This is the kind of March I remember when we first arrived at Treshnish, when you lost track of when it last rained. We have been really appreciating it, as have our guests!
Usually we consider the Easter weekend as being the start of the season but we are fully booked this weekend, so I guess it has crept up and started already. A few things still to catch up on, like clearing out the Phone Room which I dumped lots of books in, without putting away.. oops. A job for tomorrow.
One last look at Walter before he had his hair cut. Farmer took the hand shears to him, and he looks quite different but he can see again, and it must be cooler in the sunshine. Photograph to follow..
I had a meeting in Craignure in the middle of the week, and the weather was glorious, and the colour of the sunset on the way home was so beautiful. It has not been a very good few weeks for wind generation, but it is good for the soul, to have the stillness.
Then after dark, very late, I headed to Croig. The folk who live in the house had gone to bed so their outside light was not lighting up the shed, this was just with the moonlight. It was a very strong forecast but the moon was really bleaching the colours.
After another day of sunshine, another aurora. Again the moon was really strong so I decided to walk below the house to what we call the boathouse where Matt Baker's sculpture is. It was so quiet down there. My head torch beam alerted the ewes whose eyes caught in the light, as they looked and then slowly and silently walked away in the darkness. The landscape looks so amazing in the moonlight.
The aurora started to show even as the after glow of the sunset was still showing.
Then at 2 or 3 in the morning, the moon began to set.
The sun lost its battle with the clouds eventually, and we had two days of overcast skies, but still very calm and dry.
That is the bank of cloud coming in behind the Point.
Farmer has been busy as usual. The morning feeding trip round with the quad bike and the snacker. He and DG put the Cheviots through the fank on Tuesday, and on Thursday he accompanied me to Oban to get lots of chores done. Friday he was fixing wood burning stoves and chimneys, and today I think it was a normal farming day. We have feed blocks in various places on the hill, and he has to check that they still have the 'lick' left in them, and take out new ones if they dont. This was good weather to do it in.
There will be a bit more farm action next week, as the hill ewes need to be gathered in and checked over pre-lambing. It is usually quite a sedate gather, as the ewes are heavily pregnant now.
Special offers on vacancies between 25th March and 28th April. Please look at the website to see what is still available!
