start to reduce quite quickly and with a bit of help from a warm sun later in the day the snow was disappearing almost as quickly as it had arrived. Again no council snow plough, not sure what the excuse was this time, but at least the local farmer had been paid to open the road up to Loch Garten and Tulloch. Good Friday arrived and the thaw continued and I was able to get the car to the end of the Forest Lodge track where the staff had managed to plough the track. So my last day at work was spent in a deserted office, tidying out my desk and finally getting rid of all those files on my PC that had been saved “just in case” they might be needed. And that was it, cup washed, bag packed, boots and gaiters on and out into the thawing snow to walk the track as an employee for one last time.

However, there was little time to lounge around. There was a Saturday chalet change over to do, and more snow to clear in front of the chalet so that the bird feeders could be seen. Daughter Laura arrived at lunchtime and daughter Ruth and the boys an hour later and we all managed to go for a walk (right) – you guessed it, on the Forest Lodge track! It was then off to Lancashire to spend a few days with Janet’s mum Nellie. Lancashire was like entering a different world, daffodils in flower, folk cutting grass and wrens singing – everywhere! The first outing was to Whalley with the River Calder running through its centre and its famous Abbey (http://www.aboutlancs.com/whalley.htm) close to one of its banks. A walk through the Abbey reminded me of past visits when, as a school boy a few of us would cycle from nearby Accrington to climb some of the abbey ruins to look for jackdaw nests. In the wooded grounds the onion smell of ransoms was everywhere and the ground below the trees was covered in their emerging leaves. There were also many more plants of Lords and Ladies or Cuckoo Pint than I remembered and it would be worth another visit just to see this strange plant in flower. Close by the Blackburn to Settle railway line runs and crosses one of the most spectacular red brick railway viaducts you will ever see (left & right), all 48 arches of it (http://www.engineering-timelines.com/scripts/engineeringItem.asp?id=10neeringItem.asp?id=10). It is probably more spectacular to see from below rather than from riding across it in a train. Both Abbey and viaduct are worth seeing if you are every in the Whalley area.

You can’t go to this area without visiting one of the many pubs for a pub lunch and the next day we visited Slaidburn on the edge of the Forest of Bowland and the brilliantly named Hark to Bounty country pub. Despite her 90 years Janet’s mum lead us on a mini-tour of the village before lunch and a walk to the ancient nearby St. Andrews church (left) after lunch. A local estate called Knowlemere had a link to descendants of Sir Robert Peel of “London Peelers” fame (http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/England-History/SirRobertPeel.htmric-uk.com/HistoryUK/England-History/SirRobertPeel.htm) and members of the Knowlemere family are interred at this church. The church itself is pretty amazing, dating as it does from 1450 replacing the original Norman Church that stood on the site. Inside there are unusual box pews, a three-decker pulpit and carved wooden chancel screen, and memorial plaques to local dignitaries like the Peel family. Another site well worth a visit. Outside, as the church clock struck 2 my first swallow of the year flew overhead. A nearby wood produced a couple of nuthatches, something I only see on my visits to Lancashire, there being few regular north of the border. Bolton by Bowland and Downham by Pendle Hill (left) were visited on our last day, and, as the working day came to a close we nipped over towards Blackburn to S. G. Aluminium, a thriving business run by my youngest brother Peter. As the last workers departed Peter showed Janet and myself round a very impressive factory where aluminium framed windows of all shapes and sizes are made. Their client list is very impressive as are the scale of projects undertaken, take the structural aluminium works completed at Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers and Manchester City for starters for sums of money that will make your eyes water! Well done Peter and to see more go to http://www.sg-aluminium.co.uk/index.htm, better still if you want a quote for work on a new office block, school or football stadium, give Peter a call! Peter's impressive factory below.

And then it was off again as we headed north with Janet’s mum safely on board for a week's holiday in the Highlands. The sunny weather followed us north and was to remain with us for the whole of Nellie’s stay (Loch Morlich right), with a bit of frost at night and a maximum of 21 deg C on one day! With temperatures like these the first butterfly transect of the year was complete and 3 small tortoiseshells were recorded, an excellent result to say that it was just the 10 April. In addition a red admiral was also seen at Firwood. Swallows and sand martins had followed us north and a very early redstart was heard singing on 10th. Great spotted woodpeckers were drumming on the usual tree across the road from Firwood, but a more enterprising bird was found by the Speyside Way drumming on one of the metal power pylons a sure way of making your head-banging sounds carry a lot further. My initial thought was that engineers were working on the power-line but as I got closer I could see the male bird tapping away. Nearby a female woodpecker was also drumming on a dead birch tree, odd behaviour indeed. Another first for the season was a tick, neatly buried between two of my fingers with a second found buried in my thigh later in the day, that’s what you get for lying in the vegetation checking lichens! A visit to Laura’s in Aberdeenshire with Janet’s mum allowed me to make my first visit to a proposed wind-farm site (left) less than 1000 metres away. With the potential for noise, and light/shadow flicker from these 100 metre high turbines I had been asked to look at the wildlife data collected at the proposed site and found it to be less than robust, particularly when the wind-farm company stated that the development would have no effect on the 6 red-listed bird species (http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/BoCC_tcm9-217852.pdf ), detailed in the report, breeding on or close to the arable field chosen as the site. On this first visit the red-listed species increased by 1 with the discovery of 2 pairs of lapwings prospecting on the site. A return visit was planned for a week later when a better early season picture of bird use of the proposed site could be made.

