Tales from the Outer Hebrides.

2011-05-16T22:46:00.000+01:00

LEWIS CHESSPIECE

There are 93 of these 12th Century walrus ivory and whale tooth chess pieces, which were found in Uig, Isle of Lewis, sometime around 1831. Most of them are normally kept at the British Museum in London, with a few living in the National Museum of Scotland. The piece shown above, which I photographed at the weekend, is one of a number currently on display until September, at Museum nan Eilean in Stornoway. They are being housed in secure thick glass cabinets, which makes it difficult to do justice to the exquisite carving and workmanship of each piece in a photograph.
Best of all, the exhibition of chess pieces is absolutely free.

I'm not a fanatical bird watcher, but I do value the tremendous richness of bird life here which is absent in many other parts of the UK. During a memorable 2 hour period whilst driving from Lochmaddy to Eriskay last week, I saw two hen harriers, two short eared owls, several eiders, a flock of lapwings, a sea eagle, any number of shelduck and heard a cuckoo at the ferry terminal. To cap off a good week, I spent yesterday afternoon watching a pair of golden eagles which have an eyrie nearby and are busy feeding a single chick, hatched recently. There is a vantage point, a good distance from the nest, where the birds can be watched through a telescope without disturbing them.

Friend from the South has gone home now, but we managed to take advantage of the recent good weather to cut a substantial number of peats whilst he was here and they are now drying out on the moor. I will turn them this coming weekend and bring them home to stack when family visit in a few weeks time. Not sure when they will be used though because my stove is temporarily out of action. It started smoking ferociously a couple of weeks ago, suggesting a blockage, but when I investigated, part of the flexible flue liner came away and appears to have pitted and corroded through as if eaten by acid. It's only three years old and was very expensive, so need to find someone who knows about chimney problems and their solutions, not easy here.

Still having trouble finding someone who wants to provide estimates for replacing the croft fencing. They are either too busy, don't want to travel to this part of the island, or simply don't turn up when they say they will. It's not an urgent job, but until the fencing is replaced, I've got stray sheep from all over the village wandering about the croft. They are past masters at exploiting any weaknesses in the fence or jumping over in places where the fence sags.

Uist seems to be experiencing something of a tourist boom just now, which is causing me problems. It may be because of the Monty Hall effect, reduction in ferry fares because of RET or recent mentions on Countryfile, but there are visitors everywhere which means that most of the available accommodation is fully booked. I have to go back to Uist and Barra for a few days tomorrow and spent this morning phoning round trying to get somewhere to stay. My usual B&B has no vacancies and after phoning 15 separate guest houses and hotels, all of which are full, I've had to book into a bunkhouse for two nights. Oh well - cheap and cheerful.

I'm just coming to the end of reading a recently published book called The Blackhouse, by Peter May. It's set here on Lewis and is a detective novel about a brutal murder. The author is new to me, but the blurb says he is a long established writer with fifteen novels to his name and this one is excellent and enjoyable. I shan't give the story away, but it's very gripping, well written and I thoroughly recommend it. You can get a copy cheap from Amazon, with no postage charges.

2011-04-25T13:15:00.002+01:00

EOLIGARRY JETTY, BARRA, LOOKING TOWARDS SOUTH UIST.

All is well here at the Homestead. Following a demanding couple of weeks at work, I now have a weeks holiday and am enjoying doing a bit of sightseeing and taking it easy with the friend who is visiting. The weather has improved dramatically and it's 13 or 14 degrees most days, which suits me fine. The flowers are starting to appear and it was lovely to see the Machair on Barra covered in Primroses earlier this week. I've just got Daffodils and Narcissus in bloom in the garden, but there are Violets in flower on the croft, Marsh Marigolds in the ditches and Silverweed has just surfaced and is uncurling everywhere.
The birds are returning too. Although I've seen nothing unusual yet, the Wheatears are back and there is a Rock Pipit outside the kitchen window as I write this. The Gyrfalcon that has been spotted up and down the islands recently has not been to see me.

Way back in 1984, a couple from England bought the buildings of Eilean Glas Lighthouse on the Island of Scalpay, a short distance from Tarbert, Harris, some forty miles from here. The lighthouse is historic, very picturesque and potentially a great tourist attraction, but is in a woeful condition at present. It's in a lovely position overlooking the Minch and is one of my favourite places for walking and pottering about.
In the mid 90's, apparently after getting into difficulties with the mortgage on the property, the female owner set up a fake Charity called the Friends of Eilean Glas and over the next couple of years, attracted donations to the charity and then systematically stole more than £100,000, which others had given, believing it was being used to maintain and improve the lighthouse buildings, which it clearly was not.
Well, chickens come home to roost and in 2004, both owners appeared before Southampton Crown Court, when they were each jailed for three years for fraud, later reduced to two years on appeal. The Court was told that the money was used to purchase shares and premium bonds, to buy the council house of the mother of the male owner - said to be a financial adviser - and to pay the school fees of their son.
The couple did their time, were ordered by the Court to repay some of the fraudulently obtained money from their remaining assets and all went quiet for a few years.
Moving forward to the present, the local Community on Scalpay are interested in purchasing the lighthouse to restore it and develop its potential for the benefit of all. A fly in the ointment though, is that the lighthouse buildings remain under the ownership of the Friends of Eilean Glas Trust, which is now controlled by the son of the two individuals who were jailed for fraud in 2004. In an email to the West Highland Free Press, the son said that the Trust (he and his parents?) had their own plans to develop the lighthouse site and hoped to secure funding from Historic Scotland in the coming months to help them achieve this. He then went on to say that :
" We recognise the benefit of Community involvement in the management of Eilean Glas and efforts will be made to involve the community in the daily operations and long term strategy of the lighthouse"
Just in case you might think that I'm making this story up, there is plenty of information on the internet about Eilean Glas and the role of the owners who were imprisoned.
A spokesman for the community group hoping to buy the lighthouse made his own statement this week saying:
" The actions of the owners of the Eilean Glas Lighthouse led directly to their imprisonment and to the current lamentable state of the buildings. I therefore think it is difficult to see how any funding body or community group could have the confidence to support any organisation that has the managerial involvement of any member of this family."

Went to the museum in Stornoway a few days ago to see the twenty three Lewis chessmen which are on display here until September. I first saw them many years ago in London, but had forgotten just how beautiful and imposing they are to look at. They are spectacularly well carved and such an important exhibit for us to have back on the island where they were discovered in 1831. Strongly recommend a visit to see them if you possibly can.

It's a bit windy, but I need to use the time usefully before I go back to work, so we're off to cut some peats now.

2011-04-02T16:45:00.002+01:00

MFV FUGLENES IMPOUNDED IN STORNOWAY HARBOUR ON FRIDAY MORNING

What an exciting week it's been here on Lewis.

A 4000 square mile area of sea around Rockall is designated as a Special Area of Conservation by the European Commission and fishing is prohibited within the area. This designation is intended to protect the habitat of many marine species, but particularly of a fragile and rare cold water coral known as Lophelia Pertusa -(great name for a Flamenco dancer?)
Well, on Tuesday, a Scottish Fisheries Protection Vessel, the Jura, arrested the longliner MFV Fuglenes, shown above, for fishing in the banned area. The Fuglenes, a 38 metre Norwegian fishing boat, was then escorted 300 miles to the nearest port, Stornoway, by the Jura, a journey which took 26 hours. On arrival at Stornoway, the skipper of the Fuglenes, Captain Johansen, was reported to the Procurator Fiscal for illegal fishing and the poor man was then hauled before the Sheriff at Stornoway Sheriff Court on Friday, where he pled guilty.
Captain Johansen, who was second in command of a Norwegian Navy U boat before he became a fishing skipper, told the Court that he had made a 'genuine mistake' and had inserted the wrong co-ordinates into the ship's plotter, which then gave him 'the false impression that we were fishing outside of the banned zone.'
The Fiscal told the Court that the Fuglenes was detained by the Fisheries Protection Vessel whilst she was fishing well within the prohibited area and the Sheriff observed that it was 'rather worrying' that a former First Officer of a submarine could get his plot co-ordinates so wrong.
Captain Johansen was fined £5000. His catch of fish, a holdful of Blue Ling, was weighed by Fisheries Enforcement Officers and a valuation of £31,500, after expenses, was agreed between them and the skipper . In a very generous gesture, Captain Johansen transferred that sum to his fishing agent before he left Stornoway and the money is now being donated to two Lewis charities, the Stornoway RNLI lifeboat and the Fishermen's Mission, both of whom expressed gratitude for this unexpected windfall.
Even as we speak, the Fuglenes is on its way back to Norway, where the skipper will sell his catch and presumably reflect on his navigational skills.

When I came to live here, more than five years ago, I brought with me three digital radios, two of which I had bought and one which was a gift. The FM signal where I used to live was rubbish and digital reception was great. I was particularly fond of listening to Planet Rock and BBC 7, which broadcasts lots of plays and repeats of old radio programmes from the 50's, 60's and 70's. Both of those stations were only broadcasting on digital, not FM.
Arriving on Lewis, I soon discovered that there was no digital radio signal here and no plans whatsoever to provide one. My digital radios were put in a cupboard and there they remained until yesterday, useless. From time to time, I thought about giving them away or selling them, but never got round to it. It has been a curious feature of life on Lewis that all of the shops selling electrical goods, including the Co-op and Tesco, have had shelves full of digital radios, when there has been absolutely no signal. A couple of years ago, I got the manager of the Co-op out of his office and asked him why he persisted in selling radios that could not be used here. The reply - ' I don't know. I just sell what head office send me. Perhaps people buy them as presents for relatives and friends on the mainland.' Perhaps, but an answer that infuriated me. Every few weeks since then, I have plugged in one of the digital radios to see if a signal has arrived while I've been asleep, but have always received a message saying 'No Digital Reception.'
Jump forward to this week . A local man wrote to the Hebrides Internet news site saying that he needed a new radio and bought an FM model which also had DAB. When he got it home and plugged it in, he was astonished to find that it tuned itself in to a number of digital radio stations. He then looked on the web and could find no information disclosing or boasting that we have been provided with a digital radio signal here in the Outer Hebrides. Eventually, he managed to find out that we started to receive a limited signal here on March 22, with no advertising or fanfare. In his letter, this man said he was receiving 11 BBC radio stations.
I have been playing with my radios this morning and find that I can receive 10 stations, all BBC, including the wonderful BBC 7. Sadly, no commercial stations, so no Planet Rock, but I'm grateful for what we've got.

2011-03-27T14:28:00.008+01:00

HEBRIDEAN SHEEP, BENBECULA

What a change in the weather. We're up to about 10 degrees outside most days now and I've turned the central heating off this weekend, because the house is warm enough with the solid fuel stove ticking over in the lounge.
A few days ago, I noticed that Scottish Hydro have reduced my monthly standing order for electricity to £20. When I phoned them to query this, they said my electricity usage is so low that I've been accumulating a credit balance and they have lowered my payments to correct this. I'm not conscious of making any particular efforts to economise, so I think I'm reaping the rewards of having installed lots of expensive insulation in the walls, floors and roof spaces when the house was renovated. Every light in the house is low energy and that helps too, but I do hate the poor light quality of low energy bulbs, which still take ages to reach full intensity and are difficult to read by.

A house nearby is having a wind turbine installed in the garden just now and I think I will probably go and see if the owners will talk to me about the pros and cons of domestic wind power after it's been up and running for a while. I like the idea of having wind and solar power providing some of my energy but the current costs, payback times and unrealistic claims made for their efficiency make installation uneconomic for me at present.

Went to the cinema on Friday for the first time this year, with a group of friends. Saw True Grit, which turned out to be a boring remake that added nothing to the original, but it was still good to get out. I've felt quite cocooned and insulated from the real world here at the Chateau during this harsh Winter and have to make a real effort to go out and mix with other people, especially at weekends.

I have finally decided to get a contractor in to replace the worst of the croft fencing and I'm now waiting for him to come and provide me with an estimate. I think that I've also made the decision to keep some sheep of my own and I'm going to see if I can find a small flock of Hebridean sheep, like those in the picture above, in the near future. If I do decide to retire next year, I want to ensure that I've got plenty to do with my time and I'm very conscious that this croft is underused. A few sheep, some hens and taming of the garden ground should keep me occupied for a while.

The first of my yearly visitors arrives in a couple of weeks and I'm hoping that the weather will be good enough for us to go out on the moor to cut some peats. I've now run out of wood and peat from last year, so I'm currently dependent on coal and oil for heating. I'd like to have a bigger peat stack dry and ready to use next Winter and there will also be lots of wood to burn from the rotten fence posts that are about to be replaced. Only the base rots, leaving four foot of good burnable wood that would cost me lots if I had to buy it.

We have two ferries providing our daily lifeline connection between Stornoway and Ullapool on the North Western mainland of Scotland. The 'Isle of Lewis' is the passenger and car ferry, while the 'Muirneag' carries articulated lorries bringing freight to the island overnight. Both vessels are reaching the end of their useful lives and discussions are now taking place about replacing them. The company that provides the ships for Caledonian MacBrayne, the ferry operator, favours building a single boat costing £49 million, which will carry passengers, cars and freight vehicles and will be about 25% bigger than the ' Isle of Lewis.' It will be a 116 metre roll on roll off ferry, powered by four diesel electric engines and will make the journey across the Minch in two and a half hours, reducing the current crossing time by 15 minutes. The proposed new boat would make three crossings every day and would effectively be running a shuttle service. If the plan for the new boat is approved by the Scottish Government, building it will start sometime next year.

2011-02-28T23:41:00.003Z

SPREADING SEAWEED, NEAR POLOCHAR, SOUTH UIST.

Seaweed is still collected on the foreshore and used as fertiliser by crofters throughout the islands. It's easy to obtain, free and effective.

A quick update for those interested in the progress of goings on here:

a) Recently arrived grandson smiles all day, feeds well and sleeps all night. No problems whatsoever so far and his big sister loves him. Following due deliberation, parents have decided not to send him back to the shop.

b) Boiler is working fantastically well since the engineer came and spoke sternly to it a few weeks ago. Have now almost decided to spend the money earmarked for a new boiler on replacing rotten croft fencing.

c) Little lighthouse at bottom of the croft is flashing regularly again since the man came and changed the bulb. I suppose it's churlish of me to observe that the light now has a slightly orangey glow to it rather than the previous bright white offering, which I preferred.

From time to time, I've written about the Uist Wader Project, which has been trapping and relocating hedgehogs, believed to be responsible for decimating the native wading bird population here by eating their eggs. The project, which started eight years ago, was reported only a few months ago as having been successful in increasing the number of ground nesting wading birds. Oops! Scientists from Scottish Natural Heritage are now saying that may not be the case and that 'there is no statistically valid evidence that the Uist Wader Project has resulted in an upturn in wader populations.' The scientists now speculate that the real culprits predating on the waders might be gulls, or chemical fertilisers applied to the machair, which may be upsetting the ecological balance. A SNH spokesperson said 'in retrospect, it would have been useful to have monitored gull numbers in more detail.'
Much of North Uist has been cleared of hedgehogs and the plan was to move the trappers into South Uist where the animals are still plentiful. Now that the SNH scientists have spoken though, that plan has been put on hold for four years while they search for evidence to discover if hedgehogs are innocent or guilty. The scientists now intend to monitor a patch of land by Loch Bee in South Uist, where there are lots of hedgehogs and compare the results with a plot in Benbecula, where there are few hedgehogs, but where flocks of gulls are present. SNH are seeking further funding of £100,000 for this new research and monitoring -- That's on top of the £1.3 million already spent on the Uist Wader Project, which has trapped and removed 1622 hedgehogs so far, at a cost of £800 per hedgehog.
On a positive note, the SNH spokesperson also said that the Uist Wader Project has brought benefit to the islands by creating employment and through wildlife tourism, said to be worth £130,000 a year to the local economy. Well there you are then.

Regular readers will remember that I have previously mentioned that the Stornoway Black Pudding Producers Association are making a bid to the EU for their puddings to receive protected status, to stop unscrupulous butchers on the mainland passing off their rubbish products as being 'Stornoway style' puddings. Others, such as Champagne, Melton Mowbray pork pies and Arbroath Smokies, have already received this coveted Protected Geographical Status and the Stornoway Black Pudding case will be considered by the EU in the near future.
Well, a twist in the tale. It is a little known fact that in addition to the four or five Stornoway butchers who make black puddings, there are at least two other long established black pudding makers here on the islands, away from Stornoway itself. One of those is at Cross Stores in Ness, about twenty five miles North of Stornoway, while the other is the butcher in Tarbert, Harris.
A week or two ago, at a council meeting in Stornoway, Councillors apparently tried to include these other pudding manufacturers under the Stornoway brand, for the purpose of the EU application.
Hell hath no fury! Almost immediately, the two independent butchers responded robustly with comments amounting to ' Not on your life mate, on your bike.'
The butcher in Tarbert, AD Munro, said he would fling out any suggestion that he should relabel his acclaimed Harris pudding as a Stornoway product. -- 'We sell all the Harris puddings we can make, no bother.'
Mr Morrison of Cross Stores in Ness said, ' We would rather retain the Ness black pudding identity than have it lumped in with the Stornoway label '. So there.
There are six or seven independent makers of black puddings here on Lewis and Harris. Wouldn't it be lovely if tourists started making pilgrimages here to sample each one of the puddings on a Western Isles Black Pudding Trail, just like they do with whisky on the mainland.

2011-02-13T13:31:00.001Z

SOUTH UIST TRACK

My faith in Lewis tradesmen has been partially restored by the heating engineer who has sorted out my central heating oil boiler.
The boiler broke down while I was away over Christmas and New Year and when I got back, it took me a few days to find a heating engineer who was willing to come and fix it. He arrived, took the boiler to pieces, replaced a part and it burst back into life. Just as the house was warming up and I began to feel secure again, it stopped and nothing I did could persuade it to work. Back came the engineer, who, with good grace, spent a lot of time trying to identify the new problem, before replacing a different part, which seemed to effect a cure. This time, the boiler functioned well for two days before having another breakdown, which I was also on the verge of suffering. I was embarrassed to call the engineer again, but did so and he was surprisingly enthusisastic about returning, on the grounds that these repeated breakdowns were a personal challenge and an affront to his professional skills and workmanship. Another part was replaced and away went the man with fingers crossed. Oh dear. This time the boiler only worked well for a couple of hours before breaking down. By now, I was at my wits end, but the engineer took the news in his stride and came back to the house quickly and cheerfully.
On this occasion, he brought his son, also a heating engineer and the two of them spent the best part of an afternoon stripping the boiler down, making all sorts of adjustments and replacing another part.
The boiler has now been working again faultlessly for over a week and I'm just beginning to relax and consider the possibility that the problem has been solved.
Everything about this engineer impressed me, but two things stand out. I was so fed up with the unreliability of the boiler that I was ready to ask him to rip it out and replace it with a new one. He wouldn't hear any of it and said that once he'd discovered the cause of the problems, the boiler should function happily for a good few years yet. Secondly, he absolutely refused to give me a bill for the visit by himself and his son and has since phoned to check that the boiler is still working. His attitude, good humour and desire to resolve the boiler faults have been impressive and I'm happy to provide his details to any reader who needs a Stornoway based heating engineer.

I like constancy in my life and am pleased to have a small working lighthouse on an islet in the sea loch at the bottom of the croft. It flashes every five seconds throughout the hours of darkness and I find it reassuring and welcoming.
In the New Year, it stopped without warning and no one locally I spoke to seemed to know why. I phoned the Northern Lighthouse Board hotline - really- and they denied any knowledge, but said they would look into it. The nice man on the other end of the phone was not willing to speculate on whether the light had become the victim of budget cuts, or just needed a new bulb and a service.
Nothing happened for several weeks and I began to think the light was gone forever. Well, imagine how pleased I was to be lying in my bed last night, when I noticed that the light was flashing again and reflecting in my bedroom off the wardrobe doors.
It's the little things that matter and make life good.

It is now possible to do a degree at Lews Castle College in Stornoway and at a variety of remote venues throughout Northern Scotland, which means that young people, and older folk, no longer have to go South for higher education unless they wish to.
Thirteen colleges and educational institutions offering both specialist and general courses have grouped together and were awarded official university status as the University of the Highlands and Islands on 2 February 2011. UHI is now Scotland's 15th University and offers courses by distance learning or personal attendance. Students can do BSc's in Renewable Energy, Sustainable Rural Economy & Archaeology in Stornoway, a BA in Gaelic language and Culture in Skye, a BA in Scottish History in Shetland and a BA in Theology at Dingwall. There are dozens of other degree level courses on offer as well and I'm thinking of enrolling for one myself when I retire in the next year or two.

A couple of years ago, myself and a friend were out fishing when a man appeared with a rifle and started shooting and killing seals that were feeding off the mackerel we were trying to catch. I wasn't traumatised by his behaviour, but I was angry that it was legal and he could just shoot these animals whenever he liked.
A new law now makes it illegal to kill seals at any time unless a special licence is held or there are compelling welfare reasons to end the suffering of an animal. Some annual licences have been issued to those who need to manage seal numbers to prevent seal damage to fisheries and fish farms, but killing a seal without a licence can now lead to six months in jail and/or a fine of up to £5000. I'm very pleased about that.

The Free Church of Scotland does not have a history of hymn singing or use of musical instruments in its services, but has a 100 year old strict tradition of instrument free, psalm only singing. The singing of psalms during a service is led by a Precentor, with the congregation responding. This traditon is threatened by a recent decision of the Church Commissioner's to allow hymn singing and instruments into worship for those Free Church congregations who wish to introduce them into their services.
A North Uist raised Minister who now preaches in Glasgow, is so opposed to the proposed change that he has decided to leave the Free Church and to seek a post as a pastor in another Scottish Presbyterian Church. There are rumblings that some congregations who want to maintain the status quo might also think of breaking away from the Free Church to form a new denomination maintaining the old traditions.

2011-01-30T20:58:00.000Z

WAITING FOR BREAKFAST

First of all, the good news. I now have a new grandson, born fit and well at 4:30am on Christmas Eve. For those who are interested in this sort of thing, he was 8lb 6oz at birth and mother and child are both healthy. The poor mite will probably regret having his birthday at Christmas when it comes to presents, but we will have to ensure that he doesn't lose out.

I took three weeks off work over Christmas and New Year, to visit family and friends and do my yearly shopping on the mainland- Shoes, clothes, household goods and an annual pilgrimage to B&Q for DIY stuff- all for items either not available here on the Island or for which there is very little choice.

As expected, the weather was dreadful when I left home and it took me three days to drive the 700+ miles to my sisters home in Sussex. A lovely Christmas was followed by a nasty dose of flu. By that time, I'd moved to stay for a few days with a friend who lives on a canal narrowboat and spent most of my time there lying in bed overdosing on paracetamol and lemsip.

To my great surprise though, I did eventually recover and started to work my way home again, with some anxiety.

Before I left Lewis, the oil central heating boiler had broken down and there was a problem with the ball valve in the cold water tank, causing a permanent overflow. Both the central heating engineer and the plumber had promised to turn up before Christmas, but neither of them materialised, leaving me in the lurch. Consequently, when I left here for the holidays, I had no choice but to turn the heating and water main off, when the temperature outside was -8 degrees.

On the way back home, I couldn't help but be consumed with worry about the prospect of returning to find burst pipes and floods throughout the ground floor.

Fortunately, by some miracle, no pipes had burst, although the house was incredibly cold.

Within a day or two of getting home last week, I managed to get reliable plumbers and heating engineers to come and sort out the boiler and ball valve and all was well again for a while. Unfortunately, the boiler has broken down once more and the only working heating I have just now is the solid fuel stove in the sitting room and a small electric fan heater.

To make matters worse, I went into the shed when I got home and found the electric plug to the freezer was sat on the workbench and not in the socket, where it should have been. I have vague memories of removing the plug and using my electric sander just before Christmas and I can only assume that I forgot to plug the freezer back in when I finished. Predictably, the contents of the freezer - 2 complete lambs, a whole salmon and a side of venison - had defrosted while I was away and were completely inedible and had to be disposed of. By good fortune though, the weather was so cold while I was in the South that the meat had not rotted and clearing the mess up was not too much of a problem.

It's been one thing after another then since I got back, but in spite of these tribulations, it was such a pleasure to return home. I love this house and croft and always feel a sense of mild excitement when I arrive home after being away for a while.

Sadly, the birds seem to have suffered during the freezing weather while I was away. I did have a resident Blackbird, Wren and Robin, but the Wren and Robin have disappeared and I fear that they may have succumbed and died. The Rock Doves and Starlings are still plentiful though and the Ravens and local Buzzard are visiting the croft daily in search of food.

Away from the Chateau, life carries on.

An RAF Tornado crashed into the Minch a few days ago, but mercifully, both pilots managed to eject, were rescued quickly and have survived with only minor injuries.

Following Calmac's successful establishing of a Sunday ferry service from Stornoway to Ullapool last year, the company is now attempting to impose a regular Sunday service on the Tarbert, Harris to Uig, Skye ferry. There is much opposition from the good citizens of Harris, but they will have to fight fairly hard if they hope to keep Sunday special and the ferry in the harbour.

Several of the primary schools earmarked for closure on Lewis and Harris have been reprieved by the Government, which is excellent news, but the Government has blotted its copybook by failing to support the bid by Harris to achieve National Park status, which would have brought great economic benefit to the area.

2010-12-12T18:01:00.001Z

PHOTOS FROM VISIT TO ST KILDA JULY 2010

CLEIT OVERLOOKING LEVENISH AND DUN

DOLPHINS CHASING THE BOAT

STACKS, BORERAY

SOAY SHEEP RELAXING.

STAC LEE

GOLDEN PLOVER ON SLOPES ABOVE VILLAGE BAY

ARCHWAY, HIRTA

ROCKET TRACKING STATION, HIRTA

BORERAY AND THE STACKS FROM HIRTA

SOAY SHEEP SHEDDING COAT

STAFF CHANGEOVER HELICOPTER LEAVING VILLAGE BAY, HIRTA

It's been about six months since my last blog and one of the reasons for this is that life has settled down into a regular routine with little having occurred to excite or interest readers.

Nothing dramatic has happened to me recently, but I've become much more conscious this year of the cyclical pattern of the seasons, which provide a continuity I find pleasing and comforting.

So, just what has been happening here?

Well, my trips to St Kilda seem to have become a yearly event and this year, number one son came with me and some of my photos from our July visit are shown above.

A succession of Summer visitors stopped me feeling isolated, although the cold and snowy weather this Winter has increased the sense of remoteness I sometimes experience. I used to feel quite smug that the climate here on Lewis was generally milder than many other parts of the UK, but regular temperatures of -5 degrees this month have wiped the smile off my face.

With all the insulation that was put into the walls, floors and ceilings during the renovation a couple of years ago, the house heats up quickly from cold and can be gloriously cosy on a freezing night. One problem I'm having though is that the oil boiler has become unreliable and switches itself off everytime the wind comes from the North and it failed to work at all yesterday.

The heating engineer was called to fix it three weeks ago and still hasn't turned up yet - 'very busy, we'll get round to you as soon as we can when we're working in your area'. The oil supply is getting low too and the supplier was asked more than a week past to fill the tank. Still no oil. Fortunately, the multifuel stove is working happily and I have ample supplies of coal, wood and peat to keep me going.

The Government financial cuts are having an increasing effect on Island life. Many primary schools here are about to be permanently closed - 11 at the last count.

The subsidised daily air services between Benbecula and Barra and Stornoway and Benbecula are under threat. The council propose to remove the subsidies to save money and it is difficult to see how those services can continue if that happens. If any of you harbour an ambition to land on the cockle strand beach on Barra, I suggest you book your flight soon, before it's too late.

The Western Isles Council, the largest employer in the Outer Hebrides, has to save huge amounts of money over the next few years and is currently consulting staff over voluntary redundancies. Every teacher over the age of 55 in the islands has been asked to consider applying for redundancy and staff in many other departments have now also been asked to volunteer to go. Depending on the response, compulsory lay offs may or may not take place in the near future.

My own department is not going to experience any cuts and my job is safe, which is ironic, because I can retire in twelve months time if I choose to do so. They will not consider making me redundant, so it's on to the end. I'm not sure that I want to give up work completely, although I would like to have more time to devote to working around the house and croft. I would quite like to work at the paid day job for two or three days a week, so I'll look into the possibility of flexible retirement during this coming year.

For now, my work continues as it has for the last few years. I spend at least three days a fortnight working in Uist and Barra and am content to continue doing that for now. I would like to get a dog or a couple of cats at some point though, which is not possible while I work away regularly. Perhaps when retirement comes, although I've plans to do some more travelling then.

On the flora and fauna front, nothing very remarkable has appeared on the croft this year.

My regular bird visitors continue to be Rock Doves, Starlings, Rock Pipits, Grey Lag Geese, Ravens, Buzzards and Hoodies. Drumming Snipe were around the house again this summer and I now have a resident Blackbird, Robin and Wren, all attracted by the bird table. A Pied Wagtail was a frequent visitor and the cold weather in November brought an influx of Waxwings and Snow Buntings, all of which have now gone.

The Mink eradication project continues, with the trappers currently working in the Ness district of Lewis, having effectively cleared - they hope- the rest of the islands. An increasing number of people are keeping poultry again now that the risk of attack by mink is much reduced. The hedgehog relocation scheme also seems to have been successful and I have mixed feelings about that because I liked to see the little chaps snuffling around the croft. SNH have reported though that ground nesting bird populations have already started to increase since the hedgehogs and mink were targeted and removed.

The sad wildife story of the year was that of the thirty three pilot Whales which swam into Loch Carnan in South Uist in late October. They attracted lots of visitors and photographers, but fearing that the animals were about to strand themselves, a team of experts and volunteers managed to herd the whales back out to open sea . The operation was thought to be successful when the whales disappeared, but sadly, all thirty three whales turned up at Burton Island, County Donegal, Ireland, a week later, where they beached themselves and died.

The croft flowers have done well this year. Many hundreds of Spotted Orchids on the West facing slope leading to the Loch and lots of Sundew in the permanent bog area. The Bog Asphodel was glorious and the showings of Yellow Iris and Bog Cotton were spectacular. I was particularly pleased to see the Monkey Flower -a Mimulus- start to colonise one of the drainage ditches and bizarrely, two single flowers of Blue Iris appeared for the first time growing next to my post box. They are the only Blue Iris I've seen growing on the island since I arrived and I've absolutely no idea how they got here. Neither myself or any of my visitors have planted them, so they remain a mystery. I'll be interested to see if they reappear next year.

