Cows and sheep and rare fungi

This is Violet coral fungus, which wasn't found here but a few miles away.. 

 

Dry days

Not every day in October is sunny and dry.  But goodness it is glorious when it is. 

 

Calgary after an October storm

 

The Eileen Ban

The Eilean Ban is a creel boat that fishes out of Croig harbour.  It is skippered by a local fisherman, and we often see his boat lifting creels down below the house here.  If we want to buy shellfish, we will buy them from the Eileen Ban.  

 

Off island!

We had a trip planned to Iona to celebrate our wedding anniversary and just as we had the tailend of a hurricane blowing the day we got married at Gruline, there was a hooley blowing the day we were meant to go.  

We decided to chance the Threat of Disruption Calmac alert that we picked up at 7am, and drive down to Fionnphort anyway.  Half way down we received a text saying they were going to attempt a crossing at 10.30.   We got there just in time.  And the boat did sail, and more importantly, did manage to land. 

We had a blissful couple of nights there.  The ferry cancellations and disruptions meant there weren't many day trippers, and we had some lovely walks without being rained on once.  It was windy and we had to pick Farmer's swimming spot, according to the wind direction - but it was lovely and 2 nights felt like a week away. 

We counted 22 different flowering plants in our 2 days, including this Thrift on the beach at Calva. 

I was really pleased to finally find the fank at Calva.  I had missed it the last time I went looking.  It has not been used for a long time and is now a useful storage place for rolls of old fencing. 

The wind was quite strong the afternoon Farmer tried to swim on the other side, along from the Bay at the Back of the Ocean (pictured below).  

He didn't stay in long as the current was pulling him out. 

After an early breakfast on the day we left, we walked out to the Hermit's Cell and found the nearby fank.  On a map in the Museum there is a fank marked Mary's Fank on the side of Dun 1.  This does not appear on the OS map - but this one (below) is on the OS and not on the one in the Museum.   I will have to find out if this is Mary's Fank and has just been recorded in the wrong place on the Museum map. 

You can see the circular Hermit's cell at the bottom of the photograph with the fank structure above. 

The walk out there was wonderful, the bog such a rich tapestry of colours. 

 

Sales

Late August and September are a busy time on the farm. Sorting out lambs and ewes for sale, and a weekly or fortnightly trip to Oban to market.   Long days sorting sheep, long days leaving home before day break and not getting home until 12 hours later.  

 

An unusual visitor

One of the highlights of the summer for us was having a Turtle dove on the farm for a few days.   Farmer has seen one here before, and so has Prasad, but I hadn't ever seen one.  Initially I wondered if I ever would as Farmer kept seeing it, and so did our guests, but then finally I saw him/her on the track just over the garden wall.   What a special experience.  

The calm warm weather changed and our exotic visitor moved on.