Friday, November 04, 2022

Yesterday: "What do you expect to see today?" Greger asked on our walk down to the ferry terminal. "Nothing," I replied. That way, I thought, we can't be disappointed. Most birds would surely have moved south by now and dolphins would also be thinning out. We would just enjoy a day at sea on the Isle of Lewis (the old ferry standing in for the Loch Seaforth while the latter has its annual service).

Greger snapped the works along Shore Street with his phone. The road is to be widened and a new promenade for pedestrians and cyclists will be built next to the water. Before the work started, I thought that the main spectators would be men, standing with hands in pockets or arms folded muttering "I wouldn't do it like that!" or similar - but in fact women (including me) seem just as mesmerised by the proceedings as blokes. It's amazing, what the digger operators can do with those buckets!


There were quite a number of gulls and kittiwakes drifting about along the loch or settled on the water. Ben Mor Coigach looked serene in the morning sun.


The ferry took a route through the Summer Isles that we've been on twice before, in June 2021 and October 2021. This gave us a view of the house on the north-east side of Eileen Dubh and a very close view of Cathedral Cave on Tanera Beag. Once out on the Minch, we saw seabirds wherever we looked. Nearing Stornoway I spotted a sooty shearwater among gulls, kittiwakes, and gannets (a few juveniles and immatures of these present). A single fulmar was seen.

Enjoying the sun in Stornoway harbour......


.....with the CalMac ferry Isle of Arran in the background.

Going back across the Minch we saw several feeding frenzies of gulls and kittiwakes, mostly quite far out; and we were surprised by several small pods of common dolphins, some leaping quite close to the ferry. A sooty shearwater taking off nearby might have been the one I'd seen on the way out or it might have been a second individual; if I'd managed a picture the first time it could have settled the question, given this bird's missing flight feathers.



Should it be moulting now? I wondered. I've tried to find out about moulting in sooty shearwaters but the little info I could find online didn't relate to sooties in British waters in October/November. Doesn't matter much - I'm just interested. And although it was just a single shearwater, I was pretty chuffed with the sighting - this can happen when you expect nothing! 

Although it was growing quite cold we remained on deck, watching the dramatic sky as the sun dipped to the horizon. All seemed light and glowing back towards Stornoway, while dark clouds engulfed Loch Broom and Ullapool.


As the light drained away and the first drops of rain fell, we went below. Having disembarked, we found shining roads and puddles that suggested there had been quite a shower earlier - but the rain soon stopped and we got home without a soaking. This was a tonic of a day after our bouts of flu and then a 24-hour reaction to our flu-and-Covid jabs that made us fear we were getting it all over again!

// posted by Christine @ 4:44 AM
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