Mull Dreich

Tuesday May 8

Dreich (Old Scots origin)

A combination of dull, overcast, drizzly, cold, misty and miserable weather.

That describes the morning to a T.

 We stayed cosy in the cottage, photographing yesterday's moths before releasing them so that we could use the pots for last night's catch. After yesterday's warmth and sun I'd been hoping for a better catch. Instead, there were a lot of Common Quakers. I thought we'd left them behind in Norfolk.

It did include Peppered Moth, Green Pug, Flame Carpet, Autumn Green Carpet, Early Tooth-stripe, Nut-tree Tussock and a Scalloped Hazel. Finding a Caithness 'Flying in May' site helped considerably with identification.

http://www.caithnessmoths.org.uk/whatsflyingmay.html

It was gone 1.00 p.m. before the weather improved and it  stopped raining. Whilst sitting in the car, waiting for Pam, I noticed three Redpolls on and around our wonky bird feeder. Pam had seen them earlier. I took this through the windscreen. Must try and get a better photo.

Siskin and Redpoll

Our original plan was to visit Croggan on Loch Spelve, so we did.

The phrase "off the beaten track" has a very literal meaning in some of the more remote parts of Scotland. Roads that see very little traffic can be identified by occasional tufts of grass sprouting out of the tarmac between the paths taken by vehicle wheels. The more grass you see, the less the level of traffic using the road. Sometimes, very rarely, traffic levels are so low that tufts of vegetation can become established as a continuous stripe up the middle of the road, and the more normal grass is supplemented by flowers and other plants, or, more unusually (in densely shadowed areas) by a layer of moss.

Anyone wanting to see this for themselves could do far worse than drive along the road to Croggan. The fact that few people have heard of it is why the road to it is so little used. Croggan lies in the little visited far south east of Mull, at one end of the large chunk of land almost turned into a separate island by the incursions of Loch Buie and Loch Spelve.

The way into this remote area is via a minor road that turns off the A849 at Strathcoil, near the northernmost tip of Loch Spelve. From here the road heads over the shoulder of Cruach Ardura before descending to run alongside Loch Spelve to its western end at Kinlochspelve. Here, next to a massive stone post box, is a road junction. Carry straight on, and you end up in Lochbuie. Turn left and you find yourself on the four mile stretch of road that ends at Croggan.

As you round the end of Loch Spelve, you pass the drive leading up to the small collection of houses that comprises Barachandroman, primarily of interest because it is a candidate for the title of longest single-word place name in Scotland. From here you drive along the south east shore of Loch Spelve on a road that contains more greenery, of greater variety, than on most roads you will find in Scotland.

There are a couple of isolated dwellings beside the road, and a fish farm in the loch. But otherwise this is a pretty empty area.

We'd heard of it from Ian and Sue who visited the area earlier in the week - on a warm, sunny day. They were luckier with birds than we were, but we  thoroughly enjoyed our visit. The view across the loch was magnificent, multi layered mountains across which we saw Buzzard, Golden Eagle and a White-tailed Eagle, the latter hassled by a Raven.
A roadside waterfall bore testimony to the earlier rainfall. 

A fish farm, Salmon I believe.

As usual, Eiders loafed around the farm looking for scraps, two Black Guillemots fished nearby and a Yellowhammer sang from a nearby tree. We were parked in a lichen encrusted, no leaves, birch wood, beside the loch. There we stayed for an hour or so before  - reluctantly - leaving.

It was getting late, yet we still called in at Grass Point, seeing only three Red Deer hinds.

After a convenience call at Craignure, we were not home until 7.00.

The cottage owners returned yesterday, I thought that it was odd that we hadn't seen anyone in the Lodge. It was Graham's 50th birthday and they'd flown to Southampton to collect his present - a silver sports car, a Vauxhall Lotus. It was so hot there that Sally had to buy new clothes so as to be comfortable.

We are now parking the car up the slope near some bamboos, where we can enter our cottage via a gate and NO STEPS. We may well re-consider and come again.