My second grandchild was due to join the world yesterday, but hasn't put in an appearance yet, so I'm waiting anxiously for good news.

2010-05-18T18:20:00.007+01:00

OLD COTTAGE, SOUTH UIST

When I came to live on Lewis, I was still smarting from the comments of a friend(!) down South who, after a night on the red wine, accused me of being staid, resistant to change and set in my ways. Well, after nearly five years of coping with unpredictable weather, Hebridean tradesmen, building Inspectors and suicidal sheep and collies on every road, I think I can claim to have improved.

Friday afternoon was a test of my adaptability, which, smugly, I think I passed.
Having spent the week toiling in Uist, I was looking forward to coming home and taking up my other role as deputy assistant potwasher at a wedding in our community hall, on Friday evening. Arriving at Benbecula Airport at 4pm for the flight home, I ought to have sensed trouble when the usually dour man from the airline rushed up to me with a big beam on his face and asked "Do you want the good news, or the bad news?".

The conversation then went like this:

Yours Truly -- " Give me the good news please."

Airline Man -- "The Icelandic ash cloud hasn't grounded the planes today"

YT -- " How about the bad news then?".

AM -- " The Aircraft has broken down".

YT -- " When will it be fixed?".

AM -- " Not today"

YT -- " When is the next plane back to Stornoway?"

AM -- " On Monday"

YT -- " How am I going to get home then?".

AM -- ( big self satisfied smile) " I'm going to send you to Glasgow"

And that folks, is how my twenty five minute flight took three and a half hours. Big boys plane to Glasgow, followed by half an hour on the tarmac there. Loaded up with passengers and then an hour in the air to Stornoway. Landed at 7:30pm. Drove to the Wedding in time for the first wave of dirty plates and got home at midnight.

This has been a very good week for nature. Got strafed by a short eared owl in Uist and now have three greenfinches visiting the birdtable each day. I've been watching a white wagtail around the house for the last few days and there are violets in flower on the croft.
One evening after work, I drove up the steep road to the radar station at Cleitraval on North Uist, where there is a recently created viewing point with a telescope. On a clear day, there are tremendous views of St Kilda, The Monarch Isles and a host of other places. Sitting there quietly, it was a joy to watch a male Hen Harrier hunting on the surrounding croft land. Most impressive of all though this week, was a visit to Barra, where the North end of the island near the airport is currently carpeted with millions of primroses in full bloom. A glorious spectacle which I enjoy seeing every year.

There is a belief held by some in the crofting community that White Tailed Sea Eagles are responsible for killing and taking a large number of lambs each Spring. As the number of Sea Eagles have increased here following successful reintroductions, the clamour to do something about their alleged impact on lamb mortality has grown louder. A scientific study, undertaken by the Food and Environment Research Agency and published last week, seems to show that the Eagles are largely innocent. Using radio tracking, fieldworker observations and examination of debris in Eagle nests, the researchers discovered that sea birds such as Fulmars are the main source of prey for Sea Eagles and that less than two per cent of deaths among lambs could be blamed on them. It will be interesting to see if these findings are accepted by shepherds.

In a list published in the Stornoway Gazette, the local Council have named eleven Primary schools in these islands that they intend to close down and a further three where they propose to discontinue junior secondary provision. Education is highly prized here and many children do very well in Island schools. Among the reasons for this are small class sizes, committed teachers and a firm belief that children benefit from being taught in schools sited in the centre of their own village communities. If the proposal to close these schools goes ahead, the displaced pupils will have to be bused to larger, distant schools and spend more time away from their homes each day. So much for fostering community ties among the young and hoping they will remain on the islands when older. Shame on the local authority.

2010-04-24T07:46:00.015+01:00

EARLY SUNDAY MORNING, GREAT BERNERA

Spring is sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where the airplanes is? Those pesky Icelandics. First cod wars, then financial meltdown. When those tactics failed to bring the UK to heel, plan C, a volcano, worked very well. In common with the rest of the nation, the Outer Hebrides has been brought to a shuddering halt by ash clouds smiling down on us from the ether. With only propeller driven aircraft and pilots who like to fly at 75 feet so that they can do a bit of sightseeing on the way, we expect our planes to fly through treacle. Not a bit of it. We've been grounded for most of the last couple of weeks and Loganair only started flying again yesterday afternoon.
I've been working in Uist all week and as a consequence of cancelled planes, had to come back as a foot passenger on the Sound of Harris ferry and then hitch a lift to Stornoway from a fellow traveller. Very exciting. The boat snakes its way round a myriad of sparklingly beautiful small islands on passage from Berneray to Leverburgh and I've always thought it rates as one of the great ferry journeys of the world, especially on a gloriously bright and warm April day. The crossing takes one hour, cheers up the spirits, costs £6-25 and is a real bargain. The 60 mile trip from Leverburgh to Stornoway is pretty good too and even more so when someone else is driving, allowing me the luxury of staring open mouthed at the spectacular Harris scenery without worrying about keeping my eye on the road. Luskentyre beach and the surrounding mountains are magical in any light and quickly followed by the grandeur of West Loch Tarbert. The drive through the Harris Hills over the Clisham is a joy that I would willingly pay money to experience, although I confess to feeling a bit carsick when going round hairpin bends and looking down into the valleys hundreds of feet below. The road North from Bowglass to my house is always of interest as the hills recede, the moorland opens out and the colours of the land change rapidly from the moonscape grey of Harris to hundreds of shades of green and brown in the peatlands of central Lewis.

The realities of earning a crust though are that in ordinary circumstances, it's much quicker and time efficient for me to fly to Uist every fortnight for work, so I usually have to reserve the pleasures of the road and ferry journey for when I am in my own time and have friends staying to show the islands off to.

Regular readers will know that I'm obsessed with trying to see and photograph the Snowy Owl that turns up here every year and which has evaded me so far. Well, the beast is back and in spite of being the most recognisable bird on the planet, continues to hide from my binoculars and camera. It was spotted on St Kilda a couple of weeks ago and seems to fly in a circuit between there, Balranald on North Uist and Barvas on Lewis. Everytime I get wind that Hedwig is in town, I stop what I'm doing and invest huge amounts of energy and diesel in driving like a demented thing to the latest sighting spot, only to be told ' It's been here for days posing, but flew away fifteen minutes ago'. A second Snowy Owl has been spotted on the islands and there was some hope that the two of them would meet up, bill and coo and breed, but the experts now think both of them are males.

Following a long dark, quiet and largely solitary Winter, new activity is taking place all around the croft, village and island. A pretty Wheatear is sat on a rock outside of the kitchen window as I write this and a pair of Greenfinches are visiting the birdtable every day just now. Greedy and aggressive Gulls and Hooded Crows try to muscle their way in for the food I still put out for the Rock Doves and Starlings, but there seems to be plenty to go round. The tadpoles in the drains are developing and the sheep are grazing well and are more active and vocal now that the last of the snow has gone and the high winds are easing
Plenty of folk are out on the moor on the Pentland Road cutting peats for next Winter and the first wedding of the year took place in our Community Hall last Friday. We have at least four more weddings booked at the Hall throughout the summer, at which I hope to be offering my potwashing skills and one of the concerts during the Hebridean Celtic Music Festival in July will be held there. I'm pleased to announce that I've now got tickets booked for myself and visiting friends to see Runrig in the big blue tent on the Castle Green in Stornoway during the festival.

2010-04-05T19:31:00.004+01:00

OLD MISSION HALL, LOCHCROISTEAN, UIG, LEWIS

FORMER SCHOOL, KALLIN, GRIMSAY, NORTH UIST.

COTTAGE, BARRA.

Corrugated iron was commonly used as a building material here until relatively recently for both domestic and commercial properties, because it was cheap and quick to erect. In recent years, many corrugated iron buildings have been demolished, blown down, or left to slowly rust and rot to the ground. They sit much better in this landscape than many modern kit built houses or churches and I like to photograph them as I wander around the islands, before they disappear completely. The buildings shown above have survived better than most.

I've been on holiday for the last two weeks, visiting friends and family in the South and had great difficulty getting back to Lewis. Is three days from Yorkshire to Stornoway a record?

Tuesday saw me driving North and I decided to stay overnight in Perth. Wednesday morning was bright and clear, but the weather lady on BBC Scotland said that the A9 to Inverness was badly affected by drifting snow. Our hero, a sceptical soul at the best of times, decided to try to get through just the same and surprise, surprise, ground to a halt at Blair Atholl. The very helpful police officer standing in the road and looking very cold told me that my chances of getting any further in the by now blizzard conditions were about the same as hell freezing over. Turning the car round, I made my way over to Crianlarich with the intention of taking the A82 to Fort William. This time, I listened diligently to the radio weather person, who said that the A82 was passable with care. Well, not by the time I got there it wasn't. Just North of Tyndrum, the road was covered in impacted snow and several vehicles had skidded off the carriageway into ditches and were clearly going nowhere further that day. Being the single minded sort of chap that I am, I persevered until, to my great surprise, I found myself in a stationary queue of about a hundred cars and lorries. Oh the companionship and the glorious opportunity to whinge about the weather with a fellow traveller. Unsurprisingly, another policeman arrived and he announced that he was only going to allow four wheel drive vehicles to proceed. I don't have one of those, so had no option but to go back again. At this point, it was early afternoon and I was desperate to get to Ullapool to catch the evening ferry to Lewis. Things did improve a bit then. I waved down a motorist going the other way, who told me that the West coast Connell to Fort William road was snow free and so it proved. Fort William to Inverness was a bit tricky, but not too much of a problem and I headed off to Ullapool in good time for the 17:35 ferry. Plain sailing? Oh dear me no. 3:30 in the afternoon and I get a text on my mobile phone from Calmac saying they had decided to cancel the Stornoway ferry because the wind was blowing in the wrong direction. The end of my problems for the day? Not really. Then had difficulty finding somewhere to stay for the night in Ullapool because lots of other people heading for the ferry were also stranded overnight. The ferry finally left an hour late on Thursday morning and the crossing was so lumpy that a number of children on the boat were suffering from severe sea sickness, the poor mites. I finally got back to my village later that afternoon and have never been so pleased to arrive home. Given the recent appalling weather, I expected my humble abode to have blown away or fallen down, but happily, all was well and within an hour, the stove was chugging away and the house became cosy and cheerful. I love a happy ending, don't you?

Sadly, there has been no happy ending for Highland Airways, which collapsed and went out of business whilst I was away. Loganair have temporarily taken over some of their contract work, including the subsidised daily Stornoway to Benbecula flight and the newspaper delivery from the mainland. At present, newspapers are arriving by ferry and sales have slumped by more than half because islanders are fed up of getting their papers late in the afternoon, or not at all if the ferry is cancelled, which is happening frequently in the current poor weather.

I'm off to work in Benbecula and Uist for the week from tomorrow morning and have yet to see if Loganair will honour my Highland Airways ticket. Life is so much more exciting and unpredictable here than it was in the South, which is generally to my liking.

As I write this, it's blowing a right Winter hooly and easy to forget that Spring is really here. There are some clues though. I've got sheep back on the croft, there are lambs everywhere and in spite of it pouring with rain today, I've just seen a man on the Pentland Road cutting his peats. That signals the arrival of Spring here just as powerfully as does the hearing and sighting of the first cuckoo down South.

2010-03-24T10:54:00.001Z

SCREEN MACHINE, AT LOCHMADDY COMMUNITY HALL, NORTH UIST

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a monster articulated lorry containing an eighty seat cinema. Screen Machine travels around the more remote parts of the Scottish Highlands and Islands showing movies to communities that are more than a one hour drive to any other cinema. It is very popular and sets up shop in the car parks of village halls, hotels or anywhere else with accessible toilets and an area of flat ground big enough for it to park on. Screen Machine charges £6 per full priced ticket but has to be subsidised to enable it to pay its way. It has a single driver/operator to make it all work, supplemented by a locally recruited usher at each venue. After arriving at a particular site, the driver uses a built in diesel generator to power the hydraulic rams, steel wires and pulleys which open out the sides of the lorry and transform it into a proper comfortable cinema with fixed seats like any other.

There is a cinema at An Lanntair in Stornoway, so Screen Machine doesn't visit Lewis, but it travels regularly to Harris, North and South Uist and Barra. When I came across it at Lochmaddy two weeks ago, the films on offer were Avatar and Sherlock Holmes.

Almost overnight, Winter has disappeared and Spring has taken over. The countryside is waking up and becoming noisier. Day time temperature is round about 10-12 degrees.

On Barra a few days ago, the crocuses were in full bloom, as were the lovely little tete a tete daffodils, but my village is about a hundred miles North of Barra, colder and I have no flowers to see yet.

I do have dozens of frogs frantically pairing in all of the drains on the croft though, leaving masses of spawn everywhere. Frogs may be declining elsewhere but we could export them with plenty to spare. As in previous years, the colour range is amazing. Very few are green. This morning, I came across brown, orange and yellow frogs and some of almost a black colour. They croak very loudly when mating, which, I think, makes them an easy target for the big Grey Heron I saw perched statue like by one of the drains near the house this morning. Easy pickings for that particular bird for the next few days.

The Harris Tweed industry seems to be experiencing a welcome and overdue revival just now and may be on the verge of becoming trendy. Pete Doherty, the larger than life frontman from Babyshambles, has commissioned a local designer and tailor to make him a rather nice three piece Harris Tweed suit. There he was, splashed across the front page of last week's Stornoway Gazette, looking resplendent in his new clothes. The designer said he was a lovely man to work with and it will be interesting to see how far the tweed industry tries to develop this new image and promote tweed products to a much younger and more fashionable market than it has done previously. I'm very fond of the 1980's herringbone grey tweed jacket in my wardrobe - or would be if it still fitted me - but it's hardly the last word in high fashion.

The Hebridean Celtic Festival takes place in July again this year and the line up has just been announced, with Runrig as headliners on the Saturday night. Long before I came to live here, myself and a few friends used to enjoy going to Runrig concerts every year in our local concert hall. This Summer, the same friends are coming to stay with me on Lewis for a bit of a house party and to see Runrig performing on home territory. Should be great fun.

2010-03-07T15:11:00.004Z

EAVAL, NORTH UIST, FROM GRAMSDALE, BENBECULA.

Throwing open the curtains and windows early this morning, it was hard to believe that only two or three weeks ago, we were in the middle of the coldest and harshest winter experienced here for many years. No sign of snow anywhere today. Even the hills have lost their white topping because of the rapid increase in temperature during the last few days.

With the sun shining brightly, visibility crystal clear over the lochs and mountains and a voice in my head shouting ' Up and at 'em ' at me, I was on my way to Bernera at 7:30am, looking for Eagles.
Bernera has a population of both Golden and Sea Eagles and several days ago, a friend phoned me to boast of having spent the afternoon sat in the garden watching a pair of Eagles circling and cavorting immediately above the house. Although I am only a few miles away, I don't see Eagles around the croft very often and have to content myself with Buzzards, Hoodies, Ravens and the occasional Peregrine rocketing by.
Incidentally, I do like the acrobatic, social and entertaining Raven, which is quite common on the island, but I was astonished to read on the http://www.western-isles-wildlife.co.uk/ website that 536 of them were counted leaving the Stornoway rubbish dump on Wednesday evening. That would have been an amazing sight and I'm sorry I missed it.

Returning to this morning, I would like to tell you that there were Eagles everywhere on Bernera, so tame that they came to feed from my hand. Regrettably, integrity compels me to tell the truth, which is that all I saw during two hours of wandering were Lapwings, Buzzards and amazingly, someone hanging their washing out on Sunday. Nevertheless, it was a spectacular early morning, the light was terrific and I thoroughly enjoyed myself just pottering about. Standing on a hill overlooking Bosta Beach, I could see Otter tracks on the sand below me and experienced a real 'glad to be alive' feeling for the first time this year.

A colleague at work, not prone to exaggeration or telling tall tales, told me an interesting story yesterday she had heard from her neighbour. The neighbour was driving through Breaclete, in the centre of Bernera and was scared witless when a large object landed on her bonnet and bounced on to the road. She stopped a short distance away, looked back and saw a rabbit, still alive. As she was deciding what to do, a Golden Eagle flew down, scooped up the poor animal and disappeared into the nearby hills with it. The bird had obviously caught the rabbit earlier, lost its grip and dropped it on to the car, before plucking up courage to retrieve it.

Now that the Stornoway-Ullapool ferry is sailing regularly on Sundays, the campaign to open the Lewis Sports Centre in Stornoway is gathering pace. Although the sports facilities in Uist open on Sundays, the Western Isles Council refuses to allow the citizens of Lewis to use the modern and expensive sports centre on the Sabbath, under pressure from the Lord's Day Observance Society and the Church as a whole. Remember that pubs and hotels are allowed to open and the licenced garage that opens on Sunday has queues of people waiting to buy alcohol. The plane flies and the ferry now sails, but there is this concerted rearguard action to keep the gym, swimming pool, sauna and other facilities closed.
The vocal campaign to open the Sports facilities received a lot of publicity recently when a Stornoway woman applied for legal aid on behalf of her ten year old daughter, claiming the Council's refusal to open the Sports Centre is a breach of her daughter's rights under equality discrimination legislation. The application for legal aid was refused, but a group of pro Sunday opening campaigners are now seeking a Judicial Review.
The use of a child in this manner by a parent makes me squirm with distaste, but the anti Sunday opening lobby seem little better. One of them, an articulate professional writer, sent a letter to the local Hebridean News website which concluded:-

" We are fighting against the tide to protect the unique culture of this community and the interests of its most vulnerable workers from a campaign dominated by malevolent home grown atheists and a bunch of colonial incomers."

This, so far, is the quality of the tactics on both sides. Use children, or blame the non believers and incomers.

2010-02-14T11:06:00.002Z

GRIMSHADER TURBINES

The recent snow and ice are just a receding memory here now, with photographs being the only evidence that the island was completely white two or three weeks ago. Although the temperature is rising slowly and we've had some gloriously sunny days recently, it's still too cold to predict that Spring is on its way. Having said that, the daffodils shoots have emerged this week and there are some early lambs about. I'm being a bit of a wimp though and confess to having just bought a bag of kindling instead of getting my backside into the freezing shed to chop some up myself.

Down in Uist earlier this week, I listened to a tirade from a colleague who was complaining that more money is spent here on 'Otters Crossing' warning signs than on road safety instruction and signage for local children. I don't know if that is true, but driving on the Eriskay Causeway a day or two later, I had just passed the first otter crossing sign when right on cue, an otter ran in front of the car and only narrowly avoided being squashed under my front wheels. After leaping on to the side wall of the causeway, the animal stopped to have a good look at me before gracefully hurling itself into the sea.

Wind farms are a big issue here and a couple of years ago, a famous battle was fought to prevent 181 turbines being built all along the Barvas Moor from Stornoway to Ness. The anti wind farm protesters won the day on that occasion but no one is under any illusion that that is the end of the drive to cover the landscape with windmills. As far as I am aware, the three turbines shown in the picture are the only commercial windfarm currently operating on Lewis, but not for long. A Mr Oppenheim, the owner of Eishken Estate, some 20 miles South of Stornoway, received approval about a month ago to create a windfarm on his land. His original application was for permission for 133 turbines, but the final approval is for only 33, which presumably, he believes he can make money from. It's being claimed that 150 full time equivalent jobs will be created for the construction phase of the windfarm and 1% of the ongoing turnover will be used 'to enhance the ecological and cultural heritage of the Eishken Estate'.

The Stornoway Gazette reports this week that the Western Isles Council has to make budget savings of £10 million over the next few years and proposes to cut the number of schools here by half, to 21. The targeted schools have been named, causing great anger among parents in those catchment areas. Local education provision is considered vitally important in helping these remote communities to thrive and attract young families. Opposition to the closure plans is being mounted all over the islands, but it seems inevitable that some schools will have to close eventually, meaning lengthy daily bus journeys for many children and continued depopulation in some areas.
Lochmaddy, in North Uist, with a population of about 300, has a bank, ferry terminal, shop, petrol pumps, two hotels, Post Office, Arts Centre and Museum. The school roll is currently 10, rising to 14 in August and an expected 20 pupils in the next couple of years. It's a lively, successful village, popular with holidaymakers and parents of school age children are outraged at the plan to close their school.

A man living in Stornoway, who has Prostate Cancer, has hit on a novel way of raising money for Macmillan Nurses. He has apparently worked as a brewer in the past and using his contacts in the industry, has persuaded the owners of a brewery on the mainland to allow him to use their premises and equipment to produce a strong bottled beer. He has called his 6.9% beer 'Brewers Swansong - A beer to die for' and describes it as a sweet valedictory mild. He is selling the brew now, the proceeds going to Macmillan. Not sure how much he has raised yet.

The new Lewis Distillery, Abhainn Dearg, is in production now and have announced that their first single malt whisky is to be bottled early next year in time for sale at the 2011 Royal National Mod. Visits to the distillery are welcomed. Further details from http://www.abhainndearg.co.uk/.

Finally, silly joke of the week.

Two snakes are moving through the jungle.
One turns to the other and asks 'are we venomous or constrictors?'
Second snake replies 'for goodness sake, why do you want to know that?'
First snake - 'I've just bit my lip.'

2010-02-03T20:51:00.013Z

STORNOWAY CAST IRON RAILINGS

Now, you may not have given much thought to metal railings previously, but I think they are very lovely and well worth blogging about.

I attended an undistinguished inner city redbrick Victorian school that shared its architect with the nearby prison. The school, which I loathed, felt like my own prison and was surrounded by high brick walls to stop the likes of me from escaping until the bell went at the end of the day and the gates were flung open by the commandant caretaker. When I couldn't stand the pain of being shouted at in French, or being hit on the back of the head by the maths teacher any longer, I liked to walk out of class and escape via the one low wall at the back of the school, which had had its iron railings cut off at the base many years before. Those railings and similar ones attached to houses, schools and other buildings all over the United Kingdom, were hacked off and melted down to be made into tanks, guns and other items throughout the Second World War. At the time I used to play hooky from school, I was deeply grateful that our railings had been taken, allowing me to exit education, walk to the river and spend the rest of the day smoking fags and wondering what life would be like in the real world.

Very few railings survived the need for iron for the war effort, except for those in Stornoway.

By great good fortune, it was considered uneconomic to cut down the railings and ship them over to the mainland for melting down, so they remained exactly where they were and are now proudly preserved and beautifully maintained, as you can see from the pictures. Although I have posted photographs of only a few of these domestic and church railings, there are literally dozens of them attached to houses all around the affluent central area of Stornoway. I love them. A couple of years ago, the town museum put on an exhibition about the local ironwork and provided a guided walk to see them, but they are quite close to each other and easy to find without a guide.

After the snow and cold spell of two or three weeks ago, the temperature here rose and the thaw set in, until Tuesday of this week, when it started to snow all over again. Many of the minor roads are iced over and dangerous now and likely to remain so for a while because the council is rationing the road salt it has available. This is the coldest and darkest Winter we have had since I came to live on Lewis and I won't be sorry when it ends. My weather gizmo tells me that it has been below freezing outside the house every night for the last three weeks and I've used as much central heating oil in eight weeks as I usually use in six months.

The prolonged cold weather has brought in more birds to the bird table than usual and the Grey Lag geese are working their way through the accessible grass on the croft.

The positive side to all this is that the hills and moors look stunning covered in snow, a sight we don't see most Winters.

The recession, which Government spinners tell us has ended, continues to take its toll here. The Western Isles Health Board has a several million pound deficit and is talking of the possibility of redundancies.

Highland Airways, which is in very serious financial difficulties, stopped selling tickets one day last week and is now hanging on by the skin of its teeth. In addition to flying a number of routes and contracts on the mainland, the airline operates the daily Stornoway to Benbecula service and the government assures us that it has a contingency plan if Highland Airways goes out of business. The airline itself is desperately trying to obtain refinancing or a new owner and says it hopes to survive. It continues to fly just now but the 100 plus ground staff and pilots they employ are pessimistic about the future of the company.

Two more dead whales have been washed up here in the last week or two. A 26 foot Minke whale was found on a beach at Point, above Stornoway and a 45 foot, 35 tonne Sperm whale was discovered on the shoreline of Taransay, Harris.

The Harris Tweed industry has gone through very difficult times in recent years. The average age of weavers has been increasing year on year and there have been no training courses for some time, partially because there has not been enough work to go round. There seems to be something of a revival in the fortunes of Tweed weaving here though and two local mills are going from strength to strength. As a consequence, a mainland college, in conjunction with the Jobcentre, are running a 12 week Harris Tweed Weaver training course commencing in March. This is good news and it will be interesting to see later if the course is fully enrolled.

The other heartwarming story of the week occurred over in Uig, here on Lewis. There is a community owned co op at Timsgarry, which provides a lifeline grocery, petrol and post office service to one of the remotest communities in Britain. The shop thrives, but its elderly delivery van was on its last legs and there was no money in the pot to replace it. Just as the shop committee were considering how to raise funds for a new vehicle, an anonymous donor has purchased and given a £16000 refrigerated new van to the shop so that deliveries to the local community can continue uninterrupted. A generous gesture on the part of some kind soul.

The West Highland Free Press reported this week that a North Uist fisherman has developed a serious eye infection requiring hospital treatment after he looked skyward whilst out fishing and was hit in the eye by seagull droppings. He says he was left partially sighted by the incident, but mercifully, is now improving. Most unfunny. Remember you read it here first.

Does anybody have any idea why this blog won't allow me to paragraph? I include paragraphs as I write, but they disappear and squash up the entire script when I press the publish button. What am I doing wrong?

2010-01-08T12:02:00.015Z

GARDEN BIRDTABLE

THE HOUSE AND CROFT THIS MORNING

New year, new beginnings. Having had a break of several months, I've missed writing the blog and have decided it's time to start again, although perhaps less frequently than before.

Since I last blogged in October, life here has continued in an easy, comfortable and relatively stress free manner. It's three years since I moved into this house and eighteen months since the renovation was completed. Although there is some evidence of cowboy building, most of the work is of reasonable/good quality and I hope to continue living here for the forseeable future, or until life presents an unexpected turn, which tends to happen to me every now and then.

There have been changes at work recently and I now spend about fifty percent of my time working in Uist and Barra. That has both benefits and disadvantages just now. I love working independently and getting on with the task in hand unsupervised and still can't believe that I'm being paid to toil in these spectacular surroundings. I've always had a great fondness for Uist, although there are too few facilities and shops for me to think about living there permanently. Lewis seems to have the right balance of amenities, scenery and gritty dourness to suit me and keep me here for the time being.

The downside of spending half my existence in the Southern Isles is that I get fed up of living from a travel bag and going back to a guest house in the evenings, however pleasant. I like my own house very much and would prefer to return here every night, given the choice. Also, I've always wanted to develop the croft and keep livestock, which is not possible whilst I'm away so often. It still feels a bit like I'm living to work, like I did in the South, but surrounded by more beauty and with fewer pressures. Mustn't grumble though, because the general quality of my life has improved no end since I landed in the Outer Hebrides four years ago.

Talking of the weather, what a week. I've always been ready to stress to visitors that it is warmer here than you might think and that snowfall is a rarity. Well, there you go then. We've had lots of snow recently, see photos, and it's not risen above freezing in seven days.

I was away for Christmas and returned here before New Year, intending to take part in Hogmanay festivities. Following a five hour delay at Gatwick, which set the pace for the day, the plane arrived at Inverness just as the runway was closed because of heavy snow. We circled for three quarters of an hour until the airport was opened again and then I had to listen to the nice lady from Flybe telling me off for being late for my connection to Stornoway.

After finally arriving back here just before the local roads became unsafe to drive on, there was so much snow on New Year's Eve that I couldn't move the car and spent the evening watching the telly and drinking cocoa. Oh the excitement.

I'm still on holiday from work this week, which is just as well because I couldn't get the car down the drive for three days until yesterday because of depth of snow. Felt no need or compulsion to dig myself out. Plenty of food in the larder and ample supplies of coal, wood and peat to keep warm.

The birds are finding it much harder to survive in this weather and I make a point of feeding them every day. Apart from the usual Rock Doves, Starlings, Blackbird, Buzzard and Hooded Crow, I've had one or two less common visitors to the garden in the last few days. This morning, a Raven came to strut its stuff, much to the annoyance of the smaller birds and yesterday, a Woodcock arrived to take shelter under the front wall.

I'm off to the Balti house in Stornoway with friends now. Happy New Year to you all.

2009-10-18T09:09:00.008+01:00

RESTORED COTTAGE, SOUTH UIST.

When I started this blog two years ago, my intention was to give an account of life here from the point of view of an incomer and to provide a running record of the trials and triumphs of renovating an old cottage.
Now that the house renovation is complete, my daily existence has settled down into a generally repetitive and dull routine. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find enough really interesting events to enthuse about and I think the last thing readers want to hear of are my adventures strimming grass, hanging washing out, cooking soda bread and mending punctures. That would bore most people rigid and leave me wondering about the true purpose of life.
I'm also running out of tourist attractions and sights to photograph and write about and there are a lot of books available which do it better.

For those reasons, I've decided to make this my last regular blog and would like to thank all of you who have taken the trouble to read it and send comments.

Tea, coffee and a chat are offered to any readers who happen to be visiting Lewis and fancy a natter. Email address is lewispot@yahoo.co.uk. Bye for now.

2009-10-11T11:54:00.009+01:00

STINKY BAY, BENBECULA.

When the wind blows in a particular direction, the Sulphurous smell of decaying seaweed blows all round this bay, hence the name. Apart from the stench, which I don't mind, this is a very beautiful place with lots of wading birds and tremendous views of the hills of South Uist.

Now that the house is renovated, I need to turn my attention to improving the croft. Having had no maintenance for many years, the fencing is in poor condition, with a number of posts rotted at ground level, making it easier for sheep and cattle to force their way on to my land from the adjacent common grazings. Although some running repairs have been done this year, hundreds of yards of fencing needs to be replaced soon, but to avoid bankruptcy, it will have to be done a section at a time. I'm going to look for a local fencing contractor, with the intention of having all the fencing replaced during the next couple of years, as I can afford to pay for the work. No amount of sheep will justify the expense of replacing the fencing, but it can't stay as it is and I don't want my neighbours complaining about my insecure boundaries.
On the positive side though, the fence posts are only rotten at the base and along with the peat, will provide free fuel for the stove for a long time.

