A family outing…

A misty morning meant that Peter and Alfie kept to the grass this morning but spotted this Pippit (above) who is almost camouflaged with the matching post.  There seem to be so many Stonechats (below) this year and we have yet to see a Wheatear – surprising as they are usually so common up here.

We paid a visit to the Co-op in Castlebay to get a few things before they close until the weekend.  We travelled up the Atlantic coast for a change, passing the reservoir and a new Greylag family out for a swimming lesson (in the feature picture).

It’s time for some sheep to make an appearance – a jet black mum and lamb and then 2 white mums and lambs…

At the airport there seemed to be more activity than usual.  Apparently, because of the low mist this morning the plane couldn’t land and had to try again this afternoon.  This meant that the morning and afternoon flight came in within a quarter of an hour of each other.  No wonder the café/waiting area held twice as many passengers!

The tide was starting to come in rapidly and the second plane caused quite a splash in a dramatic take-off!

Driving back Peter spotted this Lapwing –

Unusually, there was a coach at the old cemetery and the place was heaving – probably visiting the grave of Compton McKenzie.

Down at the beach Alfie enjoyed an interesting expedition amongst the rocks while the tide was out.

… and we were quite impressed with this giant lump of granite:

There was a rich glow as the sun made a belated appearance and then gradually started to sink behind us…