Christine's walking & birds blog

A week ago, my car failed its MOT and had to be left in Inverness for a part to be ordered and some expensive repair work to be done. Two days ago, I decided to go on the ferry to cheer myself up. Hmm. Not sure that worked! The first thing of note was the passing of a doomed ferry. MV Hebridean Isles has been doing the freight route from Stornoway, but will soon be heading for Turkey to be scrapped. Sad. 

It all went downhill from there, really - if you can go downhill at sea. On three occasions I spotted a probable sooty shearwater, but there was no chance of even the poorest of record shots. I'd hoped for two things: a great shearwater (just one would do - I'm not greedy!) and another sighting of white-beaked dolphins. I saw dolphins twice - but they were common. Still, I have to say that the trip was quite exciting, with a blustery wind, a frisky sea, and lots of spray thrown onto the deck; and it ended beautifully, with the hills of Assynt softly silhouetted against a pink sky and high above them the not-quite-full moon, casting a path of light on the water.

A few days before that, a walk along West Shore brought a gruesome sight.

It looks as though the skates/rays have had their wings removed. Since coming to live here, I've learnt that some species of skate are considered to be endangered. I love seafood, but I'll never eat skate or ray wings (not sure I ever have eaten them, actually). There's no need to - there are plenty more fish in the sea! (I could add "literally" but have sworn never to use that overused/misused word.) Meanwhile, I've been trying to identify them but don't make much headway. The largest was probably under 3 ft long.