While I was away on holiday recently, I missed an important local news story. Some months ago, the Ministry of Defence and the Government Defence contractor, QinetiQ - what a silly name - announced that it planned to operate the Hebrides Missile Range remotely, from Aberporth in Wales. This plan would have resulted in the loss of about 125 jobs in the Uists and would have had a catastrophic effect on the local economy. Fortunately, common sense has prevailed and after some persuasive lobbying by local community leaders, the Government has thrown out the scheme to transfer to Wales. How long the jobs in South Uist and St Kilda will be safe for, is yet to be seen.

Salmon farming has provided a lot of employment here in the Outer Hebrides for a good many years, but has been in decline for some time. Large International companies have progressively bought out the smaller operators and jobs have been lost recently through amalgamations, closure of fish factories and economies of scale. Interesting to hear this week then that one of the biggest Salmon producers has announced plans to develop supersized offshore fish farms in the Minch, which will potentially create up to 40 jobs here in the islands. At present, most fish farms are small, quite close to the shore and the workers go out to them each day. The proposed new fish farms would be much bigger, further offshore and would be staffed by a crew of up to six workers who would live on site, in purpose built residential accommodation . Presumably, they would work 2-3 weeks on the farm, followed by onshore leave, just like oil rig workers do.

There was a curious occurrence this week at Coll beach here on Lewis when a woman out walking came across hundreds of washed up Starfish on the sand and rocks. They were apparently of different sizes and some were alive and some dead. The finder said that most of the Starfish had disappeared by the following morning and she thought they might have been eaten by gulls. Why were the Starfish stranded on the beach?

It's that time of year again when the lambs are sent off to the abattoir and I get a carcass or two as payment for letting my neighbour graze his sheep on my croft. He arrived yesterday with a very large plastic sack containing enough meat to keep me going for many months and it's now in the freezer. The lamb was raised on this croft, on land never contaminated by herbicides or pesticides, but did have to be taken to Stornoway, fifteen miles away, for slaughter.

I do have a problem with rushes, especially at the front of the croft and will have to decide whether to spray or not, next Spring.

There was a Fred Karno moment here yesterday when I was doing some cooking. I got distracted by a phone call, the kitchen got smoky and the mains operated fire alarms went off like the Bells of Hades. Rushing to open windows all over the place, I managed to catch my hand accidentally on a piece of pottery I have had for a long time and smashed it to the ground, where it lay in dozens of pieces. The pot had a value, so I rang the insurance company, who confirmed that I was fully insured for accidental damage and said they would be delighted to pay for a replacement. Before we got any further though, the nice lady on the phone asked me if I realised that the sum total of my insurance excess and the loss of no claims bonus if I made a claim, would come to almost exactly the value of my broken pot. In these circumstances, the nice lady observed, I might not want to make a claim after all.
Oh well.

2009-10-04T11:27:00.009+01:00

ASTOR AND THE STORNOWAY FERRY

This picture shows the Stornoway - Ullapool ferry, 'Isle of Lewis', about to pass the cruise ship 'Astor', which was moored in the approach to Stornoway harbour when I took the photo a few weeks ago. The ferry, quite a big boat itself, was completely dwarfed by the 'Astor', one of many tourist ships stopping off at Lewis during the Summer. The passengers are treated to a cursory, whistle stop tour of the sights of the Island, which benefits from income from coach and guide hire and money spent in Stornoway shops.

Having spent almost three weeks away from home visiting family and friends, it was a strange feeling to return here to peace , solitude and almost spooky quietness. Little has changed in my absence. The grass has grown a bit, the Rock Doves were sat on the bird table waiting for my return and the sheep launched themselves at me as soon as they saw me through the kitchen window, in the vain hope that I might have a bucket of supplements for them.

Any hopes that the peace and quiet would continue were dashed yesterday when we suffered high gusting winds all day and night, which kept me indoors, threatened to bring the roof off and signalled the arrival of Autumn with a vengeance.

What a change today though. The sun is shining brightly, there is little wind and I've just taken an early morning walk down the croft. The white horses on the loch have gone, the buzzard is irritating the ravens and the sheep are grazing contentedly again. There are few flowers about now and the landscape is slowly changing from a rich green to a dull brown.

I feel quite exercised about the sheer volume of unsolicited junk mail that has arrived while I was away and which is destined to go straight to the recycling bin, unopened. I make concerted efforts to let these companies know that I don't want their mailings, but still it arrives in ever increasing quantities. A friend I stayed with last week receives two or three unwanted phone calls EVERY evening from people trying to sell goods. That would drive me insane if it happened here. Fortunately, I never get unwelcome cold calls for some reason and long may that continue.

I'm having extraordinary difficulty in motivating myself to do anything constructive since I got back and have been avoiding starting on the long list of domestic tasks that badly need attending to. All I really want to do just now is to sit in a chair in front of the stove reading books. That makes me feel guilty though, so every now and then I have to get up to hoover round, put some washing in the machine, or wash some pots, to justify my existence. Very sad. Goodness knows how I'm going to get my act together to go back to work tomorrow.

Now for nature notes. When I was growing up in England, most houses nearby, including our own, had colonies of House Martin nests under the eaves. I spent many happy hours watching these pretty birds flying to and fro and have had an affection for House Martins ever since. Some time ago, I read somewhere that they don't occur, or nest, on Lewis. I know the first isn't true because I saw two of them flying around the house earlier this Summer. Consequently, on a whim, I've just bought a pair of artificial Martin nests on the internet and have fixed them under the roof above the kitchen window. They ought to be well weathered by nesting time next Spring, so we'll see if they manage to attract occupants.

The reintroduction of Sea Eagles to Scotland continues to be successful and this years survey show that there are now over 200 individual birds throughout the country, with 46 breeding pairs. Ten pairs of Sea Eagles are breeding in the Outer Hebrides, including one new pair which has set up a territory here on Lewis. Thirty six chicks have been raised this year and one interesting snippet I came across is that the Sea Eagles on the Isle of Mull have become such a tourist attraction that they are boosting the economy there by about £2 million every year.

Finally, the drive to protect wading birds from predation by hedgehogs has restarted for the Autumn season. Twelve trappers have been employed to operate hundreds of traps placed throughout Uist and Benbecula in an attempt to catch any remaining hedgehogs which avoided capture during the last trapping campaign in the Spring. As before, all the beasties they find will be lovingly cared for by Uist Hedgehog Rescue prior to release in suitable locations in South West and Central Scotland.

2009-09-11T22:40:00.001+01:00

FLANNAN ISLES. FROM MANGERSTA, LEWIS

FORMER FLANNAN ISLES LIGHTHOUSE SHORE STATION, BREASCLETE, LEWIS.

I've always been fascinated by unsolved mysteries and remember being intrigued as a child when told about the disappearance of three lighthouse keepers from a lighthouse in Scotland many years before. All memories of that tale slipped firmly into the back of my mind though until I came to live here and was reminded of the strange events that occurred at the Flannan Isles light in December 1900.

The first picture, which I took last Sunday morning, was photographed from a distance of about twenty miles, from the West coast of Lewis near Mangersta. The lighthouse itself is positioned on the highest point of Eilean Mor, the larger island on the right of the photo and can just about be seen if you are able to expand it on the computer.

The Flannan Isles lighthouse was designed by David Stevenson, built by George Lawson of Rutherglen and was lit for the first time in December 1899. Building it must have been an extraordinary achievement because all of the materials used were hauled up the 150 foot cliffs from moving boats in the turbulent seas below.

The lighthouse, landing stage, stairs and railway tracks cost a total of £6914, no mean sum over a hundred years ago. An additional £3526 was spent on building the shore station at Breasclete, Lewis, shown in the second photo. The lighthouse was manned by three keepers at all times with a rotating fourth keeper who did regular relief duty and like the other keepers, lived at the shore station in between stints on the light. The Breasclete shore station has been maintained in lovely condition and since becoming redundant in 1971 when the light was automated, has been converted into a block of flats.

I digress, so back to the tale. On 15 December 1900, about a year after the Flannan Isles light was commissioned, a ship steaming past the Flannans saw that the light was not operational and reported this when they berthed at Oban. Poor weather prevented the relief lighthouse tender Hesperus from leaving Breasclete pier immediately, but the boat eventually reached the lighthouse at noon on 26 December, when the relief keeper was put ashore. He found the beds unmade, the clock stopped and no sign of any of the three keepers. With the aid of a seaman and the second mate of the relief boat, the relief keeper made a thorough search throughout the lighthouse and immediate surroundings but could find no trace of the missing men. The lighthouse lamps had been cleaned and refilled and the only untoward finding was an overturned chair in the kitchen.

Later on 26 December, the Hesperus returned to Breasclete on Lewis, leaving behind the relief keeper and three volunteer seaman to operate and maintain the lighthouse. The Captain of the Hesperus sent the following telegram to the Northern Lighthouse Board that day:

"A dreadful accident has happened at the Flannans. The three keepers, Ducat, Marshall and the Occasional have disappeared from the island. The clocks were stopped and other signs indicated that the accident must have happened about a week ago. Poor fellows must have been blown over the cliffs or drowned trying to rescue a crane or something like that."

The fate of the Flannan Lighthouse keepers remains a mystery to this day and every now and again, a new explanation or theory emerges. The official investigation at the time concluded that the most likely occurrence was that all three keepers were outside of the light trying to secure a box in which ropes were kept, when they were hit by extra large waves which struck them with immense force and swept them away.

The poet Wilfrid Wilson Gibson wrote a poem entitled Flannan Isle about the disappearance of the keepers. It's too long to print here, but well worth searching it out on the internet.

All well here just now. The temperature is dropping by the week and we've already had some ferocious winds which prevented the ferry leaving the harbour one day earlier this week. I'm off on my holidays in the morning, so it will be about three weeks before the next blog.

2009-09-01T18:11:00.002+01:00

WILD ORCHIDS AT THE CALLANISH STONES.

The tourists have almost gone now, although there are still a few people in camper vans parked up in remote places, enjoying the mild weather. This has been a bumper season for visitors, probably because of the big reduction in ferry fares this year. Most of the camper van owners behave reasonably and considerately but for some reason, one of them decided to park in my driveway one night last week without a by your leave to me. I only find out he was there when I went to work early the following morning. He told me that he thought he could park anywhere in the Western Isles, so I gave him one or two suggestions.

No problems at the Towers this week. The car is behaving itself again and the mackerel are biting once more. The weather is changing rapidly and there is a definite Autumnal feel descending on the island. Even so, there are still plenty of flowers on the roadside verges, including the bright, cheerful and poisonous Ragwort, the striking orange Crocosmia and pretty blue Scabious.

I now spend more and more time working in Uist and Barra, which means that the croft is not getting as much attention as I would like and bits of it, especially the garden ground, are beginning to look decidedly scruffy. I'm very pleased to have my neighbour's sheep grazing the land, which keeps it in reasonable order, but I do need to replace quite a lot of fencing in the near future to keep it secure and stop it looking derelict. My plans to have a lovely tidy and productive croft with my own sheep and polytunnels seem as far away now as they did a couple of years ago when I moved into the house.
The problem is that the day job is taking up so much time that it's severely interfering with my original scheme to lead a fulfilling and reasonably self sufficient life. Widespread Sabbath Observance here also means that there are only six days available to work outside and five of those are spent away earning a living. I suppose I could have anticipated this when I came to live here, so mustn't grumble.
I'm not proud of my next revelation, but I have to confess that I do spend some time working in the shed with the door closed, on Sundays. I take the view, rightly or wrongly, that as long as I'm not offending my neighbours by making any noise or working on the land, It's my business what I do inside. I wouldn't dream of hanging washing out or gardening, but I do like pottering inside the shed, which is crammed to the gunwhales with rubbish and needs much sorting out. Lots of the junk in there is left over from the house renovation and a few months ago, I discovered Freecycle. This is an online facility where you can advertise goods you have surplus, or seek items that you want. No money can change hands for goods that are offered or sought and the whole idea is that stuff you don't want goes to somebody who does want it, rather than to the landfill site. I've managed to pass on an old stove, a desk and lots of building bits recently and am now beginning to see some daylight in the shed. A few more Sundays and with a bit of help from Freecycle, the shed will be usable again. There are branches of Freecycle all over the UK and maybe round the world for all I know.
I would rather spend my life ferreting about in the shed and growing things in polytunnels, but my full time work is still enjoyable and important to me and it's not an unsatisfying existence by any means. Still, I quite look forward to having more free time in retirement, which is probably a few years away yet.
I do enjoy living in such a beautiful place and whilst It's difficult to manage the croft productively just now, I can't imagine moving somewhere else unless circumstances change drastically.
Also, the house has developed a warm, welcoming and homely feel to it in the year since the renovation was finished and is a pleasure to live in.

In the last blog, I mentioned that some rich bloke had isolated himself on the small island of Scaravay in the Sound of Harris, in an attempt to withdraw himself from a forty year cigarette habit. He was planning to stay in a tent or a bothy for a month but someone has just told me that the weather has defeated him and driven him home early. I really would like to know if he has given up the fags, so feel free to let me know. I can't find anything recent about him on the internet.

2009-08-15T09:23:00.003+01:00

GEARRANNAN BLACKHOUSE VILLAGE, LEWIS.

Gearrannan Blackhouse village, which is now a major tourist attraction, is sited on the Westside of Lewis, near Carloway. The village was lived in until 1974 and is thought to have been the last group of blackhouses to be inhabited in the Outer Hebrides.
After lying empty and derelict for many years, a trust was established in 1989 to undertake the ambitious task of restoring the entire village. The project took about ten years to complete and is now a great success. There is a Youth Hostel, a number of self catering cottages, cafe, shop and museum, as well as public toilets. The village sits in front of a pretty cove and there are wonderful views all around. It's a bit of a gem and I suggest you stop what you are doing right now, get on a bus/bicycle/train/ferry/plane/car/walk and come and see it. For more information about Gearrannan, go to http://www.gearrannan.com/.

It's been a bit of a struggle this week. Most things that could go wrong have done. My car decided to break down with gearbox trouble and is now sat in a compound at the garage waiting for some obscure spare part to arrive from England. Goodness knows when it will be mended. There were no hire cars available, possibly because of the sheer volume of tourists we have on the island at present, but the garage staff came to my rescue and have loaned me a car until mine is fixed. That's very nice of them and they will get a Christmas card from me.

Went fishing a couple of nights ago and caught absolutely nothing, but the ten year old boy fishing with his dad at the side of me managed to pull enough fish out to feed the five thousand. Oh the shame of it. To rub more salt into the wound, he came over, told me my weight wasn't heavy enough and offered me his spare. Still caught diddly squat and then went home after thanking the boy nicely.
Have bought a pack of Icelandic cod fillets ( line caught and on special offer) at the co op tonight and I'm going to pretend I caught them when I eat them tomorrow.

Lost my wallet containing money, cards, driving licence etc a few days ago and slipped into blind panic mode until I found it some hours later, in the kitchen waste bin where I'd thrown it. Then discovered an empty baked bean tin in the kitchen food cupboard, so assume I must have descended into a fugue state at some point as a means of avoiding stress caused by expensive broken cars and clever boys who can fish better than me.

In a further off message moment, I managed to fill my petrol strimmer with diesel, but in a stroke of good luck, spotted my deliberate mistake before any damage was done. It's time for a lengthy holiday I think.

That fine provider of fascinating facts, the Registrar General, has published statistics showing that the population of the Outer Hebrides has dropped by about 5% during the last ten years and continues on a downward trend. There is much wailing and beating of breasts about this in the local press and I rather suspect that in ten years from now, if the doom mongers are right, there will only be me, the harbourmaster and my neighbour's cat left on the islands.
A local councillor blames it all on "the general downturn in the economy and migrant workers leaving the islands in the wake of the contraction of the fish farming sector". All the Polish plumbers, including the one who walked out of my house renovation leaving me in the lurch, have gone home because life is now more agreeable in Poland than it is here.
Do you know, that in 2008, there were 346 deaths here and only 256 births? Perhaps the way to develop the economy is to turn the Islands into one huge Las Vegas style gambling venue and develop a side industry of coffin making.

On the other hand, there might be a future in promoting the Outer Hebrides as a world centre for retreats and alternative therapies. Scaravay is a tiny uninhabited 40 acre island in the Sound of Harris which seems to be owned by a man who is marketing 'associate ownerships' and various 'heritage artefacts' connected with the island, to romantics with spare money. If desperate to fritter away your fortune, go to http://www.scaravay.com/.
Last week, a man described as a retired millionaire banker, cast himself away on Scaravay for a month as a means of doing cold turkey to withdraw himself from a thirty a day, forty year cigarette habit and to lose weight. There are no houses on the island and he is apparently living in a tent, eating tinned food and jogging regularly. He has taken a guitar with him to learn to play and is dispelling boredom by listening to books on his Ipod and playing with his mobile phone, both of which are solar powered.

News headline of the week - ' Unstable plane hits Benbecula airport runway.'

Must have been very upset to take such drastic action.

2009-08-03T21:18:00.007+01:00

OLD WHALING STATION, BUNAVONEADER, ISLE OF HARRIS.

This chimney, a few nearby ruins and some scattered whale bones are all that remain of the old whaling station down in Harris. It was operated by the Norwegians between 1903 and 1920, when Lord Leverhulme took it over and it continued to be run by his soap and detergent company, Lever Brothers, until it closed down in 1929.
The whaling station was successful for quite a long time, but in common with other more recent fisheries, became a victim of over fishing, leading to total collapse of the whaling industry locally.
When the station was fully functional, the whales were harpooned out at sea and then taken individually to the shelter of Village Bay at St Kilda. They were then towed, four carcasses at a time, back to this whaling station for processing. Boats took the whale products to Glasgow and returned full of coal for the whaling ships and the whaling station boilers.
The whaling station reopened between 1950 and about 1959, but the venture became uneconomic again and the operating company concentrated its efforts on catching whales around South Georgia in the South Atlantic.

Now we're on a whaling trip, we'll continue on the same theme for a while away from the Hebrides.

OLD WHALING BOAT, GRYTVIKEN, SOUTH GEORGIA

Having taken a couple of years to master the fairly basic skill of loading several pictures at a time on to this blog, I'm on a bit of a roll and thought I would dig out some other relevant photos I had tucked away and show you these.

As a child, I read Moby Dick again and again and was always fascinated by the adventures of explorers such as Scott, Amundsen and particularly Shackleton.

A few years ago, I decided to get off my backside, take myself to the verge of bankruptcy and go to Antarctica and all points South. I had an unfulfilled ambition to pay homage at Shackleton's grave at Grytviken, South Georgia, was quite keen to see a penguin in the flesh and was interested in the wildlife and recent military and social history of the Falkland Islands.

Well, leaving day came and with a fresh crease in my trousers and newly polished shoes, off I went skipping gaily to the airport.

Grytviken is an amazing place. Many Hebrideans have worked in the whaling industry there. The whaling station is now abandoned and is just decaying very slowly. The whaling boat shown above, one of several along the shore, looks as if the crew simply walked away one day and left it to its own devices. Which, I think, is exactly what happened. The whaling stopped and the men went home, leaving South Georgia to the penguins and seals.

SOUTH GEORGIA WHALING STATION

Whale boat propellors. Elephant seal snoozing in the middle.

WHALING STATION, GRYTVIKEN, SOUTH GEORGIA

I'm not absolutely sure, but I think these engines powered the boilers which rendered the blubber and purified the oil.

SHACKLETON'S GRAVE, GRYTVIKEN, SOUTH GEORGIA

A very moving experience to see where the great man is buried, but spoiled a little because these other tourists from a different ship refused to move to allow me to get a clear shot. There were a lot of visitors that day and my boat left first so this was the best I could manage.

CASUALTY OF WAR.

A very sad story to this picture. The grave, a few yards from Shackleton's last resting place, is occupied by Felix Artuso, a young Argentinian sailor. He was a Petty Officer on the Argentinian Submarine 'Santa Fe' during the Falklands conflict. On the 25 April 1982, the Santa Fe was sailing close to South Georgia when it was attacked by a British naval anti Submarine helicopter with depth charges. The Santa Fe sustained extensive damage in that attack and limped into the jetty at King Edward Point, Grytviken, where the crew abandoned ship and surrendered to British forces. On close examination by the captors, the submarine was found to be in a dangerous condition, primarily because it was leaking oil and chlorine gas and was losing buoyancy. There were also ready to fire live torpedos on board which were a concern.

A major headache for the British was that the submarine was moored at a jetty needed for other ships from the British task force and it was considered imperative that the vessel should not be allowed to sink at the jetty.

During the next few days, essential maintenance was carried out on the Submarine by some of the Argentinian crew, including Petty Officer Artuso, under armed British guard. The guards were not familiar with all the equipment on the sub and at some point during 30 April 1982, Felix Artuso was seen to move swiftly towards a valve which the guard thought was used to flood the boat with water. Believing the Submarine was about to be scuttled by the Argentinian sailor, the British guard shot him dead. When the valve was then examined, it was found to have a completely innocent purpose and could not have allowed water into the submarine.

The enquiry that followed found that the guard, acting under great pressure and with wrong information about the purpose of the valve, had killed Petty Officer Artuso mistakenly.

Felix Artuso was confirmed as having acted completely innocently and he was given a funeral with full military honours by the British and buried in the little cemetery at Grytviken, where he remains. Twelve of his comrades were present at the burial.

The Santa Fe was later towed out to deep water and sunk by the British.

I have been unable to find out if the Argentinian Government accepted the findings of the enquiry and have no idea why Felix Artuso's body has not been repatriated closer to his family in the Argentine.

The full Board of Enquiry Report into the death of Petty Officer Artuso is published on the Internet and provokes thought about the pressures and circumstances faced by participants in wartime.

In the background of this photo can be seen old whaling ships, whale oil boilers and the Norwegian whalers church, which is maintained in pristine condition and is used regularly.

2009-07-26T10:12:00.007+01:00

APPROACHING ST KILDA . Boreray, Stac Lee and Stac an Armin

Now that the Sunday ferry has sailed for the first time, the public opposition seems to have disappeared and daily routine on the Island is getting back to normal. There is a resigned acceptance that life has changed and among some people I've spoken to, the belief that an important part of local culture has been lost for good. There is already a demand for the golf club to open on Sundays and speculation that Tesco might try to do likewise before long.

In the meantime, before we're completely contaminated by the evils of the outside world, this is still a lovely and unique part of Britain, so please get on a plane or boat and come and visit.

Took a days holiday from work on Wednesday and went to St Kilda. There are two fast passenger boats operating out of Leverburgh in Harris, which make daily trips to St Kilda between April and September, weather permitting. I went with http://www.kildacruises.co.uk/ but http://www.seaharris.co.uk/ also go there. It takes about two and a half hours to reach Hirta and after a welcoming chat from the resident archaeologist, we had about five hours to wander round. A recently acquired ankle injury prevented me from venturing far, which is one of the reasons why the photographs were all taken around the village. The other is that tragedy befell me when my camera battery failed halfway through the day. I charged it fully the night before and it seemed fine, but simply stopped working as we were on our way to Soay, Boreray and the Stacs, so no photos of them then. Why didn't I have a spare battery? Because they are very expensive and I don't use my camera sufficiently to justify keeping a spare. AA's don't fit. Bizarrely enough, I had camera trouble on my last visit to St Kilda twenty two years ago, when the shutter jammed and I had to steal number one son's Instamatic from him to use.

Enough of this boring prattle. Here are some snaps.

Cleit (plural Cleitan)

Prior to the evacuation of St Kilda in 1930, these stone cells were used to dry and store birds caught for food, mutton, fishing nets and peat. There are hundreds of them scattered all over Hirta and the other islands in the group. The sheep now go in them to shelter and die.

Village main street

It was along the village street here that the famous St Kilda Parliament met each day. A number of the derelict houses have now been restored for use as accommodation for National Trust work parties, researchers and other staff.

Unrestored houses.

Some of the houses in the village have been left derelict and I don't think there are any plans to restore these.

Straggling main street.

Many Cleitan in the background. Water storage tanks on the hillside for current needs of the island. A desalination plant has been installed to cope with Summer droughts.

Restored houses.

These houses have been made habitable again by National Trust volunteer work parties who have worked on St Kilda every summer for many years. The Soay sheep wander freely all over the island.

More houses

These first few restored cottages house volunteers, the Museum and some staff. There was a line of cottages on this street from 1836, but these houses were built about 1860, by the laird. They were considered to be of a standard 'in advance of most Outer Hebridean Dwellings of the time'.

Soay sheep.

These primitive sheep, like Moufflons, have lived on Soay, a small island next to Hirta, for thousands of years. In 1932, a couple of years after St Kilda was abandoned, a number of them were taken and released on Hirta, where they have lived unattended and have generally thrived, ever since. They are much studied and there are usually University researchers on the island chasing round after the sheep. The numbers vary from year to year because the sheep are prone to population 'crashes', which tend to occur in four or five yearly cycles. They breed, multiply and survive well for several years, before a combination of poor grazing, parasites and harsh Winters causes large numbers of the weakest animals to die. At present, there are about 1900 Soay sheep on Hirta and the resident researcher told me that over recent years, the numbers have been relatively stable at about 2000, with a few more in good years and less after a cyclical crash. Like the Wild White Cattle of Chillingham in Northumbria, these animals are left to their own devices and receive no veterinary attention.

Soay sheep.

Although the sheep are unmanaged and undomesticated, the researchers capture them and stick ear tags on them. Presumably this is to identify individual animals and keep track of their age, breeding activities and all the other things that researchers want to know about. The sheep are never wormed or treated for illness and they shed their fleeces each year, so don't need shearing. A very good book on the subject of Soay Sheep is 'Island Survivors' by Jewell, Milner and Morton Boyd.

Soay ram .

About two thirds of the sheep are dark with the remainder being light like this ram. They shed their wool in June and breed in October/November. The rams have horns, while the ewes can be horned or polled. Ewe lambs can breed in their first year and live till they are over ten with rams surviving until they are about five. Obviously a stressful job.

Fishing boat Spinningdale.

In February 2008, this Spanish owned trawler ran aground by village bay and has been there ever since. There was some discussion about whether it should be left to break up in Winter storms, but eventually, the decision was made to remove it. A team of salvors was brought in from Spain, presumably by the insurance company and they are now busy manually cutting up the boat. This was all that was left on Wednesday and you can see one of the salvage team working on the deck on the left of the picture.

St Kilda defences.

In May 1918, shortly before the end of the First World War, a German submarine entered Village Bay, Hirta. After giving a warning to the islanders, it opened fire and the Church, Factor's house, store and a couple of cottages were damaged. The submarine then left, but the Commander was foolish enough to return three weeks later, when an armed trawler fired on it, killing three German sailors. The submarines conning tower was damaged by the shelling to the extent that it couldn't submerge and it limped away to the Flannan Isles, where it was captured by a British destroyer. The sequel to this was that this four inch gun was mounted overlooking the bay, but has never been fired in anger from that day to this.

Church interior

Religion was important to the St Kildans and the pulpit in this little church by the bay was said to be the biggest in the Outer Hebrides.

The church was obviously used for births, marriages and deaths but I'm not sure how willingly they attended at other times.

One contemporary visitor wrote:

" The Sunday is indeed a day of intolerable gloom. At the sound of the bell, the whole flock hurry to church in single file, with dejected looks and eyes bent on the ground. They seem like a troop of the damned, whom Satan is driving to the bottomless pit. With no floor but mother earth, and with damp sticking to the walls like hoar frost or feathers, the women sit in church for about six and a half hours every Sunday, with bare feet and legs, even in winter."

Goodness. Strong stuff.

School room

The Society in Scotland for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge set up the first school on St Kilda in 1709. The first schoolmaster arrived in 1884 and used a room in the factor's house to teach the children. At that time, there were fourteen pupils who were taught grammar, history, geography and composition. The schoolroom in the photo is attached to the church and was built about 1898. There were eight children attending school at the time of the evacuation in 1930.

Island of Dun.

This view, across village bay, shows a Cleit in the foreground and a number of moored visiting boats, including the one I went on. There was also another tourist vessel, a private yacht, a dive boat and a trawler. Cruise ships visit every Summer. Only a few years ago, St Kilda was considered remote and difficult to get to but there has been such an increase in visitors recently that the infrastructure and facilities available are not really adequate. A balance has to be struck between encouraging people to visit and maintaining the island in a manner that does no harm to the landscape. Whilst I was there, I heard it said that it might be better to ban tourists and keep the island in a time warp, but I don't think that is the majority view. The island staff I met were keen to pass on their knowledge and enthusiasm about St Kilda, but obviously aware of the dilemma that more visitors means more pressure on paths, toilets, staff time etc. There are no refreshments available and the little shop is not well developed.

Should St Kilda become tourist driven or left as it is?

St Kilda is probably the most written about small island group on earth and there have been many books published about the natural and social history, geology, archaeology and sheep. Lots of books about the islands are readily available on the Internet and the National Trust for Scotland does a decent little guide.

2009-07-19T16:28:00.000+01:00

END OF AN ERA

WAITING FOR THE SHIP TO SAIL

SILENT PROTESTORS

PRESS INTEREST

Life at Lewispot Towers has been fairly uneventful this week, but it's an extraordinary and historic time for the Isle of Lewis. Earlier in the week, Calmac let it be known that they would be putting on the first ever Sunday ferry from today, to take Hebridean Celtic festival goers back to the mainland. It was expected that this sailing would just be a practice run for a more regular service in the near future. That news, although unwelcome by some, was not unexpected. What was a complete surprise though , was an announcement from Calmac a few days ago that they had decided to start permanent regular Sabbath sailings from this afternoon. From now on, there will be a ferry leaving Stornoway for Ullapool at 2:30pm every Sunday. I have heard people talk of little else this week and there are clearly polarised and heartfelt views about Sunday ferries on both sides of the debate.

A couple of hours ago, I decided to take a drive into Stornoway to watch the first Sabbath ferry leave. It is a wet and dreary day, but all of the ferry lanes were full with cars waiting to travel to the mainland. The ferry can accommodate 970 passengers and 123 cars and seemed to be fully booked. About an hour before the sailing, a small group of ten or twelve protestors against the Sunday ferries arrived with a single placard. They conducted themselves with dignity, initially in silence, but then sang Psalm 46, 'God is our refuge and our strength'. They were heavily outnumbered by several hundred supporters of Sunday ferries, who clapped and cheered as the ship slipped out of its moorings and left for Ullapool. There was no trouble on either side and most onlookers dispersed quickly and quietly as soon as the boat left the harbour. It will be interesting to see how the island is affected during the coming months. There are wild predictions of buses running and the opening of children's playparks, shops and the Sports Centre on the Sabbath. All that seems very unlikely, but who knows. As I watched the ferry leave, I couldn't help but feel a bit sad and emotional at the thought that a way of life that is unique in the UK has just departed with the boat.

