Tuesday, April 15, 2025
My first bogbeans of the spring were in the roadside "snipe pool" on this sunny, coldish day in the Coigach area - but only this one was in full flower. The flowers are the pin form.
Driving home, I stopped below Stac Pollaidh to view the damage done by a fire a week ago. (I'd forgotten about this, so it came as a shock to see black grass and gorse when I drove in; the affected area was quite extensive.) Some of the blackest charring was near the wide part of the road where vehicles used to park before the new car park was made, while the hill itself seemingly didn't escape. The burnt smell still hung on the air. The fire started on the morning of Sunday 6th and wasn't put out completely until 7.30 pm on Monday 7th, with the road being closed in both directions for a while and traffic needing to take the long way round to Lochinver to get back to main roads.
An article on the BBC News website stated that campers started the fire. No doubt it was an accident, but we've had a long dry spell here and there have been warning signs all over the place, so there's really no excuse. I just hope stonechats hadn't started nesting.
Very few "wildfires" are truly wild.
// posted by Christine @ 2:12 PM 