Back home a meeting was attended regarding the archaeological survey of the Abernethy reserve, something that had to be left unfinished at the time of my departure, but may be something to pursue, in a voluntary capacity, once the main part of the breeding season is over. At the meeting, maps, hand drawn way back in 1830, were produced showing early settlements and place names, some of which haven’t survived to the present time, so another piece of the jig-saw has now been found. The next morning chalet guests Elizabeth and Frazer said they had something exciting to show me – a photograph of a pine marten at the peanut feeder, taken at 8.30pm the evening before (photo courtesy of Frazer). They had been sitting at the kitchen/sitting room window when the pine marten was seen running along the top of the fence to the feeder. Amazingly, Frazer opened the chalet door, went outside and took the photograph you see here – complete with flash. Not just one photo but the marten stayed at the feeder long enough for Frazer to take a second flash photograph! Amazing. It would be interesting to know just how often pine martens visit the feeder. Elizabeth was also certain that one ran over the chalet roof the following night.

The next few days were going to involve a lot of driving but little did I know just how much! The plan was to run Janet’s mum back to Lancashire, stay the night and return the next day before heading over to Laura’s house to complete the early season bird survey. Everything started well and we departed Firwood at 9.30am. I was a little worried when the first traffic sign just before joining the A9 said “Accident A9 south of Dalwhinnie”. The next sign on the A9 repeated the message but with no further information and all the south-bound traffic was still moving, without problems towards Dalwhinnie. The traffic heading north was light and sporadic, so we assumed there had been an accident and the traffic was getting past it. Wrong. We passed the Dalwhinnie turn off and still there was nothing to hint at the chaos ahead. 3 more miles and we joined a queue of traffic. Two police cars, 2 doctor cars and 1 fire engine hurtled past us so I phoned Janet back at Firwood. “A coach was on its side, off the road, with pensioner aged passengers heading towards England”. A car heading north stopped and said the road would be closed for about 4 hours. Change of plan and we turned round and headed the car towards Fort William, Nellie was quite excited about the new route and the wonderful scenery promised along the way, I was quite worried about the hot day, the narrow roads, and the time it was going to take to pick up our route again just south of Glasgow. Loch Laggan Monarch of the Glen country, Fort William (& Ben Nevis right) for petrol and loo stop. Glen Coe to Crianlarich for lunch. Loch Lomond, Glasgow and the M8 and at 3pm we reached Bothwell Services at the start of the M74, 3 hours later than we should have been. The rest was plain sailing with everything crossed that the return journey the next day would also be plain sailing. It was, home by lunch-time and in plenty of time to greet the new chalet guests Lawrence and Dawn

The next day and it was off to Aberdeenshire. The turbine site was surveyed at 4pm and 8pm, bats were listened for with a detector at 10pm and in bed by 11pm. Field surveyed again at 6.30am next day, breakfast and away. 31 bird species were recorded, confirming the 7 red-listed species recorded a week earlier (house sparrow, lapwing, linnet, skylark, starling, tree sparrow and yellowhammer). Once home, birds listed and report started and in bed just after midnight. Report finished and emailed 11am next day so time to go and look for “some stuff” to blow away the travel cobwebs. The camera bag was packed and I headed off for a small stand of aspen trees in Craigmore Wood just up the road. Inspired by what had been found on a few more aspens in the local area I wondered what this small stand, on damp ground and with reasonably closed canopy might hold. I am trying to get my head around naming a few more species, particularly the regularly encountered species, but a practical course in how to identify them using chemical and microscope techniques is going to be a must. I just need to get my brain then to remember the names, and we will be making progress. Being a damp wood, I was hopeful that the speckled script lichen mentioned in an earlier diary, might be there. A branch, broken off by the recent snows, looked interesting, and from my outing at Insh in January I was aware that different lichens grow higher up the tree than are found at eye-level, particularly ones that like the younger, smoother bark. During the 2001 survey lichens were found in this habitat that were the first for UK (x2) and a first record for 150 years. What looked like Lecanora populicola (white dots left) was there along with the wee orange dots (on dark background) of Caloplaca pyracea, a good start. The first big tree was checked and, amazingly, there was the speckled script (right with green liverwort Radula complanata). In fact, all 9 trees checked had the lichen so what a brilliant way to blow away the cobwebs. Finding so many trees with the lichen though got me worried and I wasn’t happy until a couple of photos were sent off to Brian for confirmation. Why so many? There are very few people on the ground who go out to record lichens and probably fewer who know what some of the rare species look like. I was lucky in that I was able to see the lichen on a known tree and get a feel for the appearance of it, particularly its background colour. Back in the woods, a buzzard calling overhead but once again my feet are frozen and the waterproofs are on to try and keep myself warm. Nellie took the warm weather south with her and since getting back it has felt like winter, we have even had a bit of sleet. Roll on summer.

That’s it for a few weeks, enjoy the read

Best wishes Stewart & Janet

A break from lichen surveying - resting on a bracket fungus!

and finally, a Finlay photograph of grandad & Archie

All photos © Stewart Taylor