Although most attention has been on the ferry issue this week, another event of social importance is about to happen here. Tomorrow, the first ever Lewis 'gay wedding' will take place at the registry office in Stornoway. Two men, who are long term residents on the island and have been named in the local press, have decided to have a civil ceremony here. Each local authority is required by law to make arrangements to conduct such ceremonies, but the Registrars here are said to have refused to participate on moral grounds. The Council say that they will not force the dissenters to conduct the ceremony, but have said they will comply with the law and if necessary, fly in a Registrar. Only in Lewis?

Mixed experiences at the hebceltfest concerts I went to this week. Fred Morrison, who was playing Uillean and small pipes, was incredibly energetic, entertaining and skilful and it's a long time since I've enjoyed myself so much.

Not so impressed with Karen Matheson though. She sang well and seemed to be having a good time herself, but I thought her performance was a bit pedestrian and her choice of songs dull. What do I know though? The concert was sold out, most of the audience obviously thought that she walks on water and there was a clamour for her to do an encore, which she did.

2009-07-12T11:41:00.006+01:00

CORNER OF THE PEAT BANK

This is a small section of the Lewispot peat bank on the Pentland Road. I've really enjoyed my first attempt at cutting peats, which have dried well in recent good weather. The darker peats behind the peat iron were freshly cut when I took this picture, but the other lighter ones, in small piles, were cut 2-3 weeks previously. They are now rock hard and ready to burn, or alternatively, would be very good for breaking windows with.

Yesterday morning -6 o'clock. Woke up. Glorious day. Tide on the way in. Went fishing. Warm, sunny and barely a breeze. Skylarks singing overhead and no midges. Had a wonderful two or three hours catching Mackerel. Not a soul about but me and came home with enough fish to stock the freezer, have some for tea last night and a bag full for my neighbour. Best of all, managed to get all my Mackerel landed before the seals spotted me and came looking for breakfast.

The hot news on Lewis this week is a strong rumour that Calmac (www.calmac.co.uk/ferries ) are going to start Sunday sailings a week today, to allow visitors to the Hebridean Celtic Festival ( http://www.hebceltfest.com ) to get back to the mainland. The Festival ends late on Saturday night and until now, anyone attending has been compelled to remain on the island until Monday, unless they are able to get the Sunday afternoon plane. It's hardly a penance having to spend an extra day here, but if you don't have a car, there's no public transport on Sundays to use to take in the sights and no possibility of getting to work on Monday morning if you are dependent on the Stornoway - Ullapool ferry to get you home.
It's being suggested in the local press that Calmac will sail next Sunday to test the viability of sailing every Sunday in future. Calmac deny this, but seem to be playing a cat and mouse game with the Lord's Day Observance Society and others opposed to Sabbath ferries, by refusing to confirm if they will put on a Sunday ferry next week.

After living here for a while, it's easy to conclude that these islands have more than ample religious representation and are not in need of any more. Not everybody agrees with that though and the Multi-Media Gospel bus has just arrived to make sure we've got the message.
The high tech bus, called Challenger 3, has a mini cinema seating 25 people, which will broadcast Biblical presentations via a 46" television and surround sound. The bus is touring local village Halls during the next week and hosting Gospel evenings with singing, talks and stories from individuals whose lives have been transformed by Jesus. In case you begin to think it's all earnest stuff, the bus also has a coffee lounge and a suite of computers with Christian computer games, Bible software and internet access.

Back in February 2008, a fishing boat called the 'Spinningdale' ran aground on St Kilda and has been there ever since. Concerns about the vessel have been twofold. Firstly was the danger that the Spinningdale would eventually break up in Winter storms, causing pollution and damage to the coastline and passing boats from floating wreckage. Just as worrying though was the fear that rats on board the ship would swim onto the island, colonise and cause major damage to the birdlife.
Consequently, a decision was made by the Maritime Coastguard Agency to take apart and remove the remaining wreckage and the work has now begun. The wreck is being systematically dismantled by a team of eight workers and is expected to last for two months. While the work is being undertaken, the workforce will live on Hirta, the main island of St Kilda and will store the wreckage there before transporting it to the mainland in October.
And the rats? The National Trust for Scotland have heaved a sigh of relief and say that there is no reason to believe that any rats have escaped on to St Kilda.

Woe is me. I purchased the CD player in my hi fi in July of 1988 and had begun to think of it as immortal. I talked to it regularly and fully expected it to last as long as me, but no, it's done gone and irretrieveably broken down on me. Can't live a fulfilled life without my CD collection, so have been looking on the internet for a replacement. Something of a shock to find that very few retailers stock them anymore and don't know what I'm going to do unless I can find another one at a reasonable price soon. Don't really want to go all ipod yet, just want my beloved shiny black CD machine back.

2009-06-29T07:10:00.004+01:00

WILD IRIS

Yellow Iris grow all over the islands and look lovely, but are past their best now. During the last week, the pink Spotted Orchids have appeared around the croft, cultivated Delphiniums are in bloom in the garden and escaped Mimulus, Yellow Monkey Flower, is growing in ditches throughout the village. The heads of white Cotton Grass are waving about everywhere.
The Orchids are late this year. Just a week ago, there were only a few scattered patches and individual flowers, but taking a walk to the bottom of the croft last night to see what's there, we found hundreds of them, which is very pleasing. I've been wondering if the Orchids have good years and bad years and if so, this one is a success.

I keep a close eye on the birds that inhabit the garden and croft and have had recent visits from a pied Wagtail, Turtle Dove and Black Backed Gull, in addition to the more regular visitors. Wheatears seem to be everywhere now though, but I'm not sure if they have been nesting on the croft.

The weather has been wonderful during the last couple of weeks and continues to be glorious. With the help of visiting friend, the peats have been cut and are now drying well . Lots of sunshine and a good wind should ensure that they will be ready for use long before Christmas. The village grazing clerk tells me that our peat banks are in a Site of Special Scientific Interest on the moor and the village gets a small sum of money each year for looking after the banks carefully. Consequently, with the guidance of the grazing clerk, we've cut the peats then put the turves from the top of the bank into the trench where the peat has been removed and it all looks neat and tidy again now.
I've friends coming to stay in August with their two children, who are aged about ten and twelve. I'm hoping to persuade them that it would be very exciting to bag my peats, bring them back to the house and make a nice big stack by the kitchen door for me. We'll see.

There has been a Government missile range on South Uist, with an associated tracking station on St Kilda and a military base on Benbecula, for about fifty years. As part of a cost cutting exercise, the Ministry of Defence has announced that it proposes to transfer some of the functions of the range to another site, in Wales, with the possible loss of up to 125 jobs on Uist. This is a terrible blow for the local community, especially in the middle of a recession when replacement jobs are few and far between.
Ironically, there was resistance against the opening of the range many years ago, but it has been a valued asset on the islands for a long time now. As part of their plans, the Ministry intend to remove all personnel from St Kilda, which has twelve people working there and all remaining equipment will be made automatic or operated remotely.
A task force has been set up locally to opppose the plan to reduce the workforce on the range and to minimise the impact of these job losses for the community. An uphill struggle I think.

There have been regular sightings of whales, dolphins and porpoises at the Butt of Lewis and Tiumpan head recently, so get here quickly if you want to see them.

I've been shilly-shallying about going to the Hebridean Celtic Festival this year, but have finally got my act together and booked tickets to see Karen Matheson at An Lanntair and Fred Morrison at the Community Hall in Breasclete.
Incidentally, I went to see Andy Irvine playing in Stornoway last week and was reminded that the last time I saw him play, with Paul Brady, was more than thirty years ago. Their version of 'Arthur Macbride', from the brilliant 1976 album 'Andy Irvine and Paul Brady,' still leaves me open mouthed in admiration.

2009-06-21T10:40:00.012+01:00

POST OFFICE, BALALLAN, LEWIS

Balallan is a linear village at the head of Loch Erisort, on the road between Stornoway and Tarbert. It straggles on for about three or four miles and is said to be the longest village in Britain. Not sure if this is really true, but it does go on for ever and has tremendous views all along its length. Before I bought this house, I looked at several properties in Balallan and if I'd found anything suitable, I would have happily lived there.
Sub post offices all over the land continue to be closed and services centralised. The post office in my own village, which occupied the entrance hall to a house for over sixty years, closed permanently last year. There is another post office in the next village, but it only opens between 9am-3pm, so is no use whatsoever to me and I now have to use the post office in Stornoway, fifteen miles away.
For now, this pretty post office in Balallan, which also sells groceries, survives intact.

Each house in the village has its own peat banks on the moor a couple of miles from here. If they are not cut for a few years, they grow over or someone else starts to use them. My house was unoccupied for a number of years until I moved here and I had no idea where my peats were. Well, taking advantage of having a willing friend to stay for two or three weeks, we decided to cut some peats for the Winter. The Grazings Clerk came over this week and took us on to the moor to show me where my banks are. I had the choice of two different banks associated with this house in the past and idly chose the one closest to the road. The Grazing Clerk told me that the bank further away is better quality peat, so I will probably cut that next year. This is my first attempt at cutting peats though and is a bit of a practice run for the future. I'm using two peat irons which were owned by the family I bought my house from and in spite of them having lain unused in the shed for goodness knows how long, they are both in excellent condition. On the advice of several local people, I soaked the peat irons in water to stop the handles breaking and they served us well yesterday. No peat cutting today because it's the Sabbath, but we'll be back at it tomorrow.
Most people do the peats in April/May and have finished now, but better late than never. With a warm Summer and a good drying wind, I'm hopeful that the peats will still be dry in time for using at Christmas.

The croft sheep were gathered and sheared this week and have been moved to better grazing at the front of the house. Two Blackface interlopers were found and they continue to graze happily at the back adjoining the loch. No one seems to know who they belong to and I expect they just hopped over the fence to join the permanent flock some weeks ago. I'll ask about to try and get then reunited with their owner, but in the meantime, they're coming to no harm. They do need shearing fairly soon though.

It's Summer Solstice today and people travel from all over the UK to celebrate at the Callanish Stones. A friend, who's into that sort of thing, phoned me earlier to ask if I had been up at daybreak to watch the sunrise. Regrettably, I was too welded to my bed to get up early, but have just popped down there to see what's going on. There are twenty or so tents and benders put up by visitors, many of whom were fast asleep on the grass or in vehicles, having been awake all night carousing. It's all good harmless fun, taken seriously by those involved and I don't dislike the smell of dope wafting gently on the breeze around the stones. In spite of the remoteness of Callanish from the rest of the nation, more and more people seem to arrive for Solstice here every year.

I read somewhere that the ex manager of a Woolworths store in England has reopened the shop as an independent enterprise, selling much the same products and calling itself Wellworths. A similar thing is about to happen here. Since Woolworths went bankrupt and the branch in Stornoway closed last December, a clothing chain store, with a small shop here, has aquired the premises and is about to move in. Two local business people, along with the last Woolworths manager, have announced that they are opening a Woolworths lookalike shop called WeeW in the vacated store of the clothing chain. It will open in the Summer and create 28 jobs, some of which will go to former staff of Woolworths.

2009-06-08T10:41:00.002+01:00

TENNIS COURT, BUNAVONEADER, ISLE OF HARRIS

I was working away most of last week and photographed this tennis court at Bunavoneader, Harris, on my way South. It was apparently constructed by a small charity which provides recreational facilities for the people of Harris and claims this to be the most remote tennis court in Britain. Whether or not that's true, it's in a spectacular setting and I think it would be very easy to get a fast ball in the face when looking at the surrounding landscape instead of your opponent. The court has been built away from any other facilities and looks quite surreal just sat there, surrounded by lochs and mountains. It's available for public hire, except on Sundays, for those wanting to play tennis somewhere different.

Collecting a friend from the airport at Barra a few days ago, I was surprised to come face to face with a Southern work aquaintance I've not seen for several years, but not as surprised as she was. Having been with her partner for many years, they decided to fly from the mainland and have a secret romantic wedding at the Registry Office on Barra, in the expectation that there was no possibility that they would bump into anyone they knew. Well there you are then. Let that be a lesson. I have not previously seen her since I came to live on the Islands and she had absolutely no idea that Barra is part of my working patch. I shall savour the look on her face when she got off the plane and saw me waiting, for the rest of my life. She told no family or friends of her plans to marry, so I've promised to keep her secret until after she gets round to telling them.

The island has suddenly come alive. The weather has improved recently and there's an explosion of flowers. They seem to come in waves of colours and just now the croft, verges, ditches and Machair are a dazzling yellow, with Marsh Marigolds, Iris, Gorse and Tormentil everywhere.
There are a lot of tourists about and I've just read that twenty five cruise ships are expected to call at Stornoway during the Summer. Two of them have moored overnight at the bottom of the croft this week while offloading their passengers to look at the delights of Callanish and other attractions on the westside of the island.
I have friends staying for most of June. Two who were here this last weekend have never been to Lewis before and I enjoyed showing them round. Everybody who comes wants to see the Callanish stones, but the beaches have a strong wow factor and come a close second.

The circus is coming to town! The Continental Circus Berlin are arriving with their six hundred seater big top at the same time as the Hebridean Celtic Music Festival next month, so that should be jolly. Although Stornoway has some character, it's not an exciting or dynamic place and the Festival gives it a real buzz for a brief while. It's nice to see hordes of people thronging around enjoying themselves. This year, the main attractions will be La Bottine Souriante, Karen Matheson, Sharon Shannon Band and Blair Douglas, with lots of other musicians playing at venues around Lewis.

2009-05-24T14:15:00.002+01:00

ARDHASAIG, HARRIS - LOOKING NORTH TOWARDS THE CLISHAM.

Several people have contacted me to express concern about my welfare after I announced last week that I'd lost my favourite jumper. Well, cease worrying. I turned this house upside down for days in a fruitless search for the missing garment. Eventually, after a serious sulk, pennies and pounds were gathered from beneath sofa cushions, cupboards and under the bed and a new jumper was bought from a shop in Stornoway. Guess what happened then? I've been cutting up logs in the shed recently so that I can survive next winter and when I went back in there last night, there was the missing jumper, draped over my workbench. Joy of joys. My heart skipped a beat at being reunited with an old friend and the realisation that I'm now a two jumper household makes me feel quite decadent.

For those believing that this is an idyllic problem free place to live, here's a sobering thought. New statistics just published show that the Outer Hebrides had the greatest increase in Scotland of the prescribing of anti depressant medication between 2006 - 2008. Prescriptions of such drugs rose by 7.7% during that time. Why? I'm not sure. Perhaps It's connected with alcohol abuse or unemployment. Maybe there are fewer alternative treatments available or could it be that GP's here are just more ready to prescribe pills for unhappiness or other symptoms of depression than their mainland colleagues.

During my first visit to these islands in the seventies, there were seaweed processing factories operating at Sponish, near Lochmaddy in North Uist and at Keose here on Lewis. They sold the dried and milled seaweed for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and putting the head on beer, among other uses. The industry eventually collapsed in the face of price undercutting from competitors in Chile and elsewhere. In recent years though ,the economics of seaweed have changed and the Hebridean Seaweed Company are in business again near Stornoway, where they employ eight workers to process the weed before sending it off to customers around the world. They have thirty freelance cutters collecting the seaweed for them around the islands. In an innovative move, the company has just purchased a Canadian made seaweed combine harvester which crawls along the submerged shoreline slicing and gathering seaweed from just under the surface. The company say their new harvester produces higher quality, cleaner weed than manual cutting does but also say they will retain the human harvesters and no jobs will be lost.

In a previous blog, I mentioned the furore over the Royal Bank of Scotland's refusal to accept cheques written in Gaelic by a Stornoway man. Good news. Following representations from the Gaelic Development Board and others, the bank has made a complete U turn. RBS now say that they have changed their minds and in future, will accept cheques in Gaelic from the complainant and any one else who cares to write them.

2009-05-17T11:03:00.005+01:00

BOTTOM OF THE CROFT - AN HOUR AGO. TOWARDS HARRIS.

When I went to bed last night, the rain was pounding against the windows and the wind was blowing so hard I fully expected to wake up this morning and find the roof off. It was a joy then to pop my head out earlier to find that it's a beautiful, still, clear and sunny day. There are times when our fierce unpredictable weather gets me down a bit, but days like today make living here all worth while.
Taking a walk down the croft to have a look at the sheep and the flowers a little while ago, I sat down on a rock to take a snap of the view in the picture and have a drink. I have a little vacuum flask and enjoy looking down the Hebrides from the point where the croft meets the sea loch, with a cup of hot coffee in hand.
Even on a calm Sunday morning, there are a variety of sounds to listen to if you sit quietly. The sheep were bleating, bees buzzing, geese honking and a distant fish farm generator humming away in the background. Gulls called raucously and rock doves were cooing . Perfect.
Most of the flowers have yet to appear, but a few have popped their heads above ground. The Thrift is pretty and a few stalks of Cotton Grass sway in a light breeze. There are no Orchids yet, but the carnivorous Round Leaved Sundew is growing strongly again this year in the sphagnum bog. The Marsh Marigolds are a lovely golden yellow, the Silverweed is out and a little Daisy like flower is cheerfully colonising the area around the house.

A very welcome new social enterprise company in Stornoway is now trading as a producer of high quality hand made chocolates. Hebridean Chocolates , operating from a redundant bakery, has been created by the local volunteer agency, Voluntary Action Lewis. The business, which has been two years in development and has involved an investment of £200,000, will aim to become a sustainable concern making chocolates for tourists, local people and worldwide sales. In addition to producing chocolates commercially, Hebridean Chocolates- http://www.hebrideanchocolates.co.uk/ - will provide training, placements and employment for 14 people, including seven adults with learning disabilities.

The new Lewis distillery - Abhainn Dearg ( Red River in English and pronounced something like 'avven jerrag' ) -over in Uig, is in action and producing whisky, although I don't think they have any ready for sale just now. They have no visitor centre or shop yet, but say they welcome visitors to their modest premises to see how the whisky is made. Go to http://www.abhainndearg.co.uk/ for further information.

The most momentous and potentially far reaching event of the week here has been the announcement from Caledonian Macbrayne ( Calmac ) that they intend to commence operating scheduled ferries to the mainland from Stornoway on Sundays, for the first time ever. Only a few weeks ago, Calmac were saying that they would not consider running a Sunday service from Lewis until the recently introduced subsidised ferry fares are reviewed in about two and a half years time.
Well, out of the blue, Calmac has put out a statement saying it has been challenged by the Equality Commission over the lack of seven day sailings to the island. The company have sought legal advice which says they are legally obliged to implement a Sabbath breaking Sunday sailing. Calmac have said that the advice they have received is that under the 2006 Equality Act, with-holding a Sunday ferry out of respect of traditionalist's views could infringe the rights of residents. Consequently, they have made the decision to run Sunday ferries and say they are now only consulting interested parties to decide on logistics and a start date.
Both of the lobbies for and against Sunday ferries are very vocal. The pro Sunday ferry lobby claim that the majority of people living here do want Sabbath sailings, while the Lord's Day Observance Society are equally adament that most residents do not want change. I can't gauge where the truth lies, but what is likely though, is that Sunday ferries will probably precede the opening of shops on Lewis on Sundays and life in the Outer Hebrides will never be the same again.

Final snippets:

Diesel has now gone up to 114 pence a litre here.

Two Avocets have been seen in Uist and Two Common Cranes were spotted near Stornoway this week.

A Californian reader of this blog emailed me to say that the temperature is expected to reach 102 degrees Fahrenheit ( 39 degrees Centigrade ) over there today. It's warm and comfortable short sleeved weather here at 19 degrees. Can't imagine what 39 degrees feels like.

I can recommend the Jamaican Ginger Cake recipe from Levi Roots' Reggae Reggae Cookbook.

Joke heard on Radio Scotland -
Which are the only biscuits that can fly?
Answer. Wee plane ones of course.

I've lost my favourite jumper and can't find it anywhere.

2009-05-07T21:52:00.003+01:00

OUR LADY OF THE ISLES, NEAR GERINISH, SOUTH UIST.

The weather here deteriorated rapidly last night and most of the inter island ferries were cancelled today because of high winds. I've been working on Uist and Barra for the last few days and thought that my flight back from Benbecula this afternoon might be cancelled too. Oh no. Our intrepid pilot decided that nothing, especially a bit of wind, was going to stop him getting home tonight. With his reassuring words "it will be a bit bumpy, but don't worry, just hang on to something " ringing in our ears, we took off. The next half an hour is best forgotten and I have no idea how I managed to keep my lunch down. The pilot made a good landing at Stornoway though, bless him.

I'd like to tell you that life improved then, but not so. Got to my car in the airport car park to find that I had a puncture. Changing the wheel in a high, stinging wind was not amusing. On the way home, a very annoying little dash light came on suddenly to inform me that one of my doors was open. Stopped the car just as it started to rain stair rods, horizontal ones at that. Nothing wrong with any of the doors, just a faulty warning light. Got soaked to the skin in about twenty seconds, so good humour disappearing by the minute. Did matters get better at home? Regrettably not. Drove down the drive to the house to find a flock of sheep had leapt over the three foot fence separating my garden from the common grazings and had eaten everything they could find growing, including eighteen strawberry plants I've lovingly tended for the last month.

Lewis, Harris and North Uist are Protestant, but South Uist, Eriskay and Barra remained Catholic after the Reformation. The very beautiful thirty foot statue of Madonna and Child, known as 'Our Lady of the Isles' and shown above, keeps watch over South Uist on the Hill of Rueval, near Gerinish. It was carved out of white granite by Hew Lorimer, erected in 1957 and consecrated the following year. It's a wonderfully imposing piece of work, especially at close quarters and well worth climbing a very long and steep path to have a good look at.

A Stornoway man is unhappy that his bank is refusing to allow him to write his cheques in Gaelic. For twenty years, he was a customer of the Bank of Scotland, who happily let him sign his name and insert the amount in Gaelic, on cheques issued by them. Earlier this year, he moved his account to the Royal Bank of Scotland, who have now told him he must complete all his cheques in English in future. RBS apparently give him cheque books and statements printed in Gaelic, but are insisting that the date, amount and signature are only acceptable in English. An RBS spokesperson said :

" It is necessary when customers issue cheques that they are written in English because in the UK, that is the language understood by all those through whose hands the cheque may pass from the time it is issued until it is paid. We must be able to verify that the amount written in words is the same as the amount shown in figures. English presents no difficulty for our staff, but if Gaelic is used, that would require having Gaelic readers at every place where Gaelic cheques may be presented for payment. For practical reasons, that is not possible, so we must insist that cheques are written in English."

This from a huge Scottish bank with a long established branch in Stornoway. I wonder why cheques written in Gaelic were no problem to the Bank of Scotland?

2009-04-27T22:39:00.004+01:00

CALLANISH 111 STONE CIRCLE, CALLANISH, LEWIS

I'm a bit of a stone hugger on the quiet and every now and then I like to go and sit in one of the numerous circles here and commune with who knows what, to clear my head a bit. For reasons that you will understand, I don't do this very often and when I do, it's usually early in the morning or late in the evening, when there are no other souls about to look at me sideways. Callanish 111, shown above, is a wonderful small circle, situated on a little hill and surrounded by big hills. The views are sensational on a clear day and I often wonder what the prehistoric folk who raised it there were intending to achieve in placing the stones in that position. These stones are about half a mile or so from the main Callanish site and by no means inferior. No one really knows why standing stones were erected and there are many theories. One local legend says that giants living here on the island refused to be converted to Christianity by Saint Kieran and were then turned into stone as a punishment. I think that is probably as good an explanation as any.

Technology Rules ok. The Royal Mail have announced that the first post vans in Europe to be fuelled by Hydrogen will be based at the sorting office in Stornoway and used to deliver mail all over Lewis. Two Ford Transits are being adapted to burn Hydrogen and will be delivered this Summer. We have a recently built multi million pound high tech waste disposal site here which has a bio digester to process rubbish without it having to be buried or taken off the island by boat. Organic waste collected from wheelie bins is decomposed in the digester to produce Methane. The Methane then powers a gas engine, to create electricity which is used to electrolyse water to produce hydrogen, which will fuel the vans. As always with tecky subjects, I haven't a clue what I'm talking about and have gathered this fascinating story from a newspaper.

Now for geese and cockles. During the time I've been writing this blog, I've regularly mentioned the war of attrition that exists between crofters and the rapidly increasing Greylag Goose population here. The geese are considered a major nuisance because of the amount of good grazing grass they eat and the damage and mess caused by their droppings. In some quarters, they are considered to be public enemy number one, well in front of the poor hedgehogs and the vicious mink, both of which are being progressively eradicated throughout these islands by trapping.
A variety of methods, including scaring and shooting, have been tried to reduce the geese numbers, but still they breed and multiply. With obsessive desperation, Scottish Natural Heritage are about to start an ingenious sounding pilot scheme to control the breeding productivity of the geese by oiling their eggs. The plan is for SNH staff to locate goose nests and then coat all eggs found with liquid paraffin. This will seal the shell and sterilise the egg. The theory goes that until the egg deteriorates over a period of weeks, the birds are fooled into believing they are sitting on viable eggs. Eventually, they may lay a second clutch of eggs, which are then also oiled. If the experiment works, the oiling project will become widespread all over the isles.
I don't for one moment think this will be the end of the Nation v Greylag Goose battle and I look forward to boring you rigid with further updates in future blogs.

The plane to Barra lands on the beach runway on Traigh Mhor. The sands there are home to huge amounts of cockles which have been collected for hundreds of years by local people for food and more recently by professional collectors to sell. There are a few people who earn a living by harvesting the cockles. A new study has just discovered that the number of cockles present has dropped dramatically in recent years and that current levels of harvesting are not sustainable. Earlier studies, between 1964 and 1993, found a total of about 1000 tonnes of cockles on the beaches. The mass of cockles found in the new study is the lowest ever recorded at about 200 tonnes and no one is quite sure why.
The Western Isles Council and Scottish Natural Heritage, who funded the latest survey, are now going to ponder the implications of these findings and come up with a management plan.

In my blog of 1 November last year, I told the tale of how the lifeboat and coastguard on Skye were called out to investigate some red and white flashing lights which had been seen offshore and were thought to be from a boat in distress. The lights turned out to be attached to a model boat which had been launched and which carried a banner bearing the legend 'Happy 42nd Birthday Ollie'. The rescue services were not pleased to have their limited resources used in this manner.
Well, a similar event has happened again, this time in Orkney. An air and sea search involving 50 people was called off yesterday morning after what were believed to be distress flares turned out to be paper Chinese lanterns launched from Kirkwall. Members of the public had contacted the coastguard to say they had seen multiple red lights in the sky. Two lifeboats and a helicopter from Orkney searched the area for seven hours, assisted by a Northlink ferry. Kirkwall airport had to be opened so that the helicopter could refuel twice during the overnight search. The police also lent a hand, but nothing was found. Later, the coastguard discovered that a group of people in Kirkwall had launched some glowing red paper lanterns into the sky. The lanterns apparently have candles inside and work like miniature hot air balloons.
A spokesman for the coastguard is reported to have said, ' I don't yet know how much this major operation cost, but I wish people wouldn't do this sort of thing'.
Not a happy chap.

2009-04-21T22:43:00.000+01:00

WHALEBONE ARCH, BRAGAR, LEWIS.

When I started visiting Lewis years ago, one of the first sights I came across, which intrigued me, was this 19 foot high whalebone arch stood outside of a house in Bragar, on the Westside. The arch has an interesting history, which I've only discovered more recently. It's from an 80 foot Blue Whale, which was washed up on a nearby beach in 1920. At the time it was discovered, the poor creature still had the harpoon which killed it embedded in its back. The whale lay rotting and falling apart on the beach for many months until the local Postmaster decided to remove the lower jaw bones and take them to his home as a permanent memento.
Some time in the Autumn of 1921, the men and boys of the village manhandled the two halves of the jawbone onto a sledge pulled by two horses and the procession wound its way to the Postmaster's house, where it was eventually proudly erected. The harpoon, which forms the centrepiece of the arch, was taken to a garage, where it was being cleaned and painted, when the harpoon head exploded and drove a huge hole into the garage wall. Mercifully and amazingly, no one was injured.
The arch has remained in the same place ever since and is now on the circuit of tourist attractions which the coach parties come to photograph.
By 2000 though, the arch had deteriorated to the point where restoration was required and consent to repair was given by the Western Isles Council and Historic Scotland. The arch was dismantled and taken to Stornoway, where a local company filled the cracks and other weather damage with Isopon car filler and then encased it in 12mm of fibreglass. From a distance, the arch looks ok, but this was a deeply unsympathetic travesty of a restoration and at close quarters it looks like a cheap plastic replica. It might have been better left to decay at its own pace, like the whale it came from.

Spent the last week with family in the South and had a lovely time, but am always pleased to be back in my own home. One of the things that struck me while I was away was how early the flowers were down there, compared to here. Other than a few daffodils, I've no cultivated or wild flowers in bloom yet, but Sussex is covered in Rhododendrons, Bluebells, Wood Anemones and Primroses just now.
The most absurd sighting during my trip , pointed out by my eagle eyed sister, were mobile telephone masts, disguised as trees, complete with artificial branches and a little aerial sticking out of the top. They look ridiculous but I suppose they're better than having ugly metal masts everywhere.

I have a tendency to be a lazy slob during the week after getting home from work, but tonight has been different for some reason. I've made a clootie dumpling to take to work for colleagues tomorrow and the breadmaker has just produced a freshly baked loaf. Plants have been potted on and I've had a wander round the village looking at lambs and taking in a gloriously warm, light and clear evening. I can feel an attack of smug self satisfaction coming on, which I'm going to try hard to suppress.

Did my second stretch serving coffee and cakes at the gallery on Saturday. There's something very satisfying about dispensing espressos and lemon drizzle cake to the public for a few hours, but not sure if I would want to do it all day, every day, for a living. Still it will keep me off the streets for a few months.

2009-04-04T17:44:00.005+01:00

SHEILING ON THE PENTLAND ROAD NEAR ACHMOR, LEWIS.

Until the 1950's, Sheilings ( Gaelic 'An Airigh ') were in regular use throughout the islands. The one in the picture is a a modern version, probably replacing an older stone and turf building on the same site. Between May and August each year, the cattle were taken to the summer grazings on the moors and would be looked after by the women and children of the family, often while the menfolk were away fishing. The women would live with their children in these huts, which would have had home made chairs and tables and beds of heather.
The tradition of living in the sheilings during the summer died out about fifty years ago and many of them have fallen down and been absorbed into the landscape. Now, lonely gable ends with chimneys intact are often the only signs that a sheiling was there. There are a few left standing and still used, particularly on the Pentland Road and at Cuishader, Ness. Some families have maintained or restored their own sheilings as peaceful places to visit and spend time away from the everyday world.

