Wednesday, June 02, 2021
As puffins are in the news today for all the wrong reasons, I'll post a useless shot taken from the ferry in celebration that for now at least, they still exist; we saw a fair number of them across the Minch and approaching Stornoway.
The Loch Seaforth has returned to service after extensive repairs. This was a pity in a way, as I was hoping to do our first "pelagic" of the year in its stand-in - the old boat, the Isle of Lewis. When the fine new ferry came into service several years ago, we felt it wasn't as sea-watching friendly (not so much rail room) as the old one, and I wanted to compare them again to see if that was really the case - or if we just wanted something to moan about.
(This reminds me of something that happened years ago at Wilstone Reservoir, near Tring. I walked round the rim of the reservoir one day and found that a splendid new hide had replaced the former one, which I remembered as being dark and cramped, with an earthen floor and the odd suspicious whiff in the corners. The new one was larger, airy, and gave off a fragrance of warm pine. A couple of local birders came in while I was there. The man looked around warily, while the woman sniffed a few times and then said "I think I prefer the old one". Honestly, there's no pleasing some people.)
An interesting feature of today's trip was the different route the ferry took through the Summer Isles, both outward and return. We sailed, for example, close to Tanera Beag and its Cathedral Cave.
I think this is one of the outer skerries, Stac Mhic Aonghais, with Glas-leac Beag to the right.
Apart from the puffins (our first for several years, I think) no special birds were seen. This was disappointing although I felt more sorry for the people who were hoping for cetaceans, which were also conspicuous by their absence. But it was a lovely sparkling day at sea, and possibly the first pelagic I've done without my thermals on! Back in Ullapool, we bought fish-and-chips at the Seaforth chippy and sat at one of their picnic tables. How nice to eat out of doors in the evening and not feel cold!
