Down to the beach…

The morning broke with sunshine interspersed with quick showers of rain.  Then, the rain went away and left a day that only the Western Isles can produce.  It wasn’t hot by any means and we started with hats and coats as we walked down to the beach opposite the campsite.

Remembering our first visit to this beach when we were met with a flock of Dunlins, we were a little disappointed to see just one Dunlin and a couple of Ringed Plovers.

But a walk down to the water’s edge provided us with what we first thought were Dunlins but proved to be a flock of Sanderlings.  Somewhat amusingly, the Sanderlings were accompanied by a rather bemused looking Gull, who seemed to be acting as a sort of guardian.

The sea pinks were resplendent amongst the rocks and a Wheatear posed nicely on a wooden post.  The yellow birdsfoot trefoil glowed amongst the grass.

Next was the obligatory visit to the jetty at Eoligarry and the sun came out in earnest, meaning we could dispense with the coats and hats!  The little Flybe plane flew overhead, on its way to the beach airstrip at Traigh Mhor.

Cormorants flew over, a Diver swam lazily by and a Grey Seal popped his head up at intervals in the turquoise sea.

Peter explored the old jetty and I watched as a Gannet flew over the water, its huge wings strangely bent like a plane with its flaps down.

My favourite wrecked boat looked even more picturesquely broken than ever, held together now with rope.

We had an impromptu picnic on the white sand and watched the seal as he made his way across the water, his head appearing every now and then.

Eventually we tore ourselves away and drove down the coast towards Castlebay.

The air is so pure here that all the colours are heightened and the traditional red rooves of the houses looked amazing in the sun.

We had hoped to find some BT Openzone wifi down by the harbour but the signal was not strong enough so we gave up and paid our first visit to the Co-op for a food top-up.

Then we drove back up the island on the Atlantic side this time which, in contrast, was not as sunny, and the sea looked a greyish blue, although fairly calm for a change.  The only campsite on this side was busy but we much prefer our quieter one.

A quick visit to the jetty to see if there were any more birds around but the tide was well and truly in and no waders to be seen.

We did think of having a barbeque but, by the time we got back to the campsite, the wind had got up a bit and we decided to defer it to another day – tomorrow if possible.  The sky gradually changed from blue to mauve, pink and orange.  I do hope that’s a good omen…