Now the clocks have gone forward, the island is lighter, seems warmer and Spring is almost here. One of my neighbours has just started to cut his peats for next Winter and the rest of us will follow during the next few weeks. The first lambs have been born and are gambolling about happily, blissfully unaware of what the future holds for them. There are grey lag geese all over the croft and nearby grazings and I heard the first drumming snipe of the year circling the house after dark on Wednesday evening. The corncrakes will arrive in the next few weeks, although this village does not really have the right habitat for them. They are much more common a few miles up the road, where they can find plenty of cover in reeds, iris and butterbur.

I seem to have found a new career for myself. A friend has an art gallery and coffee shop some distance from here and has asked me to help out on occasional Saturdays throughout the Summer. After being closed for the Winter, the gallery opened again today with an exhibition of new paintings and I have spent all of this afternoon happily making coffee and serving cake to dozens of visitors. Have started to learn the fine art of making espressos and cappucinos with one of those great gurgling chrome Italian coffee machines and have thoroughly enjoyed myself. My weekends can be quite unstructured, so this new occupation helps me use my spare time usefully.

The funeral of the young South Uist man who went missing on Boxing Day was held today. Many people on Uist searched every day for weeks until his body was found in a loch a couple of weeks ago. There is a sense of sadness throughout the islands at his loss and buses were provided to meet ferries so that people from far and wide could attend the funeral and pay their last respects.

2009-03-25T20:35:00.005Z

FORMER CARINISH INN, NORTH UIST

Originally built in 1703, the Carinish Inn was a hostelry from then until late last year. The owners, a local building firm, put it on the market and after a few false starts, it was sold to the Free Church of Scotland. With one gigantic bound, the pub metamorphosed into a church on November 18. Services are now being held there regularly and one end of the building is about to be converted into a Manse, to house the new Minister. Two small long established churches on Uist have been sold to help fund this project. One of the brains behind this pub to church transformation has been a Minister on Benbecula, who I have regular contact with through my own work. Over the years, my views on the Church and religion in general have been fairly lukewarm, but this particular Minister, a good man by any measure, has helped to restore my faith. He is particularly interested in addictions and his church has set up a variety of non judgemental support services and self help groups for people with drug and alcohol problems, of whom there are many on these islands. They have a full time paid alcohol worker and whenever I have needed to get someone into rehab urgently, he has obtained funding and a place at their residential addiction rehabilitation centre in Northern Ireland quickly and without fuss. An application for a state managed rehab would involve vast amounts of form filling, problems over funding and a wait of many months and sometimes longer.

The issue of the Sabbath and Sunday ferry sailings to and from Lewis continues to generate great passion on both sides of the argument. Last week, the Islands Member for the Scottish Parliament raised the subject with the Government. The response was - "We recognise that there are very different and irreconcilable views about the potential introduction of Sunday sailings on the Ullapool to Stornoway ferry service." The Government spokesperson went on to say that "Calmac ( the ferry operator) is best placed to consider this issue". Calmac have indicated that they will take no action on Sunday sailings until the new reduced ferry fare structure is reviewed in three years time. So that's it then. No prospect of change for at least three years. Pro Sunday ferry campaigners are dismayed at this news whilst the Lord's Day Observance Society are dead chuffed.

During the last few years, electronic tagging has become commonplace for some released prisoners and as a sentence at court. Well, the idea has caught on and the EU currently have an intention to introduce compulsory electronic tagging and individual recording for every single sheep in the land. There are hundreds of thousands of sheep wandering around Lewis and Harris and the notion that they all be tagged to keep track of them sounds like bureaucratic lunacy. At present, a company called SERCO has the contract to monitor tagged offenders here and I suppose they could moonlight by keeping an electronic eye on sheep who are not complying with their curfews on Saturday nights. You may think that I'm spinning you a yarn and making this up, but not so. It's a genuine proposal from the politicians. Understandably, the National Farmers Union and Crofters Union are not best pleased and are making urgent representations to Brussels to stop this nonsense before it starts.

I've just started to feel that I'm emerging from hibernation after a long harsh Winter. The days are lengthening, it's warmer and it's raining less. My daffodils have still not burst into flower yet, but after months of dark evenings of self imposed confinement in front of a warm radiator with an improving book, I'm beginning to get out a bit more. Last night, I went into Stornoway to see an Island Book Trust slide show and presentation on the the history of migration between Lewis and Patagonia in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Rivetting.
Tomorrow night, it's a trip to the cinema to see Frost/Nixon and Friday evening, it's a concert by a brilliant group of female Gaelic singers called Lewis Women.
Hell, It's becoming one endless educational and social whirl. If I can find time in between engagements, I'll blog again.

2009-03-16T05:52:00.000Z

UIG, LEWIS - TOWARDS HARRIS.

Have been spared for another week, but only just. Returning from Benbecula on Thursday afternoon, the pilot was about to land the plane on the runway at Stornoway when we were caught by a fierce gust of wind. The plane hit the ground with a bang, tipped onto one side and narrowly avoided flipping over on one wing. The Captain, my hero, regained control and immediately took off again. We circled for about ten minutes before the pilot approached the runway from a different direction and landed us safely. We get used to flying in difficult conditions here, but this experience left me silent and sucking my lips for an hour or two.
The plane is not tiny. It's a BAe Jetstream nineteen seat twin prop aircraft and there were fifteen passengers and crew on it at the time of this little adventure.
I'm beginning to think seriously about taking my car and driving to the Southern Isles via the ferries in future. As well as laying bets about the chances of my returning safely from the plane, colleagues are also checking to see if I'm travelling before booking flights themselves. They seem worried that I'm cursed and unlucky.

Uist and Barra are carpeted with cheerful daffodils now, but mine have still not burst into flower yet. Barra is about a hundred miles South of here, so maybe my daffodils will emerge in the next week or two. The round blobs in the frog spawn are beginning to take on the shape of tadpoles and the lambing season is about to start.
The poor weather continues though and while it's reasonably warm and high winds have subsided, apart from at the airport, I can't remember the last day it didn't rain heavily on the croft.

Since my first and last trip to St Kilda over twenty years ago, with son and a friend, I've wanted to return and explore the main island, Hirta, and see all the places I've often read about, but never visited. Until recently, the journey there was difficult and expensive, but there are now regular reasonably priced charter trips in the summer tourist season. Well, I've got myself booked on a boat to St Kilda with an organised group in mid July and I'm quite looking forward to that. The organisation is called the Island Book Trust, which manages written historical archives about the Outer Hebrides and arranges regular talks about places and people of local interest. Of most interest to me though, throughout the Summer, they hire boats and take members to normally inaccessible small islands, like St Kilda, The Shiants, The Monarch Isles and the Flannans. I love visiting remote islands, especially if they have a past history of permanent occupation and hope to go on some of the other trips in future years.

Very sadly, Hebrides News has just reported that a body, believed to be that of a young man who went missing on Boxing day, was found in a Loch in South Uist this morning. He disappeared after a dance and there have been daily searches for him since then.

2009-03-10T02:23:00.000Z

A CORNER OF STORNOWAY HARBOUR

The flu worsened last week and I ended up spending three days off work. Although I do enjoy curling up on the sofa in front of a warm fire with a cup of cocoa and watching rubbish on TV, I much prefer to do it when I'm feeling well. This dose of flu has hit me hard and made me feel quite old. Can't cope with even minor illnesses now as well as I did just five or six years ago. I'm left with a permanent headache and catarrh, but went back to work a few days ago because it was more interesting there than here.

Signs of Spring abound. The weather here has been vile for the last month or so and I'm getting mighty fed up of it. This is not the place to come for tropical sunshine and banana trees growing in the street, but the weather has been seriously crap this Winter and It's time for an improvement. The daffodil stalks are up in the garden, though no flowers yet, and the rock doves are cavorting with each other in the most outrageous and wanton manner, usually in full view on top of my bird table. Having led a reclusive, modest and sheltered life so far, I've been quite thrown by their shameless antics.

For the last two or three years, the frogs have spawned in deep ruts in the access road to the house. Now that the road has been levelled and improved beyond recognition and a proper drainage dyke opened at the side of it, the frogs have adapted well. Sauntering down there this morning, I came across almost continual masses of spawn for about 100 yards along the dyke, so it looks like being a good year for amphibians. Whilst the Winter has been rubbish with almost daily rain, it's not been too cold and I've been surprised to note that the frogspawn is about two weeks later this year than last, which was much colder.

Pleasingly, I've been adopted for the last week or so by a trio of beautiful greenfinches, who are feeding from the bird table for all they are worth and look very healthy and colourful. A couple of hooded crows have also started to feed from the birdtable every day and they scare off all the other birds while they're here. They are quite handsome creatures though and I'm grateful that a variety of birds are now visiting the garden on a regular basis.

Over in Sin City, Stornoway, the Co-Op have announced that they are going to open a franchise of Peacocks the clothing shop, within the store, but more importantly, they're also going to open a Fairtrade coffee bar. That's a very good thing and I'll be pleased to give them my business. Tesco are also expanding and I think that's got the Co-op a bit rattled.

Off to work in Uist and Barra for a few days from tomorrow, so see you soon.

2009-03-02T00:42:00.000Z

STRANDED RESCUE HELICOPTER ON BARRA

Tripping the light fantastic down the West side beaches of Barra a week or two ago, I came across this Royal Navy chopper parked on the grazings. It had arrived the day before to take a seriously ill person to hospital in Glasgow, but developed mechanical problems and had to return to Barra. A second helicopter was summoned to take the patient to hospital, where he made a full recovery. At the time I took this photo, the crew were getting bored waiting for an engineer and spare parts to arrive from the mainland.

Life is a little empty and quiet now that son and grandaughter have returned home. I had completely forgotten what a high energy job looking after young children is. GD is a happy smiling two year old bundle of joy who was making her first visit here. She didn't like the wind very much, but chugged around like an express train and seemed to enjoy herself. There is a fantastic award winning playground for children at Ness and an indoor soft play area at the Sports Centre in Stornoway, both of which we visited and which she loved. When the weather was poor, much time was spent grovelling around on the sitting room floor with a variety of toys. I can proudly tell you that I have now fully re-aquainted myself with the goings on of Noddy and Big Ears and the rest of the population of Toytown.

Whilst driving to the beautiful beach at Bosta on Great Bernera last weekend, we were lucky enough to see a pair of white tailed sea eagles at close quarters, hunting across the ridges to the side of us. This was a first sighting of these birds for son and was a great thrill for both of us. The eagles continued to soar nearby for quite a while, giving us wonderful clear views of them. They are gigantic, with a wing span of about two and a half metres and are often referred to as looking like flying barn doors.

Bad news for Kittiwakes, but possible good news for Harris. The population of Kittiwakes and Puffins, here and in Shetland, have decreased dramatically in recent years. Both of these birds feed largely on sandeels, which seem to be disappearing, probably because of warming seas. When the birds can't find sandeels, they try to eat snake pipefish, which have little nutritional value and which they can't digest. Unless a solution is found soon, the pretty Kittiwakes and colourful Puffins may become rare sights.

Down in Harris, the residents have voted this week to make the entire island a National Park. With a turnout of 71%, 732 people voted in favour of the proposal, with 311 against. The pro Park steering group will now approach the Scottish Government to begin consultations, which they hope will lead to the creation of Scotland's third National Park. The hope is that Park status will preserve the landscape, help develop the local economy and breathe new life into the Gaelic language and heritage.
This might just be the right time to raid your piggy bank and buy that cottage in Harris you've always wanted, before prices rocket.

In the last blog, I was exercised about the proposed closures of first and second year secondary schools and care units in the community for elderly people. The penny pinching continues. The council have now agreed to increase home help charges by 30%. They are also raising the charge that pensioners in care homes pay for their cups of tea by 300%, from 20p to 60p. Residents of care homes are also going to have to pay double the current rate for their meals.
All is not lost though for the rest of us because Western Isles council have announced that they have frozen the council tax for the third year running. Why? I don't suppose they have one eye on re-election.

Have to go now 'cos I've got a serious and possibly terminal dose of man flu that's getting worse and I need to put my jim jams on, get some cocoa and go to bed.

See you next time, probably.

2009-02-17T07:52:00.000Z

DESERTED CHURCH, ISLE OF SCARP.

Last summer, I managed to get a lift on a boat to the Island of Scarp, a short distance offshore from the village of Hushinish in North Harris. Like many other Scottish islands, Scarp has a sad history of having had a reducing population for many years, leading to eventual abandonment. In 1881, there were 213 people living on the island, but by the 1940's, there were only 100 folk left. The Hydro Electric Board persistently refused to provide an electricity supply to Scarp and in 1966, the Church of Scotland decided not to replace the lay preacher. The school closed in 1967, followed by the post office two years later, which led to a complete cessation of mail deliveries to the island. The telephone cable was damaged in a storm and the General Post Office refused to repair it. Life became so intolerable for the few remaining islanders that they finally abandoned their homes in 1971 and left to live elsewhere. One book I have says that there were twelve people living on Scarp at the very end, whilst another says that only seven remained. There are two or three houses still used as holiday homes during the summer, but as far as I know, no one lives on Scarp all the year round now. The church in the photo was left with its pulpit and pews in place and there they remain to this day, slowly rotting away.
A very interesting and quite famous experiment took place on Scarp in 1934. A German Inventor, Dr Gerhard Zucker, decided to try his hand at launching rockets, containing the island mail, from Harris to Scarp. Regrettably, the venture failed when the rockets kept exploding in flight and the containers with the letters in them were scattered all over the land. I read somewhere that some of the stamped letters that survived occasionally turn up at auction. This whole episode was the subject of a decent film called 'The Rocket Post', made a few years ago, but which failed to get a general release. I saw it at the film club in Stornoway and it's well worth watching if you can find a DVD copy on the internet. By complete coincidence, I met a woman this afternoon who was an extra in the film.

Two much valued community facilities, probably unique to the Outer Hebrides, are in danger of being closed down for ever. In a number of villages on the islands, there are small residential care units, where elderly and infirm people who don't want to go into a home or leave their communities, can live independently, but with care staff on 24 hour cover available for when they need them. These care units also take people for short term respite stays, which helps users and their families when they need support, but enables them to remain in their own homes the rest of the time.

The second facility probably about to vanish are first and second year secondary education units attached to primary schools. Several of these schools provide education for children up to the age of about 14, so that they can be taught in their own communities before transferring to one of the bigger secondary schools, usually many miles away, in the third year. Most people agree that this benefits the children by helping them to develop confidence and cope better with the larger schools when they do transfer.
A permanent obsession with cost cutting and increased centralisation has led the local council to propose closing the care units and S1 and S2 secondary schools. It looks as if the care units will go soon, although the council is thinking of renting them back to residents as tenancies and offering home help support.

The Scottish Education Minister has refused to allow the closure of the schools for now, but it's almost certainly only a matter of time before they go.

The care units and schools are important to this community and help remote islands such as this to continue to survive. The money ought to follow facilities identified by residents as socially necessary. Instead, as in many other parts of the UK, the politicians here are constantly nibbling away at community resources to save money. This may well ultimately contribute to the demise of island communities like Lewis, which provide a wonderful quality of life and a generally safe and secure place to raise children without many of the problems found in heavily populated urban centres.

All well at the Chateau this week. Number one son and grandaughter arriving Thursday. I'm taking a few days off work to spend time with them.

2009-02-08T22:34:00.000Z

DALBEG BEACH, LEWIS

There are lots of lovely beaches to choose from on Lewis and Harris. This is one of my favourites. Even in mid Winter, it's a glorious place to visit, especially during fierce storms, when the waves boil and come crashing in from the sea. It's small, reasonably sheltered and has fine golden sand which is great for children to play on. It's only a few miles from here and I plan to take my grandaughter there to build sandcastles when she arrives in a couple of weeks, if the weather is good.

Oh the weather. I've spent the last week or two fantasising about being marooned by fifteen foot of snow, unable to get out and go to work. House cosy, stove chugging away and food in the fridge. Curled up on the sofa with one of the many unread books here and occasional flicking of the remote control to move between repeats of Sherlock Holmes, Midsomer Murders and Pie in the Sky on daytime TV. Friends have sent photos of cars and gardens in the South which have been completely engulfed by snow. So where is it then? Well,It's not here. I feel completely cheated because all we've had are a few flurries during the last few days, none of which has settled. It's quite cold and icy, but no worse than usual at this time of year and I'm really cheesed off about it.

Did the house survive the housewarming ? It certainly did. Sadly, no one behaved badly, so relatively little to report back. Lots of food, music, wine and games. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the last few guests didn't leave until 4am on Sunday morning. Have lived alone so long that I've almost forgotten how nice it is to have a house full of people making merry. Think I might repeat the event in the Spring.

Last blog, I mentioned the dispute going on between the Harris golf club and Sports Scotland, who are withholding a £75,000 grant because the club was refusing to open on Sundays. Since then, the club committee have met again and confirmed that they will not agree to make the course available to the public on the Sabbath under any circumstances and it now looks as if they may lose the grant. I do love to hear of a principled stance.

This morning, about 9 o'clock, I was sat eating my breakfast and musing about the future of the world, the true meaning of life and how stupid I am to have forgotten to buy a new bag of coffee yesterday. Looking out of the window in between these great thoughts, a buzzard arrived and perched on a fence post about a hundred yards away. This bird often hunts on the croft, moving from post to post and ruined house gable end to rocky outcrop, in a regular circuit. It usually spends up to half an hour on one perch, but today, this buzzard has remained on the same post for about five hours without moving. I've been watching it all morning, so am quite sure that it hasn't flown away and returned. The weather today is dry, windless and about 4 degrees. Any ideas why it stayed in the same place for so long?

2009-01-29T07:34:00.000Z

CROFT SHEEP

There are about twenty sheep on the croft just now and the only thing in life that seems to interest them is food. Their owner calls up to feed them every day with supplements, which they love. They consider all humans as great providers and whenever they see me, charge forward at a rate of knots. I can't leave the house without being followed and they can spot me from five hundred yards. Makes me feel like the Pied Piper. The sheep shown above are staring at me through the kitchen window in the forlorn hope that I will go out and ply them with whatever it is that sheep eat. It can feel quite spooky to walk into the kitchen to see this lot standing there waiting for me to appear.
There's something of the appearance of the Midwich Cuckoos about this flock.

Lots happening on the islands this last week, some good, some not so good.

The young man who went missing in South Uist on Boxing Day has still not been found and the real mystery is that there have been no sightings whatsoever of him, nor any clues to what his fate might be. The anguish his family must be suffering is unimaginable and it must be harder to maintain hope as each week passes.

Some time last year, I mentioned that there was a plan to build a wave farm at Siader, Barvas, here on Lewis. That plan has now been approved and construction will commence shortly.This will be the very first commercial wave farm in Scotland and is wonderful news. It will create about 70 badly needed new jobs and will produce 4MW of electricity supplying the needs of about 1800 homes. Lewis residents are keen to support renewable energy schemes that don't wreak havoc on the environment, unlike the recently rejected outrageous proposal to erect 181 giant turbines on pristine moorland in the North and West of the Island.

Down in Harris, at Scarista, there is a golf course sited in the most spectacular position overlooking the ocean. Golf club members have applied for a grant of £75,000 from SportScotand to upgrade the clubhouse and improve the drainage. The awarding of that grant is now at risk because the club refuses to open on Sundays. SportScotland, who have agreed the grant in principle, say they will not hand the money over until the club agrees to permit golfers to play on the course seven days a week. A spokesman for the club has said that religious beliefs prevent them agreeing to open the course on the Sabbath and they seem to be prepared to lose the grant funding as a consequence. SportScotland say they are unable to provide finance for clubs or groups who do not make their facilities available to the public every day. They say that they have responsibilities under 2006 Equality Legislation to ensure that all schemes they help to fund are accessible to all, "regardless of gender, race, disability, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, marital/civil partnership status or social background." So there we are.
Just now, there is stalemate over this issue, but a compromise is currently being searched for.

A skellybob has been found over in Uig on the West side of Lewis. A human skeleton, thought to be 4000 years old, was discovered after soil erosion caused by one of the recent severe storms exposed a small stone coffin, known as a kist. The remains were found inside. The archaeologists have gone into raptures at this find and one of them said "when we find a burial in a small kist, we automatically think of the Bronze Age." Indeed we do.

Do you know, it is 62% more expensive to heat a house in Stornoway than in Bristol? I only know this gem because our local MSP received this information in response to enquiries he made in Parliament. It's apparently because of the wind chill factor we experience here, denied to the good citizens of Bristol. Why Bristol? I have no idea.

Every month, I get the plane to Benbecula to spend three days working in the Southern Isles. Twice during the three years I've been making this journey, the plane has turned back in mid air after developing technical problems. Those experiences make flights interesting and unpredictable and colleagues have started laying bets on the liklihood of my returning safely each time I travel. On one of those occasions, when buzzers buzzed loudly in the cockpit and red lights started flashing in the cabin, the passenger in front of me collapsed with an anxiety attack. There are no cabin staff on this flight and reassurances from me had little effect. The poor soul left the aircraft back at Stornoway a bumbling wreck and has not been seen since.
Well, last week, in my absence, the same plane was landing at Benbecula when the tail smacked the runway tarmac causing some damage, but no injuries to the ten passengers - apart from traumatising them for life. The airline has refused to comment on suggestions that the incident was caused by poor cargo and baggage loading. The plane is being repaired this week by the nice man in charge of sellotape, glue and sealing wax. Life was never so exciting in the South.
In case you want to look out for my welfare, I'll be travelling to Benbecula again on this plane on 10 February.

It's the long delayed housewarming party here on Saturday evening. Have invited mainly colleagues from work to come and have a nosy round, so looking forward to that. Most of the people I work with are sober, sensible and mature, but I'm hoping someone will disgrace themselves and provide much needed Winter entertainment.

2009-01-18T01:33:00.000Z

BUTT OF LEWIS LIGHTHOUSE, NESS, LEWIS.

This is my favourite lighthouse. It's sited at the Northernmost point of Lewis, about 30 miles from here. The light, made of red brick, became operational in 1862 and was built by David Stevenson. It's 121 feet tall and has been fully automatic since 1998. It has a range of 25 miles. The lighthouse functions as the monitoring station for automatic lights on the Flannan Isles, North Rona and Sula Sgier and is itself now remotely controlled from the Northern Lighthouse Board headquarters in Edinburgh. There are great views out to sea from all round the light and it's probably the best place on the island to look for whales, sharks and dolphins. The cliffs all around the Butt are home to a variety of seabirds, making it a birdwatchers delight. A few years ago, I was sat on the cliff top there when I watched a Peregrine falcon strike a rock dove out of the sky, before taking it away to eat.
I love sitting quietly near the lighthouse on rare warm and still sunny days, watching the Gannets plunge diving for fish, just offshore.
The Butt of Lewis, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is the windiest place in Great Britain.

Which brings me nicely to current weather. It's cold and moderately windy right now, but the Met Office have forecast overnight winds of between 50-60 miles an hour from about midnight tonight. I've just looked up the Beaufort Scale, which describes winds of these speeds as:
'Storm force 10-11, seldom experienced inland. Trees will be uprooted, there will be loss of roof slates and chimney pots and considerable structural damage is likely'.

I've been working away in the Southern Isles this week and was stranded again on Barra for two days on Wednesday and Thursday, when the ferry was confined to harbour as a consequence of poor conditions at sea. Finally got home yesterday evening and very pleased I am to be here. It only takes about an hour to get the central heating to warm up the house and the stove roaring away. Now that the renovation is complete, the house is easy to heat, largely draught free and welcoming.

Although jobs continue to be lost here, some new posts are being created. Scottish Natural Heritage are advertising for 15 temporary field workers for the Uist Wader Project. As in previous years, the successful applicants will trap and collect hedgehogs, which have been eating their way through the eggs of ground nesting birds and causing a reduction in the bird population. Originally, the captured hedgehogs were killed, but attitudes have changed and the spiky beasties are now sent to the mainland for rehoming. The field worker posts pay £7:50 per hour for a 37 hour week, between now and mid May.
The British Trust for Conservation Volunteers are also advertising an interesting sounding job, for an apprentice to work on the management of Machair- the fertile, species rich coastal strips of land here. The person appointed will work as part of the RSPB team and learn about habitat management for Corncrakes, Corn Buntings and the endangered Great Yellow Bumble Bee. Sounds like a wonderful opportunity and I quite fancy it myself, age and lack of relevant qualifications notwithstanding.

Have gathered up a sleeping bag, torch, mint imperials and a glass of red wine. Almost time to go to the Anderson shelter to wait for Armageddon. Hope to blog again if I'm spared.

2009-01-12T04:53:00.000Z

SUNRISE - 8:50am WEDNESDAY 7 JANUARY- PENTLAND ROAD, LEWIS

I photographed this lovely sunrise on my way to work a few days ago. The weather was warm, dry and settled, very different from today. As I write this at the kitchen table, the rain is hitting the double glazed windows horizontally and causing them to vibrate loudly. The wind is howling round the eaves and lifting the tiles on the roof. There was some damage to the roof caused by the last storm a couple of weeks ago and I'm waiting for the roofer to come and do the repairs. He called in earlier this week and discovered that about twenty tiles need replacing and arranged to come back yesterday to fit them. This storm has been blowing more or less constantly for about 36 hours now and was so bad yesterday morning that it would have been madness for the roofer to climb up his ladders. Hopefully, the weather will settle and he'll come back this week to finish the job.

In early November, I ordered a dining table and chairs from a company in England and was given a three week delivery date. It will be no surprise to regular readers to hear that that promise turned out to be nonsense and the dining set failed to arrive. Consequently, I was left with the prospect of eating Christmas lunch off the kitchen floor. A flurry of increasingly tetchy emails to the manufacturer resulted in them discovering that they had sent my goods to the courier on the day they said they would, but the courier had let the furniture sit in their warehouse for eleven days and failed to deliver them to me. No one was able to explain why, but at that point, on the 22 December, the manufacturer got their act together and told me they would try and deliver it by Christmas. I had no confidence that the table and chairs would arrive, but lo and behold, the door bell rang late on Christmas Eve morning and there was a nice man from the local delivery service with my stuff. Christmas was saved and the sequel to this story is that the maker has contacted me since to say that they were so fed up with their courier that they've sacked them and employed a different company. Result!

During the last year, I've bored readers of this blog to death with stories of unreliable and unavailable Lewis tradesmen and their generally arrogant attitude towards paying customers. Well, ironically, the tide has turned, the credit crunch is biting hard and many of these same tradesmen are now touting for work in the local newspaper. I'd like to tell you that I wish them well, but I just can't bring myself to utter the words. I suspect that if I was doing my renovation now, it would be done more quickly, less expensively and to a higher standard. Never mind.

In the early hours of Boxing day, a 21 year old man from South Uist disappeared on the way home from a dance. There has been no sighting of him, but he is not thought to have left the islands by boat or plane. Police and volunteers have been looking for him every day since he went missing, but his disappearance remains a complete mystery. Much of the land mass and many of the lochs on Uist have been searched by search parties and divers, without any clues being found. No evidence of accident or foul play has been uncovered, but the hunt for the missing man is beginning to wind down and concern for his safety is increasing.

2009-01-07T04:37:00.000Z

DERELICT COTTAGE, NORTH UIST.

Happy New Year to you all.

The pretty derelict cottage shown above is situated a few yards from the entrance to The RSPB Balranald nature reserve on North Uist. There are hundreds of similar cottages all over the islands, slowly decaying into the ground. Anywhere else, they would be sold at a high price or renovated, providing housing for families and holidaymakers and improving the landscape. I've never been sure why so many houses are left to rot and fall down here, but there are a number of possible reasons. Many properties have been in the same family for generations and the attachment is so deep that the current owners can't bring themselves to sell on to strangers. Often, the house will be owned by people who live abroad and have plans to retire to the family home and croft, but for many reasons, never do so. Houses can be owned collectively by several family members and squabbles and disagreements about future use will prevent sale or renovation. Perhaps most often, people who inherit these unmodernised houses are simply unable to afford to restore them, particularly now that it is almost impossible to obtain renovation grants unless the property is on a croft.
For now, the cottage in the picture serves to provide a daily roost for starlings, lined up on the roofline and chimney stacks.

So, what's to become of us all this year? Relatives have gone home after a lovely Christmas and with a bit of a struggle, I returned to work yesterday with a fixed smile on my face and goodwill in my heart. After a couple of hours, it felt like the holiday had never happened. Familiar?
Now that the house is more or less finished and habitable, I plan to spend more time outside in the coming months.The shed is badly in need of paint and repairs and I want to create vegetable patches in various places on the croft where I can find arable land. Much of the croft is rock, bog and deep peat and crops don't grow easily. The front garden(?) remains waterlogged and the plan for it is to improve the drainage, dry it out a bit and establish some flower beds, difficult with the ferocious winds we have here. Putting up a polytunnel is part of the master plan, but I haven't yet decided where it can be sited or how it can be protected to prevent it being blown away to the mainland.
I'm expecting a variety of visitors throughout the year, all of whom will offer welcome suggestions, advice or muscle. Heating costs are a major expenditure in Winter, so I intend to cut peat this year and persuade unsuspecting souls to come and have a bit of a break here in April or May, in return for help wielding a peat iron.

Nothing too dramatic happening on the island so early in the year. The weather has been calm and fairly mild for the last week or two and most folks are just scurrying about, quietly getting on with their lives and looking forward to the end of regular storms and longer hours of daylight.
The employment situation continues to be dire, with lots of redundancies recently, but there is a glimmer of hope because the Harris Tweed industry seems to be picking up and the local fabrication yard, which has been making turbine towers, is said to have secured new contracts.
Woolworths and the fish processing factory have gone, but the local small craft brewery remains open and the good quality restaurants have done well over the holidays.

