The tups are out, and so is the sun

Today, the tups went out. The ewes were gathered earlier in the week, during a break in the weather, and they are now in the fields near the Haunn Cottages, looking over towards the Treshnish Isles. They will eat off the surplus grass the cattle wont touch, and clean up the pasture for next years flowers.

Before the tups go out, they are put through the fank and painted with waxy paint we call raddle, so that they are easy to spot in at a distance.

Heavy rain showers followed by extraordinary sunlight which coloured the white paint on our house a full yellow in the dying light of the afternoon.

A short while later, holiday cottage guests arrived by taxi from Tobermory as they have not brought a car. Having dropped their belongings at the cottage, they immediately went for a walk, dusk fell, and they came back in the moonlight. Last week we had one night without any guests, the first night since March, without anyone else here! All the out of season visitors seem to have got alot out of the quietness of the island at this time of year and enjoyed the longer evenings cosy in their cottages.