Re-connecting with South Uist…

I couldn’t resist the appeal of this header picture, even though it’s more Mute Swans and their cygnets!  Mother and Father had taken them out for swimming practice and Father had led them up onto dry land while Mother brought up the rear.

What do you think Daddy is telling them and who do you think is the goody-goody of these cygnets?

As a mother myself, I find the subject of families to be endlessly interesting – you really do see the same behaviour in both humans and bird/animal life.

We set out in the morning (after publishing the day before’s blog) to find the place that Seumas (Angus & Mary’s son) was performing in the Uist Provincial Mod tomorrow (Friday).  We had been told it was near the shop, Hebridean Jewellery, near the causeway over to Benbecula (although they were strictly islands, South Uist, Benbecula and North Uist are now all joined by causeways).  Not spotting it, we asked in the shop and were directed back down the road.  Peter nearly bought me a beautiful silver bracelet until we found out it was over £300!

We popped into the school as we could see the doors were still open and a very friendly teacher told us the timings and said we were welcome to come along.  More news on this tomorrow!

Down at one of the many lochs (there is supposedly more water than land on South Uist!) a pair of Redshanks were making a big fuss when we parked Bessie.  One flew away and one stood on a grassy hummuck letting us know!

We eventually drove off but not before spotting this delightful baby Redshank in the water – so that was what all the fuss was about!

Isn’t he sweet?

Now from the sublime to the furious!  Two Buzzards having a bit of a barney…

Eventually one bird won the battle and the other flew off.

 

At Lake Druidbeg (an RSPB reserve) we spotted this Black Throated Diver:

This is a first for us!

Back to the campsite for us and looking forward to going to the Mod tomorrow and also, hopefully, some equally interesting birds!