2008-12-19T05:33:00.000Z

LOCH SEAFORTH, BOWGLASS, ISLE OF HARRIS

What a week. Was stranded on Barra when the ferry didn't sail because of poor weather at sea. Only got back this morning. Got my first puncture in many years whilst in the wilds of Harris. Nothing but sheep for miles and the wheel nuts were on so tight I couldn't undo them with my wheel brace. A number of tiles have come off the house roof in recent gales - The roof was not replaced during the renovation - just patched up to save money. The shed roof is leaking and the gas bottle supplying the hob ran out, so I couldn't cook until a replacement was obtained. My electric shaver has broken down - stress I expect - and the manual razor has brought me out in a rash. We've had horrendous weather, with particularly high winds in the last few days and my metal gate has blown off down the croft.
This computer has been playing up, hence the 3 weeks since the last blog. Other than that, all is well here at the Chateau. The house is lovely and warm, I finish work for two weeks from Monday and I've got family coming to stay for Christmas. I'm usually a bit of a grump about Christmas, but have tried hard to enter into the spirit of it all this year by putting up a tree with lovely twinkly lights on it and I've made a Christmas cake for the first time ever. It's so full of brandy that I've pinned a drink drive warning on it. The cake looks ok covered with marzipan and icing , but is a testament to the idiot proof quality of Delia's recipe, rather than any skill on my part. The cards are sent, presents purchased and wrapped and the turkey is in the freezer. A side of venison managed to hurl itself into my car boot whilst I was in North Uist and by a route I'm not entirely sure of, I've become the proud owner of a whole salmon the size of a small whale. My sister and brother in law are going to have to do some serious eating whilst here over Christmas.
Good news. Number one son and lovely grandaughter are coming to visit for a week in February, so very much looking forward to that.

Mixed fortunes on the island this week. Lots of jobs lost at Woolworths and the salmon factory, and multiple arrests made following the seizure of a large quantity of cocaine by the police. There is not a significant problem with heroin on Lewis, but cocaine and cannabis seem plentiful.

There has been a hare brained plan by the EU to close the entire West coast fishery, which would have meant that hundreds of island prawn fisherman would have been out of work, causing an economic disaster here. Fortunately, common sense has prevailed, the fishery has been reprieved and a lot of fishing families will have a much happier Christmas.
The Harris Tweed industry has been going through the mill recently and a year or two ago, it looked as if the tweed might disappear completely as the factories encountered financial difficulties. One of the mills closed down with the loss of 70 jobs, but has now reopened with plans for rapid expansion and is going to open a visitor centre soon to show tourists how tweed is made and to sell cloth to them from a shop in the mill.

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas and New Year.

2008-11-29T07:48:00.000Z

TOLSTA CHAOLAIS & LITTLE BERNERA FROM THE CROFT

Before I came to live in the Outer Hebrides three years ago, all my belongings were packed into cardboard boxes and there they've remained ever since. Now that the house renovation is more or less finished, I've started to unpack the boxes, many of which contain books. Having built some bookcases recently with the help of a visiting friend, there is now somewhere to put them. I was a bit anxious that the books would have been damaged by damp and cold, but they are all fine. I originally packed them well in shredded paper and bubble wrap and apart from a little mustiness, they are all in good condition. It has been quite exciting to rip open boxes to find favourite old books, like long lost friends.

The island is much quieter now that the tourists have gone and we're all battening down the hatches for the Winter. The sheep have been taken off the croft for a few weeks, to be put to the ram and the weather is deteriorating rapidly. As I write this, It's snowing heavily, unusual for here and I haven't seen a car for a couple of hours. The hills of Uig and Harris, seen through the kitchen window, look lovely, with a covering of snow on the tops.
I've started to feed the birds regularly again and a pair of chaffinches are competing with the rock doves at the bird table just now. Bird sightings of the month for me have been a Sea Eagle perched on a fence post at the side of the road in North Uist two weeks ago and about 20 waxwings feeding off berries on the Rowan tree outside of my window at work a couple of days ago.

The recession has started to affect the island with potentially serious consequences. The salmon processing factory in Stornoway is closing down with the loss of 130 jobs. With magnificent timing, the owners, a multi national company, have decided that the gates will close after Christmas. In addition to those redundancies, there are also likely to be jobs lost at the local hauliers who transport the fish and at a company who produce the boxes that the salmon is packed in. To make matters worse, Woolworths, a long established store in Stornoway, are in financial trouble and will probably close down in January with the loss of further jobs. On a small island like this, those jobs can't be replaced quickly or easily.

Figures provided by the Halifax this week show that the Outer Hebrides has the second lowest house prices in the UK. It's also regarded as one of the most agreeable and beautiful places in Britain to live, with good schools, clean air and a generally low crime rate. Before there is a general stampede for the ferry, fuel, groceries and household items are expensive and there is a serious shortage of public housing. Unemployment is rising and the weather can be quite bracing.
The cheapest place to buy a house, according to the Halifax, is said to be Pendle in Lancashire. I rather like Pendle, so perhaps it's there next.

I'm off to Inverness next weekend for a pre Christmas shopping trip. There are still a number of items I need to complete the renovation, which I can't get here, so a visit to B&Q and Homebase is called for. Apart from work, I haven't been away from the island for many months, so I'm really looking forward to the break. The last time I tried to get away, the plane failed to fly due to poor weather and it was a bit of a blow being stranded here when I had arranged to see family and friends. I'm planning to go on the ferry this time, so that I can bring stuff back with me in the car. At this time of the year though, when the weather is fiercely unpredictable, the sailings are cancelled regularly and the ship often remains cosy and secure in Stornoway harbour.
Now that the house is comfortable and warm, I've decided to remain on the Island this Christmas for the first time since I moved to live here. My sister and brother in law, who live in the South of England, are flying here on 23 December, so we all have our fingers crossed that the weather will be mild and the planes will fly.

2008-11-09T16:54:00.000Z

CORN STOOKS, MUIR OF AIRD, BENBECULA

Some parts of the Islands continue to farm traditionally, especially in the Southern Isles. These corn stooks, an alternative to combining, sit in fields near Balivanich. I think they will be used for Winter cattle feed and they also have the advantage of providing shelter and homes for little furry things.
The weather has been dire for much of this last week, but I've enjoyed being on holiday and myself and visiting friend have achieved quite a lot in beween watching reruns of Morse and Miss Marple on daytime television. Bookcases have been built, blinds fitted and the utility room floor painted. I guess we could have been more productive, but step by step, the house is coming together and feeling less like a campsite. The recent drop in temperature has provided a good opportunity to test the oil central heating and solid fuel stove for long periods and both seem to be working well.
With a secure, office based job, it's easy to forget that life is much harder for some people here. Earlier this week, a shellfish trawler sank off the East coast of Lewis, but fortunately, the crew of three managed to get into a liferaft before the boat went down. A rescue operation by the Coastguard and Lifeboat got under way, but the fishermen were picked up by another fishing boat, which happened to be in the area and arrived at the scene before the rescue services. This could easily have been a disaster and incidents like this occur not infrequently, but tend not to be reported widely outside of the North of Scotland.

2008-11-01T03:13:00.000Z

NEAR GALLAN HEAD, LEWIS

I'm feeling very chilled out just now. Finished work a couple of hours ago and have some holiday left, so not going back until a week on Monday. A friend is arriving tomorrow afternoon and is staying for two weeks. Although I do enjoy the solitude of this place, I'm always pleased to have company and someone to chat with for a while.

The house is warm and secure now, but has been sorely tested this week by horrendous weather. Winter has definitely arrived. A severe storm last Saturday lasted a full day and night. At one point, early on Sunday morning, the wind was hammering the house constantly and I thought the roof was going to come off. It helped to remember that the house has stood for nearly eighty years without succumbing to the elements. Long may it continue to do so. Mid week, we had a rare flurry of snow, which made driving very difficult for a few hours until the gritters got their act together. Ferries and flights have been disrupted throughout the week, but thankfully, the weather is calm and settled again now.
Only finishing off work remaining to do on the house. The one big job left is painting all of the downstairs skirtings and then it's just fitting blinds, bookcases, door knobs, coat rails and the like.
It's been almost exactly a year since the house was a semi derelict shell and the work started. Although I'm very pleased to have been able to breathe new life into an old property, it's been quite a painful experience dealing with builders and other tradesmen here and I have little doubt they have taken advantage of my naivete and inexperience, to my cost. The pain is rapidly receding now and a little voice at the back of my head is suggesting to me that I should renovate another house and do it all better, having learnt from this experience. I don't think so. Not yet anyway.

Grey lag geese have been officially appointed as villains of the month, hated by everybody it seems. They are particularly partial to Outer Hebridean grass and now have the combined might of the local council and crofter's organisations lined up against them. The problem is that life has been so agreeable for the geese in recent years that their numbers have increased quickly and there are now about six thousand of them eating and causing damage to crops and grazings here. Apparently, they leave so much of their droppings behind them that sheep and cattle are refusing to feed in fields where the geese have been. Well I never.
One councillor has said this week that there are so many geese grazing around the runway at Stornoway Airport that planes are in danger when taking off and landing. As I use the airport every three weeks or so, I have a vested interest in ensuring that the geese are removed as I'm about to fly. Maybe trained hunting eagles could be used to get them, which could also be developed as a tourist attraction, thus achieving two objectives at once -- " Roll up, roll up. geese killing by the Eagle Squadron will start in ten minutes time. Get your tickets here. Credit cards accepted".

In common with many parts of the mainland, there is a serious housing crisis here, with many people being unable to afford to buy a house and consequently, a huge demand for Social housing. There are currently about 750 people on the housing waiting list, with many of those having no chance of being allocated a home within a reasonable time. What houses that do become vacant are usually given to families and individuals considered to be high priority homeless. There is a perception here, that may or may not be true, that incomers are appearing on the doorstep of Hebridean Housing as soon as they arrive and are leap frogging the waiting list by presenting as homeless with dependent children.
The housing situation is now so serious that a Government Minister from Edinburgh is coming to Stornoway in the next few weeks to help find a solution, or at least a way forward.

A couple of nights ago, the Coastguard on Skye were called by the police to say that several red and white flashing lights had been seen a few hundred yards off shore by an off duty policeman. The lights were thought to be from a boat that could have been in trouble, so the Coastguard went to have a look and called out the Lifeboat at the same time. The lights could still be seen from the beach, but the Lifeboat was unable to find a boat or get any response on the radio. Eventually, after an hour long search with no success, the lights were seen again, apparently on the shore. When the Coastguard investigated, they found an eight inch long model boat with a red masthead light, a flashing white bow light and another red light on the stern. On the sail attached to the model boat was written the message " HAPPY 42ND BIRTHDAY OLLIE XXX". With admirable diplomacy and self restraint, the Coastguard manager said "The Coastguard and Lifeboat crew would like to wish Ollie a Happy Birthday and hope it was an enjoyable one." He added, "if anyone else is thinking about using a similar method of celebrating, we would be grateful if you would let us know in advance what you are planning, to save us having to call out the Lifeboat and Coastguard".

2008-10-18T20:30:00.000+01:00

PREHISTORIC STANDING STONE, POLLARCHAR, SOUTH UIST - TOWARDS BARRA

A very satisfying week. Brother in law has been and gone, having done lots of work while he was here. He set to and completed the half finished tiling in the kitchen that the tiler left when he disappeared a month or two ago. The joiner came and the wooden floors downstairs are now fitted and looking good. The stove is burning nicely and for the first time, the house is beginning to take on the feel of a home. There is no work left that I need tradesmen to do and the next few weeks will be spent finishing small jobs and finding furniture. The only recent disaster - a small one - happened after I'd put the third coat of paint on some newly made coat rails. I was just admiring my handiwork when an open roll of fibre glass loft insulation, placed precariously on a shelf by me, dropped off and fell on to the wet rails. It made a complete mess and I've no choice now but to strip the rails back to bare wood and start again. I tried letting the rails dry and sanding them down, but they looked awful, so back to the beginning again.

A local wag has raised a smile on the island by installing furniture on a small islet in a loch near Stornoway. Somehow, the culprit has managed to get a sofa and kitchen table onto the islet, probably by boat. As a nice finishing touch, two or three wine bottles have been attached to the top of the table. A flickering candle and open fire would have made the scene cosy and homely. It's hard to tell whether this is just a humorous jape or a statement on the possible consequences of the credit crunch and mortgage situation.

Stornoway black puddings are famous world wide and particularly here. There was outrage this week when it was reported that butchers in the central belt of Scotland are selling copy cat products marked 'Stornoway style black puddings'. Hell hath no fury. The MSP for the Highlands and Islands has taken up the cudgels and plans to take on the nasty imitation puds. -- ' The reputation of genuine Stornoway black puddings must be protected. We don't want other butchers taking advantage by using the Stornoway product name.' ---- He has tabled a motion in Parliament about this issue - truly, I jest not - and now plans to consult with European Parliamentary colleagues to see if Protected Geographical Status can be obtained for the puddings to stop the evil interlopers from marketing inferior counterfeit rubbish. There are precedents for this move with Melton Mowbray Pork Pies and Arbroath Smokies now having such protection.

At long last, the Government backed reduced ferry fare structure for the Outer Hebrides comes into being from Sunday. Fares to the main land are dropping significantly for an initial three year period. The Stornoway-Ullapool journey will cost approximately £90 less for a car and driver next week than it does now. I'm planning to celebrate by making a pre Christmas trip to Inverness for household goods, gifts, a change of scenery and a pint or two in a decent pub.

2008-10-04T21:52:00.000+01:00

SCOLPAIG TOWER, NORTH UIST

This attractive tower, sometimes known as MacLeod's Folly, sits on a little islet in Loch Scolpaig on the Noth West coast of North Uist. It was built about 1830, by Dr Alexander Macleod, who was then factor of the North Uist Estate. MacLeod is said to have erected the building using local labour, as a means of providing employment for famine relief. It's an Octagonal two storey structure, with a parapet and seems to have had no practical purpose other than to sit well in the landscape and be stared at. When the water level is low in Summer, the tower can be reached easily via a stone causeway. Over the years, the weather has taken its toll and it is now in a sorry state of repair. A group of admirers of the folly has recently been formed to raise money to restore it to its former glory, before it falls down.

Living here, it is tempting to believe that this is one of the wettest places on the planet. A lot of the year though, we do have dry and sunny periods, but over on St Kilda, they've had a serious drought over the summer. A prolonged spell of dry weather led to the fresh water supply on Hirta running out and although 20 tonnes of water were shipped in from Stornoway, that lasted only one week. The situation became so serious that the 30 resident Ministry of Defence and National Trust workers had to evacuate the island for a while. The boffins got their heads together though and helicoptered in a number of experts to meet round a table on Hirta and come up with a solution. Consequently, Project Aquatine was created. This is a public private partnership between Scottish Water and Veolia Water, formed to supply water from a desalination plant, under contract to the MoD for 25 years. The new desalination unit arrived at St Kilda by barge last month, taking 14 hours to reach the island from the mainland. It removes salt and other minerals from sea water by pushing raw water through filters at high pressure in a process known as reverse osmosis. Please, please, don't ask me any techie questions about this, 'cos I won't know the answers. I haven't a clue how it all works, I just read about the project and thought it was interesting. All parties involved in Project Aquatine have declared it a success and claim that drinkable water will always be available from now on, whatever the weather. The plant has been designed to be removable, so that it can be taken off the Island if St Kilda was to become permanently uninhabited again in future.

The application to build a whisky distillery on Barra received planning approval from the local council last month and is expected to get under way soon. The new Red River distillery here at Uig on Lewis has already started production. The Tenants of West Harris are considering a community buy out of the West Harris Estate from the Government, under right to buy legislation. If that plan comes to fruition, one of the suggestions for development of the estate by the community is to start a distillery of their own to generate regular long term income. Hey Presto! Within a few years time, we could have three distilleries in the Outer Isles and tourism might increase through the creation of a new 'whisky trail'.

No real traumas here at the Chateau recently, other than a couple of easily fixed water pipe leaks resulting from the shoddy work of the plumber. I've been a lazy slob for the last week or two and the house is a bit of a tip, but my brother in law is coming back for a week, on Wednesday, so a big tidy up operation is underway. The joiner returns on Tuesday to fit the wooden floors and skirting, which I'm hoping will only take three or four days, because he's being paid by the hour.

Winter is almost upon us, the temperature is dropping rapidly and we've already had masses of heavy rain, which is a good test for the new access road and drainage channels. The road, which is becoming much admired and something of a local tourist attraction, is standing up well so far and is bedding in nicely. It's flat and well compacted, so I've no problems with ponds appearing, as they have each Winter since I arrived. The drains are flowing like rivers into the burn along the boundary and knowledgeable neighbours tell me that the front part of the croft will dry out nicely next year and become more usable.

A man in a cafe in Stornoway told me that we are going to have a harsh cold Winter and as he had a pleasant, honest and convincing face, I've stocked up with fuel on the strength of his prediction. Not sure if this is a better method than consulting the BBC long range forecast, but the coffee was good and I'm a trusting soul. The central heating oil arrived yesterday- now 60p per litre - and I've also bought in coal and logs for the multifuel stove, because I hate being cold inside the house.

A reader asked me how the mink trapping is going. Well, it seems to be progressing quite nicely, thank you. The trappers are working their way North and are currently in this part of the Island. Scottish Natural Heritage have advertised in the Stornoway Gazette this week for another Mink Trapper and are paying a salary of £14120 per annum. What is interesting about this is that the advert states explicitly that the mink project aims to eradicate every last mink from the Outer Hebrides, rather than to just control them.

2008-09-28T09:59:00.000+01:00

THATCHED COTTAGE, SOLLAS, NORTH UIST.

It's ordinary, everday events that often provide the greatest pleasure. Picture the scene. Stornoway airport one morning last week. The Loganair flight from Edinburgh arrived, the passengers went on their way and the plane was being prepared for the return journey. At some point, the ground crew noticed that the pilot had disappeared. A thorough search ensued and our hero was discovered trapped in the aircraft toilet, to where he had retreated for a quiet five minutes to recover his composure between flights. The door to the toilet was completely jammed and neither the pilot or the entire might of the airport ground staff could free it. Eventually, after much deliberation, staff broke into the toilet through the aircraft hold area and with one bound, Biggles escaped and was freed. By that time though, the direct flight back to Edinburgh was cancelled and 14 passengers were re-routed via Inverness and arrived at their destination one hour late. The airline made a statement saying ' We would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused.' In the tradition of fine journalism, the Stornoway Gazette printed the story with the headline 'Delay at Stornoway for Loo-ganair passengers.'

Dead whales washed up on beaches here are a fairly frequent event, but a few days ago, a live 20 foot Pilot whale was stranded on the beach on the island of Berneray, North Uist. The coastguard and a dozen local residents kept its skin wet with water, while getting a canvas sheet under the whale so that it could be pulled back into the sea. With the incoming tide, the animal seemed to recover and the rescuers went into the sea with it and managed to encourage it to swim away from the shore. It was last seen that day swimming out to sea and there was some hope that the whale would survive. Sadly, it was found washed up on the shore dead the following morning. The cause of death and the reason for the original beaching are unknown.

At long last, I've finished painting all of the rooms in the house and I'm now just waiting for the joiner to return to fit the wooden floors downstairs. When he's done that, every major job will have been completed and I hope that I can then begin to enjoy living here, rather than just feeling that I've got permanent occupation of a building site.There are still dozens of minor finishing off tasks to do, including fitting blinds and the application of large quantities of silicone and filler, which will get attended to over the next few weeks and months as motivation ebbs and flows.

2008-09-14T19:47:00.000+01:00

KISSING GATE NEAR CALLANISH, LEWIS.

The main Callanish stones are justly famous, but within a mile or two, there are three other stone circles which get much less attention and publicity. That's a pity, because they are all in sensational surroundings and just as mystical. There is a path linking all of the stone circle groups, but the tourist coaches bringing visitors from cruise ships just take their passengers to the Callanish visitor centre for a walk round and a cup of coffee, before whisking them off to the next place on the 'see it all in 4 hours' itinerary.
The kissing gate in the photo guards the entrance to one of those other stone circles, known as Callanish three. At first glance, it looks quite a conventional gate, but if you look closer, it becomes much more interesting. The maker has built in representations of the sun, moon, mountains and people into the structure and it's a wonderful piece of work. Wish I'd got one.

Work on the house is moving forward steadily now. The contractor has completely finished the access road, which is now flat, straight and well drained. It makes an amazing difference to be able to drive along it without ripping out the undersides of the car. The postlady and delivery drivers are happier too.
The bathroom tiling has been completed and I've finished painting the downstairs bedroom, leaving only one room in the house left to decorate from top to bottom. In the meantime, I'm still wandering about on bare concrete floors, but the end is in sight.

There is a sawmill in the grounds of Lews Castle College, which makes fencing, gates and other stuff, as well as being a good source of logs for burning. For some time, I've been thinking that the new solid fuel stove needs a fire surround and mantelpiece, but couldn't find anything that I really like from commercial suppliers. Talking to the joiner at the sawmill a few days ago, he agreed to make me two uprights and a cross piece and I'm now the proud possessor of a fire surround made out of 6x4 solid planks. It's been cut from a fallen elm tree, which was growing in the Castle grounds, but came down in a storm a couple of years ago. The only problem is that the wood is unseasoned and is likely to split if it is subject to heat from the fire before it dries out. Any suggestions on how to speed up the drying process without damaging the wood?

During the next year, I'm going to put in land drains on the croft at the front of the house, to improve the grazing. I've also got plans to put up a polytunnel next Spring, but still having difficulty deciding exactly where to place it.

Some of the croft fencing was taken down while the road was being renovated and the sheep were taken away to graze elsewhere over the summer. The owner brought them back yesterday and I am pleased to have them here again. They're not very bright, but they do have character. They are currently grazing at the back of the house and making hostile noises towards a flock of grey lag geese which arrived about half an hour ago to steal the grass. A Buzzard and ravens have been hunting on the croft this morning and I seem to have acquired a flock of about a dozen pigeons, which have taken a liking to my bird table.

Sadly, a young Osprey was found dead at the side of a road here a few days ago. It was born in June on the Scottish mainland and had been satellite tagged to track its movements. The people who were monitoring it noticed that the satellite signal was stationary, gave the coordinates to the RSPB here and the dead bird was located. When found, it was severely underweight and is thought to have been hit by a car.

2008-09-07T07:47:00.000+01:00

UNINVITED VISITOR

Last Sunday morning . So there I was, washing pots at the kitchen sink, when I looked up to see this huge black Highland cow staring at me through the window. If you look closely, you'll see that it's chewing a mouthful of my best grass. The village common grazings adjoin the croft and this animal and several other cattle, having eaten all the grass there, broke through the fencing to find richer pickings on my property. Having worked as a farm labourer in my extreme youth, I knew that all you have to do with cows is to wave your arms about, look them straight in the eye and say 'cush cush' to them. Well, I did and the cow looked at me as if I was insane and just carried on eating. It seemed to enjoy having it's photo taken and was in no hurry to leave. Poser. Eventually managed to make it return, reluctantly, to the common grazings. The owner has now moved his herd to greener pastures.

Had intended to be away for much of this week visiting family and friends, but events have conspired to keep me here. Turned up at the airport at 8am last Friday to find that the planes were unable to land because of fog. Waited five hours to see if conditions would improve, but they didn't and BA cancelled their flights to Inverness, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Consequently, I missed my Ryanair connection from Inverness and lost all of my money, including a car hire paid up front, because they will not accept responsibility for poor weather. Tried other ways to get off the island on Friday and Saturday, but eventually gave up, dispirited and defeated. The only consolation is that I've been able to do more decorating during the last few days.

Every August, a group of ten men sail from the Port of Ness here on Lewis to the remote small island of Sula Sgeir, some forty miles to the North. The object of the exercise is to collect and bring back 2000 Guga, or young gannets, which are considered a delicacy. Gannets are protected birds under EU law, but the annual Guga hunt has taken place for around five hundred years and the Scottish Government issue a special licence for the tradition to continue. The young birds are captured, killed, salted on site and then stored in barrels, before being brought to Ness when the men return. The hunt takes two weeks and is well supported within the local community, with many people queuing up at the harbour side to purchase the salted birds when the boat arrives home. I've never tasted Guga, which is apparently boiled for hours to make it edible, but people I know who have, tell me it's disgusting. The demand is always high though and the hunt is likely to continue, in spite of some opposition from animal rights groups, who consider the tradition cruel and want it stopped. Interestingly though, the RSPB and other conservation bodies do not oppose the Guga hunt, which they accept as ecologically sustainable. Catching the birds can be a dangerous occupation and one of the hunters had to be helicoptered off Sula Sgeir this year after breaking an ankle in a fall.

Some time ago, I wrote of the plans to open a whisky distillery on Barra. Well, they've been pipped to the post by the new Red River distillery at Uig, here on Lewis. The owner has started to age his whisky in casks and hopes to produce 10,000 litres this year and double that next year. The first bottles are expected to be on sale in 2011.

Finally, it's correction time. On the blog of 5 March, I put up a photo of a letterbox which I had been told was a sculpture of a pineapple. The owner, Calum, came across the blog accidentally, recognised his letterbox and was mildly miffed to see it described as a pineapple. He dropped in for a chat a few days ago and told me that the letterbox, constructed by a sculptor called George Wylie, is in fact a very fine palm tree. Calum and his wife entered a competition in which they had to list the reasons why they would like to own the letterbox , and won. I'm very pleased to print the truth.

2008-08-24T20:34:00.000+01:00

ACHMORE, LEWIS

Saw a most curious piece of animal behaviour this week. Driving along the Westside on Friday, I could see a single sheep charging something stationary on the road in front of me. When I got closer, the sheep, a blackface ewe, ran off and the object on the road turned out to be a dead Grey Lag goose. It was fresh and almost certainly a recent road kill. There are a lot of Grey Lags about and they fairly regularly throw themselves in front of passing cars. The unusual feature of all this is that the ewe was headbutting the dead goose and moving it around the road. I did wonder at one point if the sheep was trying to eat the bird, but that seems unlikely. Lambing time is long past so I dont think the ewe was protecting its offspring. There were no other sheep anywhere close by and I have no idea what this was all about. Any animal behaviourists out there with an explanation?. When I drove away, I had only gone about 50 yards when I looked through the rear view mirror and saw that the ewe had returned and continued to attack the goose .

Work here continues apace. The contractor is busy repairing the access road, which will be a great improvement when it's finished. Tons of stone have been dug out and moved so far and the road is much flatter and wider already. Much of the stone removed is dressed and probably came from the walls of the original blackhouse, which lies as a ruin behind this house.
An unforeseen benefit of having the road done is that a lot of peat, dug out in the digger bucket while creating drainage ditches, is usable as fuel. During this weekend, I've been busy cutting up suitably sized lumps of peat and have laid them out to dry behind the house. There won't be enough to last throughout the Winter and as it's so late in the year, I'm not sure it will be dry in time to burn in the stove at Christmas, unless we have a really warm and windy autumn. The newly cut peat has the consistency and colour of wet dark chocolate and is very heavy until it dries out.
The man on the JCB digging out the road and ditches tells me that he has never seen so many frogs on one croft before and confirmed my own observation that the frogs here come in a huge range of colours from yellow, through to green and almost black.

The new tiler has almost finished the bathroom, which is smart and one more tick off the list. There is now loads of decorating to do when I've got the time and the only major job left on the renovation is to have the wooden floors fitted in a month or two. Having the floors fitted will make a tremendous difference because the current concrete floors downstairs create huge amounts of dust and the lounge and kitchen are impossible to keep clean.

My long suffering brother in law has decided he needs more punishment and is coming back for a week in about a month's time to help with the remaining jobs that need two to tango. Having another soul to talk to is a great boost to morale and motivation.

About eight miles South of Barra, there are two uninhabited islands called Sandray and Fuday. Two years ago, the government disclosed that those islands were on a list of twelve sites that are considered suitable for storing thousands of tonnes of unwanted nuclear waste. The local council have told the Defence Secretary, Des Browne, 'we really don't want nuclear waste here' and he has announced this week that no dump will be built if local opinion is against it. That's sorted then. We can all rest safely in our beds now knowing that the state is listening to people and won't do anything we don't want them to do.

Many years ago, Compton Mackenzie wrote a satirical comedy novel called 'Rockets Galore', which told of islanders opposition to the building of a rocket range on the islands. The protestors captured and painted two white gulls pink and because they were feted and accepted by the establishment as a previously unknown species, the government gave in and took their rocket range elsewhere.
In reality, the rocket range on South Uist was built in 1957 in the face of a great deal of opposition and has remained there ever since, providing much needed local employment. It initially tested Corporal missiles, which were Britain's first nuclear guided weapons and now tests Rapier surface to air missiles and unmanned air vehicles.

It will be a couple of weeks until the next blog because I will be working away and visiting friends and family until then.

2008-08-19T02:36:00.000+01:00

UIG SANDS, LEWIS

There are lovely sandy, unpolluted beaches like this throughout the Outer Hebrides, some of them stretching for long distances. Even on warm sunny days , they never get crowded. This particular beach, at Uig in the far West of Lewis, is an absolute gem, being surrounded by hills and moors. It also has the distinction of being the place where the Lewis Chessmen were discovered in a stone chamber, in the 19th Century.
Some friends are visiting this week for the third year in succession and they willingly drive over 500 miles each way so that their children, aged 9&12, can spend their days playing on safe, clean and beautiful Lewis and Harris beaches. Like all modern children, they are welded to technology at home, but utterly content to do little but run about on the sand throughout their holiday. No ice cream vans, no kiss me quick hats, but lots of fresh air.

3 o'clock, Tuesday morning. Couldn't sleep for worrying about the slow pace of the house renovation and searching for reasons why I have had so many problems with unreliable and excessively expensive tradesmen. They have all been paid promptly and treated with consideration, but little has gone smoothly. The original tiler has finally disappeared, apparently for ever, leaving the kitchen literally half finished and with electric sockets hanging out of the wall. He has left his tools here and I have no idea if he will be back to collect them.
Just as I was sinking into a depressive torpor, wondering if I am somehow the cause of all these difficulties, there was a huge flash of light from outside the bedroom window. It occurred to me for a second or two that Armageddon was upon us, but no, it was shooting stars. They were whizzing all over the clear bright sky every minute or two and I stood and watched them for half an hour or more. A magical experience and I soon went back to sleep thinking that life is not all bad.

Events seem to have taken a turn for the better this week. I found a joiner last Wednesday who has a reputation locally for being a good tiler as well. He was unavailable when I was first looking for a tiler a few weeks ago. Well, I couldn't help but smile when I heard that he was doing the joinery on a new build garage last week, when the bricklayer got drunk and disappeared on a bender leaving him in the lurch and all work on the garage stopped. A very familiar story for me . He found himself without work for a couple of weeks until his new brickie starts and consequently, I have a new tiler. He came round to look at the job on Wednesday evening, we agreed a price and he started work on Thursday morning. He is now halfway through tiling the bathroom and his work looks good. The decorator turned up this morning and between 8am and 5pm, has papered three difficult ceilings well. I can now get on with painting walls. Out of the blue, the road contractor turned up as well today and even as we speak, he's on his JCB, like a big Tonka toy, digging out ditches on the croft prior to repairing the road. All of a sudden, I feel a great sense of elation and optimism that the end might just be in sight.
The new sofas have arrived too, although several weeks before they were due and the window blinds are on their way.

