Loch Euport – a magical experience…

Tags

Lochs, Mountains, Pheasant, water lilies

A little bit dull weather-wise first thing today but we have a feeling it will brighten up with time.

We decided to re-visit Loch Euport as we remembered it from last year as being an interesting area.  We went northwards first just to re-aquaint ourselves with the coast around Balranald.  Always on the look-out for the quirky, I couldn’t help noticing these two Starlings as they hitched a lift on a couple of sheep.  I should imagine they are finding some nice little insects amongst that fleece!

We thought we would take a short-cut down Committee Road – a road familiar to most bird watchers and often frequented by those men (and they are usually men) with enormous lenses!  Suddenly a large bird reared up in front of us and there was a rush to put our big lens on the camera and start clicking.

After taking several rather blurred photos as it wheeled around, Peter lost it for a moment or to before his eyes alighted on a bird on top of a grassy mound in the distance.  It was so far away but he managed to get this photo.  Could this be the long-awaited Golden Eagle?  No, apparently not and we’ve had advice that it is a female Hen Harrier.  Oh well, the search goes on.

Another Short-Eared Owl!

Our next port of call was to be the café at Cladach Kirkibost where we had had many a tasty cake or lunch last time.  By this time, the weather had improved dramatically and we decided to sit outside with our lattes and slices of lavender and lemon cake.  Delicious.

 

The café overlooks the Kirkibost Islands.

Suitably refreshed, we then paid a visit to the Hebridean Smokehouse where they have a viewing gallery where you can watch the process.  We didn’t try this but bought some gorgeous peat-smoked salmon which we had later with cream cheese in a baguette.

We took the road to Lochmaddy, the main port on North Uist and turned off for Loch Euport.  There is something about this area which has a magical feel to it – particularly on a day like today.  Remember those old technicolour films?  It’s a mixture of this and a 3-D quality that is stunning.

 

Cock Pheasant

Water Lilies

The turf-roofed house we saw being built last year

We had seen the best of the day but we returned to the campsite via the Committee Road just in case.  No birds to be seen but the play of the light over the hills and peat bogs was lovely and the mist was just starting to descend.

We were reminded today how magical the Western Isles can be.