Christine's walking & birds blog

The first thing I noticed when I went out to open the gate this morning was the powerful, gusting wind - and the second thing I noticed was how gorgeously warm it was! A wind from the south, calling me home. I walked the round at Ardmair, much buffeted, for exercise but there were very few birds to be seen. Battling my way back into my car, I realised that the window on the seaward side was filthy - the spray from the sea was evidently carrying some sort of silty debris. I got out again and threw what was left of my mineral water over the window and side mirror. What a mess! At home, I saw from the weather forecast that the wind would reach a peak of 51mph gusts at about 2 o'clock, and I wanted to be out in it. The ferry was in dock, not having sailed to Stornoway; I guessed they were waiting to see if the wind would die down for the early-evening sailing. Misty lines of white travelled at speed across the loch as the wind whipped up the surface of the water; and isolated large "blows" made me think of whales, or the possibility of waterspouts.

I walked along West Terrace heading for the steps down to the river spit, and at the bend in the road I was bent almost double by the wind and flung against the road sign; I stayed there for some minutes, assailed furiously by the strongest gust I've ever been out in, and trying not to clutch the top of the sign which was sharp! A faint lull had me hurrying to the flight of steps, which I found relatively sheltered as I made my way down to the spit. I reckon these winds were worse than the ones in the named storms earlier this year - very exciting, but all the birds (apart from a few of the hardy larger gulls) had disappeared.