There has been lots of speculation on the island that the ferry company, Caledonian Macbrayne, were about to announce that they are going to start Sunday sailings between Stornoway and Ullapool. They have now denied this but said that they will review the situation at the end of the year after the new reduced fare structure has been in place for a month or two. They pointed out that they have had many more representations in favour of Sunday sailings than against them. It very much looks as if they will eventually make a decision on economic grounds, rather than on local religious sensitivities.

2008-08-10T20:26:00.000+01:00

SOAY SHEEP ON NORTH UIST

St Kilda is a group of islands situated about forty miles West of North Uist. It is an extraordinarily remote and beautiful place, designated as a World Heritage Site. The main island is called Hirta, with the smaller islands of Dun and Soay nearby. The island of Boreray, plus two huge rocks, Stac Lee and Stac An Armin are also part of the St Kilda group.

One of the great experiences of my life was to visit St Kilda with number one son and a friend, twenty one years ago. The return journey then took three days from Oban. Travelling to St Kilda was difficult and you really, really, really had to want to go there. Nowadays, subject to good weather, fast boats make day trips to St Kilda from Tarbert and Leverburgh during the tourist season and charge about £160 for the privilege.

Hirta was continually populated for thousands of years until 1930, when the few remaining residents asked the British Government to evacuate them because life was becoming far too difficult to sustain. There was no real cash economy, a diet of puffin, gannets and mutton was limiting and illness without a doctor was a problem. It could take days or weeks to get the sick to hospital and the population had reduced to the point where there were not enough young and able bodied individuals left to do the daily work.

The Soay sheep shown above, like Mouflons, are primitive sheep, which are believed to have been resident on Soay since prehistoric times. Some of them were moved from Soay and released onto Hirta when the island was evacuated and have lived a feral existence on both islands ever since. Soay sheep have been taken off St Kilda and there are now flocks throughout Britain and the USA and maybe other parts of the world as well. There is also a second breed of St Kildan sheep, Borerays, which are confined to the island of Boreray and were the product of cross breeding in the nineteenth century. A few of these animals were removed some years ago and there are now small breeding flocks of them in several places in the UK, including Temple Newsam in Leeds. Borerays are the rarest breed of sheep in the UK and on the Rare Breed Survival Trust's Critically Endangered List.

The house renovation soap opera continues and there are times when I feel like walking down to the Loch and throwing myself in.The tiler has stopped all work, leaving part of the kitchen and all of the bathroom unfinished and I have no replacement for him lined up.

There was a problem this week with the new toilet flushing continuously. When I lifted up the pottery lid to investigate, I managed to drop it and break a piece off the side of the cistern. It's at times like this that I wish, just for a moment, that I had bought a smart new build house. Some better news though. The man arrived to put up the coving and has done a good job. The ceiling is being papered a week on Monday and then I can finish all of the remaining decorating before having the wooden floors laid. When I'm in self pitying mode, I can get a bit overwhelmed by the difficulties I've had in modernising this house, but most of them are routine problems experienced by everybody who sets out to bring new life to an old property. I have been disappointed by the unreliability and cavalier attitude towards customers of Lewis tradesmen, but maybe it's just the same elsewhere. When I'm feeling particularly cheesed off, I watch a repeat of 'Grand Designs' and get cheered up by the magnitude of the problems that other people overcome when renovating or building their own houses. I might add that my house is neither grand nor designed and is a much more modest undertaking than any of those on the TV programme.

As I was feeling particularly low on Friday, some friends arrived from the South and Mike had a look at the overflowing cistern. He is a Health and Safety scientist, with a good logical mind and within five minutes, had managed to sort out the complicated insides and get it working again. Bless him. He also helped me to get a big wardrobe upstairs which the builders had told me could never ever be manoeuvred up the dog leg staircase. Well, we did it without damage, so boo sucks to them and thank you, thank you Mike.

The battle between the Co-Op and Tesco is hotting up and getting quite exciting. The Co-Op have issued vouchers giving £10 off every £30 spent on groceries and Tesco have put up signs saying they will accept any money off vouchers issued by the Co-Op. Don't suppose it will last, but for now, it's good news for shoppers.

The campaign to eradicate mink from the Outer Hebrides, to protect biodiversity, continues. Since February 2007, 434 of the animals have been trapped and dispatched. This has been a hugely expensive undertaking, but Scottish Natural Heritage are confident that they can eventually capture all of the mink and that the cost and effort will all have been worth it. The trappers are working their way to the area where I live, which is said to have a large mink population, although I've never seen one.

2008-07-27T18:45:00.000+01:00

CREEL BOATS, LOCHMADDY HARBOUR

When I wrote about the 1919 Iolaire disaster two or three weeks ago, I was aware that many families on the island had been affected, but had no idea that someone from my own house had been lost that night. Looking around the Internet a few days ago, I came across a detailed list of victims with addresses and photographs of their graves. One of those men was a 20 year old Leading Deck Hand in the Royal Naval Reserve, who had survived the First World War intact and was about an hour away from being reunited with his family at this house, when the Iolaire foundered. He is buried in a lovely graveyard a few miles from here, in a beautiful position overlooking the beach and sea. This place had always been owned by the same family until I came here a couple of years ago and looking at the age of the sailor who died that night, I think he may have been the Great Uncle of the man I bought the house from.

An army of Octopuses has invaded the waters around the Outer Hebrides and we're all doomed. Fisherman all round the islands, but particularly on the Westside, have found huge numbers of Octupus turning up in their lobster creels in recent weeks. They seem to be attracted by either the bait used in the creels or by captured lobsters, which octopus like to eat. Scottish Natural Heritage have said that the beast concerned, the Curled Octopus, is prone to occasional population explosions and the current invasion is probably nothing to worry about, unless you are a fisherman of course. Other experts, including a body called the Marine Climate Change Impact Partnership, fear that the arrival of all these animals is a firm sign of increased water temperature caused by climate change. Whatever the truth of this, there doesn't seem to be a local market for Octopus, but I'm more than willing to help out with a frying pan, a little oil, garlic and black bean sauce.

Another rare bird, a Rose Coloured Starling, turned up here this week, causing some interest. It's a starling, with a rosy pink coloured front and back.

The MV Muirneag leaves Stornoway harbour at about midnight every evening to take and collect freight from the mainland. It plays an important part in keeping the islands stocked with food and the other needs of daily life. On Friday morning, the Muirneag crashed as it was about to berth at Stornoway pier on its return journey. It apparently hit a reef and is now being examined for damage. It's not thought to be a serious incident, but the boat has been grounded until at least Monday and this may lead to a temporary shortage of meat, vegetables and milk in the co-op and Tesco's. Well, providence smiles. We can always fall back on Octopus to survive on.

The tiler tells me he really wants to finish the work here, but repeatedly fails to turn up. He's had a succession of problems with housing and his car and helps to support his family in Poland, so I'm loathe to sack him. It may come to that though because the work has to be done soon.I can't find an alternative tiler though, so maybe I should just stick with the current one.

Good news about the ceilings though. I managed to find a decorator and he's going to paper the ceilings and fit coving , while I'm working away this coming week. He seems enthusiastic and reliable, so I'll come home on Thursday evening with anticipation and a look of joyous expectation on my face. If the ceilings are done this week, I can then get on with painting the walls downstairs and look for a joiner to fit the wooden floors.

It's a beautiful warm, clear and still day today. One of those summer days that make it a joy to live here. I have a compulsion to get my strimmer out and do some gardening, but it's the Sabbath and I don't feel like upsetting neighbours just yet.

2008-07-20T20:23:00.000+01:00

THRIFT .

This is quite possibly the last flower picture of the year, so make the most of it.

The house. Oh dear. The tiler has been given notice to quit his rented house because his landlord wants it back for his own family. Consequently, the tiler, who has a young family, is understandably much more concerned with finding a new home than with my kitchen and bathroom. The work has ground to a halt again and I may have to search for someone else to finish the job - an almost impossible task here just now. Whilst the rest of the UK building industry seems to be going into terminal meltdown, builders and tradesman here have probably never been busier. The explosion of house building continues and it's quite difficult to find a village anywhere here that doesn't have new builds springing up in every corner. Still not absolutely sure what this is all about. These islands are too remote, too time consuming and expensive to travel to to attract many second holiday home owners with no connections here. Unlike Cornwall, the Lake District or the Cotswolds, it's not practical to bring a family here for regular weekends unless you're very well heeled. Many houses being built now seem to be for islanders who have made their way in the world, often offshore and are returning to work or to retire. Some crofters are selling off pieces of their land as house building plots to the highest bidders . There is a year on year increase in the number of incomers from England, Central Scotland and the EU, who escape to here for a better quality of life for themselves and their families. New arrivals are welcomed by most, but there are undercurrents of complaint that the islands are being taken over by outsiders, who are sometimes blamed for hastening the end of Gaelic culture and language.

Some good news is that the bedrooms, landing and stairs were carpeted this week, so the upper floor is now comfortable and usable. I can't start to decorate downstairs though, or have the flooring fitted, because I can't find a plasterer to skim the ceilings or decorator to paper the ceilings as an alternative.

Brother in law has now gone home for a rest after working himself into the ground for a week. He painted doors tirelessly, but his greatest use was as a shifter to help me take old fridges, washing machines and cookers from the shed to the tip, which I couldn't have managed alone. Have invited him back next week, but in spite of being well fed and watered whilst here, he doesn't seem very interested.

It's the Hebridean Celtic Music Festival this week and thousands of visitors have arrived to listen to musicians including Julie Fowlis, Saw Doctors, Red Hot Chilli Pipers and lots of local Gaelic singers. The headliners perform in a big blue tent in the Castle grounds, but there are many other festival concerts held in village halls and other venues all over the island. I went to see a wonderful band called the Hunger Mountain Boys a couple of days ago and would have gone to more concerts if this wretched house renovation was not pre occupying me so much.The festival creates a real buzz about the place and is probably the cultural highlight of the year, although there are lots of other good reasons and events to travel here for at any time.

The owner of the Macleod Motel at Tarbert in Harris is having extensive refurbishment work done and was concerned about loss of trade while his bar is shut. Being an enterprising character, he came up with the solution of buying an inflatable pub - really - which is now on site and is inflated and let down daily. Locals and tourists alike seem to love it and he's doing a roaring trade in hen and stag parties.

Following his recent 2-3 hour trip to Lewis to visit his family home, Donald Trump has been embraced as an esteemed member of the local community and has been made an Honorary Life Member of Stornoway golf club. Mr T has accepted this honour and indicated that he may play a round of golf on the course if he visits again in the future. This must make the golf club committee writhe with anticipation and excitement. I expect they will be offering similar membership to local care workers, bin men and fire fighters in the near future to demonstrate impartiality.

Fuel price watch.

I heard someone on the telly a few days ago whingeing that the cost of diesel on the uk mainland now averages £1:32 per Litre. We are much luckier than that and now have the privilege of being able to pay £1:49 per litre. What makes buying fuel more fun here is that no petrol station has the usual illuminated boards that show the prices before you drive on to the forecourt, so it's not easily possible to compare, unless you drive up to a succession of pumps and then drive off again. That is something of a pointless exercise though because limited competition leads to all of the petrol stations charging much the same prices.

2008-07-13T18:33:00.000+01:00

COTTON GRASS OR BOG COTTON - ON THE CROFT.

This cotton grass grows in front of the kitchen window and like the other flowers, is now past its best for this year. The spotted orchids have done particularly well, with many hundreds growing in two specific areas of the croft, but I have not been able to find any other type of orchid.

Decided to increase the speed of the decorating and other jobs needing to be done around the house by taking a few days holiday from work.
I've been driven to the point of madness for the last few weeks by hand stripping the original dog leg staircase, which had seventy years of paint on it, but has now emerged as a plain, but handsome object and well worth the effort.
My brother in law, newly retired and enthusiastic, flew in on the big silver bird a few days ago to help and things are now moving on apace.
We are busy stripping the two ceilings that have not been replaced in the renovation, painting doors and taking mountains of accummulated rubbish to the community skip in the trailer.It's amazing how motivation is increased by the presence of a willing helper. It's not all work either. We reward ourselves for being fine industrious fellows by taking a small libation at the end of each day and even managed to find the energy and cash to take ourselves off to a restaurant last night. Oh happy reckless days.
The tiler has returned from his annual holiday to his home in Poland and is going to restart the tiling on Monday evening. I don't mind when work on the house is going slowly, but do get frustrated when it grinds to a halt. After much deliberation and scanning of bank statements, I've finally decided to go ahead with having the access road renovated. It's about 130 yards long and is in such poor condition that it's almost impassable. The nice man with the digger and road roller is coming to see me on Tuesday and all being well, I'll have a level, flood free road in a month or two.
Can't remember If I said, but the Building Control Officer has sent me my Completion Certificate, which has made life much easier.

It's the Sabbath today and all outside work has stopped. The leg of lamb, produced on this croft, is in the oven and it's going to be a day of interior painting and tidying up. Brother in law is having a late lie in and no car has passed the house yet this morning.

This continues to be a community of contrasts. Tesco opens next week and whilst it's welcomed by most people, there are a minority of folks who consider this particular supermarket chain to be the spawn of the devil. One interesting snippet though. Tesco have confirmed that the Stornoway branch will be the only one of their shops in the UK to be closed on Sundays.

The fight continues by the Lords day Observance Society and others to stem the tide of change here. The ferry still doesn't sail, the sports centre remains closed and the childrens playparks can't be used on Sundays in most villages.
Driving through Uig yesterday though, I saw a sign saying that the shop on Bernera is going to be open every Sunday afternoon from now on. Goodness knows what fate will befall the manager when this becomes widely known. I can hear the thunderbolts and gathering storm already.

In the midst of all this, the Stornoway Amenity Trust has unveiled plans for a 'futuristic' transport system to carry passengers from the middle of the town to the grounds of Lews Castle College, a distance of less than a mile. If it comes to fruition, three robot like vehicles, made by a French company called Robosoft, will travel at 12 Kilometres per hour and each carry ten passengers. The vehicles will have no drivers and all functions such as acceleration, braking and steering will be computer controlled. This system would be the first of its kind in Britain and has a current estimated cost of £700,000. A report detailing the viability of this great idea has been sent to the local council. I assume the robotic vehicles will take a day off on Sundays to have their batteries recharged, like the rest of us.

2008-07-05T07:53:00.000+01:00

PRIMROSES IN CILLE BHARRA CHURCHYARD, BARRA.

I found these primroses a few weeks ago, growing in front of the grave of Sir Compton Mackenzie, comic writer and author of 'Whisky Galore' and 'Monarch of the Glen', amongst many others. In a long life, he wrote over a hundred books, led a very colourful existence and lived in a house on Barra, which still stands, just by the airport. Mackenzie died in 1972, having previously arranged for his body to be buried in the churchyard near his Barra home.

One of the joys of living here is that unexpected sights and events occur regularly. On Wednesday, on the ferry between Eriskay and Barra, I was having a little snooze for half an hour when I became aware that the boat had changed course. Other passengers were staring and pointing out of the window, so being pathologically nosy, I trotted over and found myself open mouthed at the sight of a group - pod? - school? of basking sharks swimming at the side of the boat. Because they were ducking and diving, I had difficulty counting them, but think there were eight animals altogether. Most of the sharks appeared to be about twenty feet long and seemed very unconcerned about the close proximity of the boat. The skipper was good enough to circle the sharks for a few minutes so that us passengers could get a good look, before we continued on our way to Barra.

During the last couple of years, I've seen two or three Short Eared Owls sat on fence posts in Uist. They are lovely pale birds, but quite difficult to get close to. Well, I've spent three days this week working in Uist and have seen seven Short Eared Owls in that time. They're everywhere just now. Although one or two of these Owls were sat on posts, most of them were quartering fields at the side of the road, looking for prey. I do wonder if there are more of them this year because food is plentiful.

On 1st January 1919, a disaster occurred here which affected the islands for generations.
The First World War had ended. Approximately 1000 servicemen from the Outer Hebrides had died fighting for Britain. Soldiers and sailors were being demobilised and returning home.
The Admiralty motor yacht, HMY Iolaire, was sailing from Kyle of Lochalsh to Stornoway with 284 passengers and crew aboard. The passengers were mainly discharged naval ratings hoping to be back with their families in Lewis and Harris for New Years day. The boat was within sight of Stornoway at 1:55am, when it hit rocks known as the Beasts of Holm. The sea was rough that night and as a consequence, 205 men lost their lives, just 50 yards from the shore and safety.There were 79 survivors. It is believed that every family in the local community was affected either directly or indirectly by this tragedy. The combined loss of men on the Iolaire and servicemen killed in the War deprived the Island of a generation and was said to be partly responsible for a decline in the population between the First and Second World War.
There is now a permanent memorial to the victims of the Iolaire near the rocks where the boat foundered.
Close to the Beasts of Holm is a popular fishing spot and on Thursday evening of this week, myself and a colleague from work took our rods and went to try our luck at mackerel fishing for a couple of hours. We were using a trace with shrimp lures and started to catch fish almost immediately. I caught six mackerel on my second cast and my colleague was doing even better. The local seals are extremely cute though and know a free meal when they see one. Very quickly, two or three of them arrived and we could see them clearly attacking fish caught on our lines. The seals took a number of the mackerel as we were hauling them in and at one point, I reeled in to find just the head of a mackerel on the hook. The seal had taken and eaten the body of the fish as I was about to land it. Whilst this was all a bit frustrating, because the seals were taking the fish faster than we could get them out of the sea, it was riveting to watch them and we both felt a grudging admiration for the cheek of the seals and the skill they used to allow us to do the work while they waited to reap the benefit.
Perhaps fifty yards away, two or three other men were fishing and appeared to be having less luck than us. We were both astonished when one of those men produced a rifle and started shooting the seals. Within about twenty minutes, he shot and killed four of the animals. This was appalling behaviour and is a high price to pay for a few mackerel. Neither of us are sure if this is legal or not, but when we spoke to the man with the rifle, who was a bit scary looking, he suggested that we should be grateful that his efforts had enabled us to catch fish.

2008-06-21T22:27:00.000+01:00

MAROONED! NORTH UIST

Every now and again, as I'm wandering around the islands, I see a sight that makes me look twice, smile and then burst into fits of giggles like a madcap. One example recently was a crow that flew low over the house with a sock dangling from its beak. Another was the digger shown above, which is currently parked ( moored?) on a little island by a causeway on North Uist.

By and large, its been a good week. I've managed to motivate myself to do a couple of hours of decorating every evening and feel like I'm moving forward now. The housewarming is planned for October, so that's my target date to get the majority of the work done and the house knocked into shape. Still some minor irritations though. There are one or two not very serious plumbing problems to sort out, but having sacked the plumber a couple of weeks ago following a dispute with him, I'm not going to ask him to return and will have to find another solution.

The best news of the week is that I saw the Building Inspector yesterday, who has done his final inspection, agreed that all of the house renovation work is up to standard and is now going to issue my Completion Certificate. Yippee! No more hassles or expensive changes, probably.

A couple of weeks ago, I told of the application by the Free Church of Scotland to purchase a hotel in North Uist and turn it into a church, manse, cafe and meeting rooms. Interesting developments. The Western Isles Council have approved the proposed change of use, but the local Community Council, consisting of North Uist residents, have objected. They seem to be arguing that there will be loss of amenity to the community because the existing hotel has a function suite and that converting it to a church 'will remove a place for young people to meet.'
North Uist is a small island with four other hotels within a few miles and is hardly likely to go down the pan because one drinking establishment disappears.

Incidentally, I have a nostalgic fondness for the hotel in question, the Carinish Inn. It's the very first hostelry I stopped to have a pint in on my very first visit to the Western Isles in June of 1978. The hotel was really just an unmodernised drinking den then and I vividly remember going into the public bar to see a group of fishermen, drinks in hand, staring silently at a television mounted on the wall, which had no picture other than flickering snow. In those days, TV reception was poor throughout the islands and telly was still something of a novelty in some areas.

There's fighting in the streets of Stornoway over the arrival of new supermarkets. Tesco have bought out Somerfield and are making some alterations to the store before reopening, but the Co-Op, the only supermarket on the island just now, have objected to Tesco's plans and look like delaying the opening date. Lidl have announced that they would also like to open a store here and the Co-Op have objected to them as well. I've always been a fan of the Co-Op, but they are expensive, have a complete monopoly and their objections seem remarkably like sulky sour grapes in the face of much needed competition.

There has never been a legitimate whisky distillery in the Outer Hebrides, the nearest one probably being Talisker, on Skye. A company called Uisge Beatha nan Eilean have just submitted a planning application though to create a new distillery on the Isle of Barra. If approved, the premises will be 90% powered by renewable energy sources, support up to 10 jobs and use barley which will be grown on the island. If it does get off the ground, I'll be quite elderly before the first bottle of 12 year old malt staggers into the shops for sale, but It's an incentive for me to hang on so that I can road test the product and give you my learned opinion of its strengths and weaknesses. Will keep you informed of progress.

Finally, the mythical Snowy Owl has returned and was seen yesterday at the RSPB reserve at Balranald, North Uist. I consider it my life's work to get a decent picture of it to put on this blog. I shall be working there again in about a week, so who knows.

2008-06-13T20:05:00.000+01:00

DRYING PEATS, LEWIS

The lovely weather we have had recently seems to be going South, but It's still quite warm, although a bit wet and windy. As a result of the doubling in the price of heating oil recently, lots of peats have been cut all over the island and are now drying nicely, like those above. I haven't had time to cut any myself this year, but will do so next year now that the stove is installed and working. Volunteer peat cutters may be offered free B&B next April/May. Apply now.

Well, what an exciting week. Rare birds and Donald Trump. The bird is a Common Crane, far from common in the UK and only recorded once previously in the Outer Hebrides. This particular feathered friend arrived about a week ago on the outskirts of Stornoway and once its presence was announced, twitchers started arriving right left and centre to see it. Every plane and ferry was full to bursting with sensible, mature individuals who had travelled hundreds, nay, thousands of miles and spent large amounts of money to get here and put another tick on their bird sighting list. There was no need to ask where the bird could be seen, 'cos you just followed the binoculars and telescopes draped around the necks and shoulders of intense looking men wearing spectacles, who gathered in the middle of Stornoway to swap notes and purchase sandwiches and coffee.

Friday lunchtime last week. Went to the local service station to buy my usual Philadelphia and ham baguette - diesel at 142 pence a litre, but baguette a bargain at £2-30 - and there they were - Cameras, Goretex jackets in a fine shade of camouflage green and mobile phones welded to their ears. I was far too intimidated and lacking in confidence to speak to them, so sneakily followed them in my car to a farm on the edge of the airport--and there it was! As we arrived, this wretched creature flew in front of us, seven feet long beak to toes, pursued by other smaller birds, and landed in a field several hundred yards away from the assembled multitude. Out came the cameras. Lenses the size of drainpipes. Far bigger than my own pathetic example. My fairly compact camera just couldn't compete - and that folks, is why I can't provide any photographic evidence that the crane was ever here. Having read this, those still plagued by doubts about the veracity of this account should visit http://www.western-isles-wildlife.co.uk/, where there is a very good photo snapshot of the crane on 'Recent Sightings 3 June.'

Donald Trump. A fine example of a decent billionaire. Donald arrived at Stornoway airport last Monday in his private jet with the word TRUMP emblazoned on the side in gold lettering. He came here to visit his mother's childhood home. First cousins, second cousins, two mongrels and a stray blackface sheep turned up to greet the great man. I would have been reasonably impressed had Mr Trump hired a fleet of taxis to transport him and his retinue around, but no, he was provided with a Porsche 4 wheel drive vehicle, said to be owned by 'a local millionaire.' Hebrideans are not usually impressed by ostentatious displays of wealth and power and few people turned out to see him and wave stars and stripes in support.
The wind was blowing that day and poor Donnie suffered the indignity of having his comb over go vertical and make him look as if he'd been electrocuted.
This was his first visit as an adult to Lewis, which he said he had been wanting to make for many years. Mr Trump remained on the island for a full three hours. He denied that his lightning trip to the Western Isles was a publicity stunt connected with his current application to build a £1 billion pound golf course -'the best golf course in the world' - on the coast in Aberdeenshire. That application is being opposed because, like the Lewis Wind Farm, the proposed development is sited in a particularly environmentally sensitive site of Special Scientific Interest, which is more important to some local people than this planned vast leisure and housing scheme. A public enquiry is now taking place. The billionaire has threatened to take his bat and ball home to America if the enquiry goes against him. Oh well.

2008-06-07T21:02:00.000+01:00

SUNSET FROM THE KITCHEN WINDOW 10:30pm

Some of the sunsets at the moment are ridiculously pretty. This one, photographed last week, was a particularly good one. I haven't bought any curtains or blinds yet, so getting to sleep when it's still daylight at 11pm can be a challenge.

House progress continues to be a bit up and down. The tiler has been working well and has tiled the kitchen floor to a high standard, but he has gone home to Poland for a month. Assuming he comes back at the beginning of July, he will start on the bathroom then.

Trouble with the plumber though. Whilst working here, he managed to break the tv stand and was responsible for a leak which the builder repaired as an emergency and gave me another bill for. As a gesture of goodwill and to keep him working to the end, I didn't initially charge the plumber for the damage, but was outraged when he sent me a further bill last week for 'extra materials.' Have returned the bill to him asking him to send me a cheque for the damage he caused. I am not paying his latest bill and don't expect to see or hear from him again. Suppose I will have to fit the shower screen and bathsides myself now.

The Building Inspector was unhappy with the length of the plinth the solid fuel stove sits on. Consequently, as an alternative to paying the builder more of my rapidly diminishing hard earned cash, I've built the required concrete extension myself. Although it wasn't rocket science, I'm not blessed with many manual skills, but it does look pretty neat. The Inspector is coming back for his final inspection later next week, so fingers crossed that he is happy and will give me my Completion Certificate.

The weather here on the island has been brilliant for the last month and there are successive waves of flowers appearing every week. Everywhere is alive with the smells, sounds and colours of early summer. The birds are particularly noisy and earlier this morning, a drumming snipe and nearby corncrake were competing for attention near the house. As I write this, the kitchen window is open and a cuckoo, which I can't see, has been cuckooing(?) for the last hour.

Interesting story from North Uist this week. The Free Church Minister there has long been concerned about the damage caused to individuals, families and the community by chronic alcohol abuse and to a lesser extent, drug misuse. For several years now, his church has been offering support, counselling and practical assistance to local people with addiction problems. His church has access to a residential rehabilitation centre in Northern Ireland, where motivated individuals can be offered a place on an 8 week rehab course, very quickly, at no cost to them. Getting someone into an NHS rehab centre can take months or years, so is often not accessible at times of crisis. Given the remoteness of these islands, it is not always possible for returners from NHS rehab to be provided with the support they might need to avoid relapse.

A difficulty with the church rehab centre though, is that they believe that sobriety and recovery can be achieved through a belief in God and the Bible, causing obvious difficulties for non believers. Nevertheless, the church is making a valuable contribution in addressing substance addiction here on the Islands.

Well, the story moves on. There is a hotel in North Uist, called the Carinish Inn, which is currently up for sale. The Free Church has revealed that it has put in a bid to buy the hotel with the intention of converting it into a large church, manse, meeting rooms and facilities to assist those with serious problems. The extent of the social services to be provided by the church are not yet public, but their two existing local churches in North Uist have been offered for sale this week in the Stornoway Gazette.
Oh the irony. Hotel, once a den of iniquity, converted to a Church.

2008-06-01T07:38:00.000+01:00

SPOTTED ORCHID

This is one of hundreds of spotted Orchids growing on the croft at the moment. They are such beautiful flowers and it's a real pleasure to see them. The carnivorous Sundew has appeared too and it's a joy to see them in the sphagnum bog. To the best of my knowledge, the croft land has never been treated with herbicides or pesticides and is fertilised solely by sheep droppings. I'm not a botanist, but think this absence of chemical treatments may be the explanation for the great profusion of wild flowers around the house.
Whilst walking the croft with a friend last weekend, we found the nest of a meadow pipit with eggs in it, which was pleasing. Over the next few years, I plan to make this place as wildlife friendly as possible and am particularly keen to create conditions suitable for corncrakes, which are to be heard calling up and down the islands this month.

Progress continues to be made on the house. Although I'm finding it hard to motivate myself into decorating in the evenings after work, others are working harder. The electrician has installed the cooker - hot food at last - and is currently putting lights and sockets in the shed. I've always, always wanted a great big shed to do nothing in and although the one I've got needs some more renovation, it's still good to have. It's about 30 feet long x12 feet wide and over the years, has been used for everything from accommodating a weaving loom, to storing fishing gear, tools and housing cattle and sheep.

The plumber has finished installing the multi fuel stove, although I've not been brave enough to light a fire in it just yet. Maybe tonight, although it's far too warm at present to have a stove chugging away in the lounge. The tiler is doing stirling work fitting tiles in the kitchen. His work is of high quality, but he, like some of the other tradesmen, is unreliable and often fails to turn up when he says he will and then appears out of the blue to do two or three hours work. At least his progress is forward though.
After some harrying, I persuaded the aerial man to return and I'm now the proud possessor of a working television with extra channels from a digi box. One more reason to delay the decorating.

Not too much out of the ordinary happening on the island this week.The most exciting thing that has taken place recently was the arrival of an expedition ship, the National Geographic 'Endeavour', which suddenly appeared and anchored in deep water in the loch right at the bottom of the croft. The passengers were taken off by RIB's, which delivered them to a small local pier, where they were collected and shown round the sights of the Island. The 'Endeavour' stayed overnight and looked very dramatic and overwhelming with all its lights twinkling in the dark.

Tourists have now started to arrive in ever increasing numbers and there are more cyclists than ever before, biking the length of the Outer Hebrides from Barra to the Butt of Lewis. They seem to be passing in front of my kitchen window every hour throughout the day now, although that may be an exaggeration. One of the good features of the islands is that there is accommodation ranging from decent hotels to basic hostels and so everyone from the well off to penniless students can find a way of visiting here. If walking or cycling, It's perfectly possible to get a cheap Island hopscotch ferry ticket from Calmac and visit here on a very limited budget, which is excellent. When the ferry fare drops dramatically from October of this year, tourism is expected to hugely increase and apart from the distance and sheer effort of getting here, there will be no excuse for any of you not to visit and have a good poke round this wonderful landscape.

Contentious issues such as the windfarms, Sunday ferry sailings, Sabbath observance generally and the imminent arrival of Tesco, are still bubbling under and I'll write about them more over the next few months as developments take place.

Fuel watch -- Diesel 139 pence per litre in Stornoway yesterday.

2008-05-23T07:53:00.000+01:00

ERISKAY TO BARRA FERRY

I love these little roll on roll off ferries. This one takes just 40 minutes to sail between Barra and Eriskay and operates several times a day throughout the year. When the weather is good, the views are spectacular. Apart from a variety of sea birds, there is always a good chance of spotting seals, porpoises, dolphins, basking sharks and the occasional whale.

Have spent the last two weeks at home, on holiday, starting to decorate the house with a friend. We've achieved a lot and now have three rooms, including the kitchen, almost habitable. There's something very satisfying about starting with bare plaster and concrete and watching it take shape and colour.It all takes a long time though and I think it will be well into the Autumn before I'm finished. The tiler is now working regularly, but the electrician has not yet returned to wire up the cooker and shed. The TV aerial man popped in two weeks ago to decide what bits of kit he needed to make my television work and I've not seen him since. There is still a problem with the installation of the wood burning stove, which I am hoping will be finally fitted tomorrow. On the positive side, the building inspector has been and approved the general quality of the work done so far. As soon as the electricians have finished, I should get the much needed completion certificate.

The house access track, which is about 120 yards long, is in appalling condition, having had little or no maintenance for many years. Any vehicle coming to the house, including my own, is in dire danger of having its sump and exhaust pipe ripped off because of holes, ruts, dips and slopes. Trying to get from the public road to the house is like negotiating a minefield and I wince every time I manage to hit an unseen rock. Can't bring myself to take a look at the underside of the car. In winter, the track is largely under water and the car has to swim through. Last year, I bought fifteen tons of roadstone from the local quarry in an attempt to patch the road and avoid the day when it would finally have to be rebuilt. Unfortunately, all my efforts with a wheelbarrow, and those of friends recruited to the chain gang, have had little effect. Three builder's lorries a day for the last six months, and the odd passing oil tanker, have now made the track almost impassable. After much keening, wailing and knashing of teeth, I've decided to have the track relaid professionally. When the last tradesman leaves, waving his handkerchief and with a tear in his eye, the road contractor is going to arrive to re lay the track and improve the drainage at the front of the croft. That work should be done before the end of the summer and is likely to ensure that I have to continue working full time until I'm about 78. So much for plans to wander round the ranch doing little but waving a shepherd's crook and tending the sheep. Still, mustn't grumble.

The recent wonderful weather has produced an explosion of flowers on the croft. Swathes of cotton grass appeared almost overnight at the front of the house and look wonderful swaying in the wind. Down towards the loch, the thrift has just finished flowering on the rock face, but there are now dozens of spotted orchids in full bloom on the slope at the West end of the croft. There are lots of as yet unidentified tiny yellow and blue flowers and I'm hoping to find the carnivorous sundew in the bog in the next week or two. These are amazing plants, like venus fly traps, which trap and digest small insects. There were thousands of them last year, so I'm hoping for a repeat performance this summer.

A former colleague from the South is coming to stay for a couple of days from tomorrow. He's a keen birdwatcher and is currently visiting North Uist, searching for a Snowy Owl, which is preening and displaying itself on fenceposts in Grenitote village, even as we speak. This bird, and another Snowy Owl, have been regular visitors in recent years and there is some hope that they will settle down together and breed here. Someone, presumably, has worked out that they are male and female, otherwise it's going to be a long wait. I have been chasing round the Hebrides for the last two years looking to see a Snowy Owl, but it's always flown away by the time I get there and I still haven't seen one in the flesh. Can't spare the time to go to Uist just now, but will be working there in a couple of weeks, so maybe it will wait for me.
Incidentally, the RSPB have set up an Eagle Watch for members at a small quarry in Griminish, North Uist. They have powerful telescopes focussed on the nest of a pair of Golden Eagles about half a mile away. The watch is being made available every Thursday evening from May 15, until any chicks have fledged and flown. For further details, contact Jamie Boyle, RSPB warden, on 01876 560287, or at Jamie.Boyle@rspb.org.uk.

There are currently about twenty sheep and lambs being grazed at the back of the house and consequently, an increase in ravens searching opportunistically for casualties. My neighbour, who owns the sheep, has brought round a carcass of lamb, produced on this croft, which is now nestling coldly in the freezer. This is payment for the grazing and as I try not to eat too much meat, is likely to last a while.

2008-05-08T15:54:00.000+01:00

ERISKAY PONIES
For possibly thousands of years, these strong hardy ponies have lived and worked on Eriskay, a small island neatly sandwiched between South Uist and Barra. Eriskay is the Island where the SS Politician came aground in 1941 with 24 thousand cases of whisky on board. The subsequent efforts of islanders in liberating the whisky were famously recorded by Compton Mackenzie in his book Whisky Galore, later made into a very fine film. I digress. The ponies have never been crossed and are believed to be the descendants of the wild ponies which roamed Scotland before people lived here.They stand between 12.0 -13.2 hands high and are usually grey, although an occasional black or bay animal occurs.Throughout history, the ponies have been used by crofters for everyday tasks such as pulling carts, harrowing the land and carrying home peats and seaweed in basket work creels slung over their backs.
By the early 1970's and partially as the result of the widespread use of tractors, the total number of ponies on Eriskay and therefore on the planet, had declined to around 20 animals. They were heading rapidly towards extinction when a group of local people, including crofters, priest, doctor and vet decided to try to save the ponies.Through their efforts, small breeding groups of Eriskay ponies were established throughout the British Isles. A society was formed to look after the interests and future of the ponies, but this split into two groups because of differences between the people involved.The Eriskay Pony Society obtained registration under UK and EU law in 1995 and exists to promote the animal throughout Britain by holding breed shows and offering practical advice to anybody wishing to own and keep these ponies.They now have approximately 400 registered ponies.
The other official society, recognised in 2001, is known as the Eriskay Pony(Mother Society).It concerns itself solely with breeding the ponies only in the Western Isles and particularly on Eriskay.The ponies in the photograph above, which I took last week, are part of a herd of about 20 animals which wander freely around the roads and hills of Eriskay. Having lived in close proximity to humans forever, they are friendly animals and will happily let you get close to them.They look after themselves and remain outside throughout the year. If you visit Eriskay and can't immediately see the ponies, ask any local or at the shop and it is likely that they will be able to tell you where on the island the ponies are grazing that day.
In spite of the work done in recent years to protect and increase the breed, the Eriskay pony remains on the Rare Breed Survival Trust's Critically Endangered list.

Two steps forward and one backward with the house. A friend is visiting for three weeks and as well as being good company, he's not a bad decorator too. During the last few days, we have painted two bedrooms and the difference is astonishing. All of a sudden, I can begin to see what the house will look like when it's finished. I am taking two weeks holiday from work from next Monday and am hopeful that we can complete all of the upstairs before he returns South.
The CORGI plumber finally arrived and he has installed the propane gas hob, which seems to be working well. I'd forgotten what a hot meal was. The plumber installing the solid fuel stove was due to do the job on Saturday, but phoned to say he was too busy with other things, so that may or may not happen next weekend. Have had no luck in locating a decent tiler yet, so the bathroom and kitchen remain bare for now.

Many households in the Western Isles now have oil fired central heating. During the last eighteen months or so, the cost of heating oil has doubled, causing hardship, especially for elderly people and those on fixed incomes. The rising cost of oil has had two unpredictable consequences. The oil is usually stored in the gardens of houses, in big green plastic containers, which typically contain 600 - 1000 litres. At 60p a litre, that's a lot of money sat outside. Well, thieves have worked this out for themselves and there has been a spate of thefts of oil all over the island. Putting locks on the tanks doesn't help, because the plastic can be drilled and the oil removed by gravity, or with small pumps. Many tanks are close to the road, highly visible and easy targets. So far, the police have not been able to work out how so much oil is being taken away, presumably in large containers, without the culprits being seen. These thefts make the community feel insecure, especially because this is traditionally a low crime area, which has prided itself on trusting thy neighbour, in the past. The other result of high oil prices is that there has been a huge increase this year in the number of people cutting peats for fuel, as a means of controlling heating costs. Even though oil central heating is commonplace, many houses still keep an open fire or Rayburn type stove. The right to cut peat on the moors comes with the croft and I think that non crofters may be able to apply to the Grazings Clerk of their village to be allocated a peat bank. The peat is cut with a peat iron, or Tarasgeir, in April and May, before being left to dry out on the moor for several months. The peat irons last for years if looked after and are passed down through the generations. There is one remaining blacksmith in Stornoway and he has been inundated with orders to make new Tarasgeirs from people who want to cut peats to save on heating oil.

Job of the week. -- Mink Trapper £13980 per annum.

Scottish Natural Heritage are advertising for a mink trapper to work throughout Lewis and Harris as part of a project aiming to eradicate American Mink from the Western Isles. Like the hedgehog, the mink are non native, were brought here years ago and are now a major problem. The hedgehogs were originally introduced by a well meaning, but misguided gardener, whilst the mink were probably escapees from mink farms, or released maliciously by animal rights activists. The mink, in common with the hedgehogs, will take ground nesting birds and eggs, but also kill domestic poultry, in large numbers. Hen keeping was once much more common than it is now, but many poultry keepers stopped keeping birds years ago because they were unable to protect flocks adequately from destruction caused by mink. If the mink project is successful, I expect to see chickens everywhere within a short while.

Fuel Watch --- Diesel is 136.2 pence per litre this morning in Lochmaddy.

2008-04-27T19:02:00.000+01:00

RED DEER STAG, GARYNAHINE, LEWIS

There are lots of Red Deer wandering about the moors here on the islands, many on shooting estates. They will often come to the roadside to graze because the foraging is better quality. Recently, a local newspaper printed a photograph of two stags begging food at a car layby on the A9 near Inverness, where a burger van was parked. Motorists were stopping to buy food and the stags had worked out that this was an easy source of free meals.They are usually very wary of humans, who tend to shoot them, and I think this was probably quite unusual behaviour for wild deer. Those two stags appeared regularly and have become a tourist attraction. The deer on Lewis are much more cautious and a long lens is usually needed to get decent photos.Incidentally, there are only Red Deer on these islands. No one, as yet, has had the bright idea to release Roe, Fallow or Muntjac deer.

Just a week or two after telling you all about the dead Cuvier's Beaked Whale washed up here, it's happened again. This time, a six metre Minke whale was beached a couple of days ago at Brue on the Westside. The animal was alive when first seen, but died within a short time. No one knows the cause of death, or why the whales get stranded, but there was a Naval exercise going on in the area recently and there is local speculation that Sonar interferes with the whale's navigation mechanism and disorientates them. The Navy deny this.

Following the decision earlier this week by the Scottish Government to reject the huge wind farm proposal, the developers and the Western Isles Council are predicting long term doom and gloom for the Western Isles economy. Already though, the decision has started to concentrate the minds of politicians into thinking about proposals to kick start and develop the local economy without wrecking the landscape.It's still not certain though that the Lewis Wind farm company won't continue to try to obtain permission for another land based wind farm in some form or other. They talk about a plan that involves, among other proposals, the community receiving 50% of any future profits from the turbines. This demonstrates a complete failure to understand that the 11000 objections were not about money, but about protecting this beautiful island.

In my last blog, I mentioned that there is a plan to build a tidal generator at Shader, Barvas, on the Westside of Lewis.The plans and proposals have been made public and lodged with the Scottish Government in the last few days and look really exciting. The idea has arisen from residents within the village of Shader,who have been looking for ways to create a small harbour and shelter for creel boats.The scheme is known as the Siadar Wave Energy Project( SWEP). If it gets underway, it will be built by a consortium from npower renewables and Wavegen and will involve the construction of a series of generators built into a breakwater and linked to land by a causeway. This is designed to absorb the power of heavy seas and create a sheltered inner harbour for both fishing and leisure boats.There will be a slipway on the shore, to be used by commercial crab and lobster fishermen as well as sea angling boats. Huge pistons driven by wave and tide action will pump air up and down the interior of concrete towers to generate electricity. They will produce 4 megawatt, apparently enough to power 500 homes each year, a fifth of all households on Lewis and Harris. The project is currently costed at about £20 million pounds and if granted planning permission, could start next year and create 50 jobs during the 18 month construction period.

The Sabbath continues to be attacked from all sides. This time, it's by the Stornoway golf club, who want to play golf on a Sunday.
In 1923, Lewis was owned by Lord Leverhulme, who gifted Lews Castle and 64000 acres of land to the people of Stornoway Parish. The Stornoway Trust was established as a not for profit organisation to manage the estate on behalf of the community and has done so ever since.
The Trust is the landlord of the golf club, who want to be able to hit their balls on every day of the week. At present, members can only play Monday to Saturday and have asked the Trust for permission to play on the Sabbath.
The Trust has responded by stating " (We Are) not inclined to accede to the request for seven day golf". They have declined to give detailed reasons for the refusal, but there is a local belief that the Trust is infiltrated by members of the Lord's Day Observance Society, who don't want any erosion of Sabbath Observance by any of us. The golf club, with lots of important and influential members, as well as ordinary poor people, is not taking this decision lying down.They have consulted the lawyers and further developments are likely in the near future. A ludicrous consequence of the current position is that whilst golf club members can't play on Sunday, non members can and do. Not being a golfer, I don't understand this, but there we are.

Having battled with tradesmen during the house renovation, I now have to face the unpleasant reality that the biggest impediment to further progress is myself.I know, from long, bitter past experience that I am of world class standard at displacement activity, when I should be buckling down and getting on with the job.I had lifted a paint roller last night and had it poised mid air, ready to strike the first blow against an unpainted wall, when my ex landlady and her cousin turned up clutching a bottle of wine. They are much more congenial company than ten litres of vinyl silk, so no contest. Here we go again today though. The radio has a really interesting programme on that I must give my full attention to, this blog needs writing, friends and family need to be phoned and I really have to go and see if there any flowers out on the croft just yet. Where is my friend going to sleep when he arrives on Wednesday?

2008-04-24T07:25:00.000+01:00

CAUSEWAY LINKING SOUTH UIST AND ERISKAY

Well, who would have believed it? The Scottish Government has taken a principled stand and turned down the application to build a 181 turbine windfarm here on Lewis. The scheme has finally been refused consent on the grounds of incompatibility with European Union law. The government concluded that the windfarm would have had a seriously negative impact on the Lewis Peatlands Special Protection Area and would be in breach of the EU bird directive. The statement also said that there had been 11000 objections to the windfarm with only 98 in support of the project.

In his statement, the Energy Minister said :

-- " The Government will now carry out work on how to develop renewable energy in the Western Isles in harmony with its outstanding natural heritage. This work will result in an action plan for sustainable development on the islands and will be ready in the autumn"

I am amazed that this decision has been made because the cynic in me assumed that the powerful vested interests involved, Lewis Wind Power and the Western Isles council particularly, would have bulldozed the application through. They are now complaining bitterly about the lost opportunities and loss of potential jobs and have retreated to consider their next moves.

The people have spoken though and the Government has listened. Astonishing. Gladdens the heart and restores a little faith in politicians.

There is much support on these islands for renewable energy schemes, but most people want to see small scale developments that bring direct benefits to the communities involved and do not create the environmental havoc that this windfarm proposal would have caused.

Around the island, there are a number of villages that have lodged applications for planning permissionl for wind farms of their own, usually involving just a few turbines. There is also a pilot scheme for a tidal generator at Shader, Barvas and many schools and community centres here have single or twin wind turbines producing electricity.

Don't think I've mentioned the goose problem before. There are thousands of Greylag geese on the islands. They are a resident, rather than migratory species. They are grazing birds and are increasing in number year by year.This increase in the goose population has led them to be regarded now as major pests by many crofters because of the significant damage they do to grassland and other crops. As a result of the need to protect the agricultural interests of crofters, especially in Uist, where the problem is most acute, UGGMS was born! The Uist Greylag Goose Management Scheme is sanctioned by Scottish Natural Heritage and works to protect crops from the birds by shooting ( known in the trade apparently as lethal scaring) , leaping about looking frightening and the use of devices such as kites and gas guns. Almost 1500 geese were shot in Uist last autumn and UGGMS has recently received approval for a further three years, although not from the geese themselves obviously. The Stornoway Gazette helpfully printed recipes a while ago on the best ways to cook your goose.

Little happening on the house just now, but I'm about to burst into action and start the decorating. The builder is slowly working his way through the remaining minor works. The flexible chimney liner for the stove has still not arrived almost a fortnight after it was ordered. It's now almost three weeks since the CORGI plumbers were asked to come and connect the calor gas hob and they still won't give me a firm date for the job to be done. The kitchen and bathroom are to be tiled and a tiler with a good reputation for reliability arranged with me to come to the house this evening to measure up and give me an estimate. I came back from working in Uist to be here for him and he has simply not turned up. No phone call, no explanation.

Furthermore, diesel is now 130 pence a litre all over the island.

The weather is brilliant though. Too hot to wear a jumper for the last few days and wonderful sunsets each night this week so far.

2008-04-17T00:45:00.000+01:00

THATCHED COTTAGE, SOUTH UIST

This derelict cottage is a good example of the housing that many people in the Outer Hebrides would have been born and raised in until relatively recently. It was occupied until about ten years ago by an elderly man who eventually died in the house at the age of 101. Like many other similar cottages, it is slowly rotting and will soon just be a pile of stones. Some of these houses, particularly in the Uists, have been renovated and are let as holiday homes .They look very pretty when painted white and rethatched, but cost huge amounts of money to restore to modern standards. The earlier versions of these cottages had no chimneys and were/are known as Blackhouses. They had a peat fire in the centre of the living room floor and the smoke from the fire simply curled up into the thatched roof, where it remained. Every couple of years, the soot enriched thatch would be removed and dug into the garden or croft land as fertiliser and the house would be rethatched with straw. This was a good sustainable method of maintaining fertility on the croft but not very good for the long term health of anybody living in the cottage. Historic Scotland maintain a fully restored Black house at Arnol, here on Lewis, which is open to the public everyday. It was lived in by a family until the late 1960's and the custodian lights a peat fire on the floor daily, for the tourists. It's well worth a visit, as is the completely restored Gearrennan Blackhouse village, which is situated in a lovely position by a cove on the West Coast of Lewis. The village was occupied until about 1974 and comprises several holiday cottages, a youth hostel, restaurant, working museum and public loos. It is free to walk round and has been beautifully renovated over several years. Further information on the internet.

Now, my own restoration works. I had hoped to be able to tell you this time that the show was over and the circus had gone home. I was fantasising that I would wake up one morning this week, discover that the house was finished, all workers gone and that I would be writing 'That's it folks, nothing else to say, the blog is closing down.'

Unfortunately, not so. Yesterday was a bad day. When I woke up, water was dripping down the walls in the hallway and forming a puddle on the floor. General panic. Not sure at that point if the problem was a plumbing leak, or water coming through the roof, which would be the responsibility of the builder. Called the builder, who came and cut a big hole in the wall upstairs and discovered a leaking pipe joint to be the problem. Then phoned the plumber, who arrived, had a good look, conceded that the leak was caused by a loose joint and expressed absolute astonishment that this could have happened. -- "It's never happened before mate, just unlucky." Whilst all this was going on, the postlady arrived with a letter from the Building Inspector. He has refused me a certificate of completion, which I desperately need, until a total of 29 items of building work have been completed or rectified. The majority of the points listed are very minor and the builder should be able to fix them quickly. He considers the refusal letter to be a 'snagging' list, while I think most of them are symptoms of sloppy workmanship, which should never have occurred. What infuriates me most of all is that the builder and plumber seem incapable of admitting responsibility, or saying sorry, even when faced with evidence of damage, or poor quality work, caused by them.

I moved back in to the house last week and was quite overwhelmed and almost paralysed by the amount of internal fitting and decorating I've got to do. I've been sitting on chairs in empty rooms wondering where to start and have not come up with a plan of work yet. The longer I dither about it, the worse it's getting. I think the solution is about to present itself though because a friend is coming to stay for two or three weeks shortly to help with the decorating and I've got absolutely nowhere for him to stay. He'll be here in two weeks time and I need to clean, decorate and furnish a room for him before then. Oh the pressure. He's a tolerant, understanding sort of chap though, so I'm sure he'll be fine if I have to house him on a bench in the loom shed for a while. I've been working away a lot recently and have to go South this coming weekend for a birthday celebration, so goodness knows when I'll manage to get the decorating started. It's quite difficult to get motivated after a long day at work during the week.

The weather here has taken a definite turn for the better during the last few weeks. It's still raining a lot and we've had a bit of snow recently, but it is generally warmer and the island seems to be waking up after the Winter. There are lots of new born lambs gambolling about on the moors and crofts with their mummies, and lots of Ravens, Blackbacked Gulls, Buzzards and the occasional Eagle trying to eat them. Nature raw in tooth and claw.

Once again, the frogs have been daft enough to spawn in the deep water filled ruts on my access road. Last year when they did this, I was able to take out a bucket, collect up much of the spawn and empty it carefully into a nearby drainage ditch. Unfortunately, with the builders in this year, they managed to drive their white vans through the ruts and over the spawn before I spotted it. There are plenty of suitable wet ditches on and around the croft and I have no idea why the frogs persist in spawning in the ruts.

2008-04-07T03:13:00.000+01:00

' ISLE OF LEWIS' - STORNOWAY TO ULLAPOOL FERRY.

The ferry, providing a lifeline service, plies its trade between the Outer Hebrides and the mainland of Northern Scotland. The journey takes two and three quarter hours each way.It leaves Stornoway twice daily throughout the year, with a third journey at lunchtime on some days during the Summer months. There are no sailings on Sundays, because of Sabbath observance, but that may change in the near future It's a comfortable boat, with a restaurant, bar and places for the kids to play. The ferry is capable of carrying up to 970 passengers and 123 cars, but would only carry those numbers during peak tourist months.

I had planned to put up a photo this week of a whale( Deceased) which was washed up on the shore at Balantruseil here on the West Coast of Lewis, a couple of weeks ago. The creature is apparently a Cuvier's Beaked Whale and is about five metres long. I heard about it a few days ago and went to look for myself yesterday. It's got a curiously shaped snout and is sometimes also called Goose Beak Whale . When I got there, although it was very recognisable as a whale, the gulls had set about it and stripped off much of the outer layers. I did take some photos, but after giving it a great deal of careful thought, have decided that it was too decomposed and gruesome to justify assaulting your senses with. Anybody who really, really wants to see it can contact me and I'll forward prints in a plain brown paper envelope - post and packing extra.

Exciting times at the house. The builder moved out yesterday and I'm moving back in this weekend. I shall be camping in one room until the decorating is done and that will probably take several months because I can't really take time off work to do it just now. It will have to be done in the evenings and weekends.
The heating, water and lighting are working well, the bathroom is in and looking smart, but there are still a number of jobs that will need to be done over the next few weeks. The Building Inspector won't issue me with a completion certificate until the builder has put some more ventilation panels in and the cooker and hob are not working yet because the plumber with the right qualifications can't come to fit the Calor Gas hob for another couple of weeks. Sandwiches and microwaved pasta until then for me I'm afraid. The wood burning stove will also be a few weeks before it's working, because the right parts to fit it in the chimney have to be sourced from the mainland.
This renovation has driven me nearly mad at times and I've had to draw on reserves of patience, particularly with tradesmen, that I never knew I had. At least the end is in sight now.

I've learnt a number of lessons whilst having this house rebuilt and thought you might like to receive the benefit of my newly acquired wisdom in case you ever want to renovate a house here.

1) Itemise every piece of work you want doing and get your builder to give you a detailed fixed quote. Through naivete and lack of knowledge, I missed out loads of essential works in my original job specification to the builder and consequently, my costs have over run by about 25%. I can just about fund this, but If I had not anticipated extra costs in recent weeks, the result could have been financially disastrous.

2) Always assume your builder will charge you more than his estimate. He will. Have a contingency for this.

3) For goodness sake, go to see the Building Inspector before you seek estimates from builders and certainly before you start any work. I failed to do either through unfamiliarity with the system here. This put me on an immediate wrong footing with the Inspector, who assumed I was being cavalier in my approach to the job. I've had to back peddle and grovel to get him back on side. He has been invaluable in pointing out work that needed to be done to comply with current building regulations - but all that extra work has cost loadsa money.

4) Don't assume your builder will always do work to building regulation standards automatically, without being told. Mine hasn't, even though he has been in business locally for over twenty years. This has been a real hassle to sort out later with the building inspector.

5) Assume the work will take twice as long as the builder estimates. It will and mine has.

6) Check all the fittings and materials yourself as soon as they arrive at the house. That should prevent the workmen from being able to deny damage they have caused. This is crucial and failing to do this has cost me dearly.

7) If at all possible, move all of your property out of the house before the work starts. The workmen simply will not consider your possessions to be as precious as you do.

8) If you have the skills and the time, do the job yourself.

9) If, like me, you have agreed with the builder that he will organise the plumber and electrician, question him carefully to ensure that he is able to ensure that they turn up sober, on time and when you need them. Unreliable tradesman have been my biggest source of stress during this renovation.

2008-04-01T00:20:00.000+01:00

PENTLAND ROAD, LEWIS

Nothing momentous has occurred recently, but no disasters either.

Spent last week in a cottage near Torridon in the West Highlands. All very therapeutic and relaxing and now feel ready to return to work and take on the building industry.

Whilst away, did very little apart from read books, stoke the log fire, go out for lunch and shop. Managed to return to the island with 100 Litres of paint in the boot, which should keep me busy for a few months in my spare time.
The most exciting event to happen when I was on the mainland was sighting a pair of Red Kites flying above the A9 at Black Isle, when I was on the way to Inverness. These beautiful large fork tailed birds of prey were once common in Scotland, but became extinct about 1900 as the result of persecution through poisoning and shooting. They were reintroduced in 1989 and following a few teething problems, have thrived, are now commonly seen and have become something of a tourist attraction. They nest in forestry, which is presumably the explanation for them being absent from the Outer Hebrides.
During my absence, the builder has kept his part of the bargain and finished most of the internal work. He has installed the kitchen, which looks brilliant and the house now has the early semblance of a home. Not quite sure what the plumber has been doing all week, 'cos his work seems very little different from when I left. The central heating and water supply, although installed, are still not connected and it is now only the lack of heating and water that is preventing me from moving back into the house. The new cooker has an electric oven which the electrician can wire himself, but the hob is worked from Propane bottled gas and the plumber has decided now is a good time to tell me he does not have the required certification to install it. Now have to find another qualified plumber to connect it , so more expense and time lost.

Three cheers for B&Q . Hip Hip Hooray. Went to see them at Inverness and told them my tale of woe about the damaged wash basin and toilet seat. Even though I bought them in January 2007 and do not believe B&Q were responsible for the damage, they readily agreed to replace them at their expense and to ship them here at no cost to me. The basin arrived yesterday and is being fitted by the plumber today, whilst the loo seat is in transit somewhere. My experience of the service provided by tradespeople and shops over the last year or so has been generally fairly negative, so I'm delighted to sing praise where it's due.

In a previous blog, I told of finding a dead otter on the road in Benbecula. Well, it's happened again, in my own village. Last Saturday evening, driving close to home, I saw this big dark shape run in front of the car in front of me, which did not stop. I did and was sad to see this lovely healthy looking otter quite dead in the middle of the road. The driver of the other car was not speeding and could have done nothing to prevent himself from hitting the animal. The otter was huge, more than a metre from nose to tip of tail, so I assume it was an adult male, the females being much smaller.
Great news dear reader. Tesco are coming to town! They have bought out six Somerfield stores here in the Highlands and Islands and will be taking over the Stornoway branch from May 12. Those of you who have brought and sent me jars of Tesco smoked garlic mayonnaise - a little weakness of mine - during the last couple of years, will be thrilled that I will soon be able to buy my own without having to trouble you any longer.
The social consequences of having Tesco, the possibility of Sunday ferry sailings and discounted air and sea travel are potentially huge. Some will see it all as progress, others will regret it, but daily life here is likely to be very different within the next few years.

2008-03-20T21:40:00.000Z

LEWS CASTLE, STORNOWAY

Lews Castle sits in lovely wooded grounds, across from Stornoway harbour. It was built about 1844 by Sir James Matheson, with part of a fortune obtained from drug dealing, condoned and encouraged by the British government. Matheson and his business partner, William Jardine, founded the trading company Jardine Matheson, which has gone from strength to strength and is now one of the largest business conglomerates in the far East. At the time of our story, Matheson and Jardine were importing tea and silk from China into the UK and in return, were exporting vast amounts of Opium from British India into China. Opium was apparently legal in Britain, but perhaps unsurprisingly, not welcomed by Chinese rulers because of its effect of turning millions of their citizens into drug addicts. The then Emperor tried to stop the trade, but Jardine Matheson appealed to the British Government to support them in continuing what they considered to be legitimate business. The Government agreed that the mass export of Opium into China was a very good thing and Jardine Matheson prospered. Britain defended its interests in the Opium trade, leading to the occupation of Hong Kong and the Opium wars.

Shortly after, Matheson purchased the Isle of Lewis, reputedly for £170,000 and did good works here for some years. He is said to have implemented a variety of schemes to reduce poverty on Lewis, which was suffering badly from the potato famine at that time.

As far as is known, he made no attempt to turn Hebrideans into junkies and by all accounts, was generally regarded as an OK feller.

A few years ago, a monument to Matheson was proudly erected in the castle grounds and current members of his family were present at the opening ceremony to pay homage to the great man. It is not recorded if representatives of the Chinese government were also invited to reflect on his achievements.

Lews Castle is now derelict and in a sorry state, but there are plans to turn it into a five star hotel and a new museum for the Islands.

The Isle of Skye is very attractive, easily accessible from the mainland and has long attracted incomers to live there. A Skye resident told me recently that 68% of people living on Skye are now incomers and that most people accept that this change in the balance of outsiders to indigenous population is generally considered to be positive. Here in the Western Isles, about 10% of the population are thought to be from outside and this is likely to increase year by year. The most beautiful and remote area of Lewis, where I am staying while my house is being renovated, is Uig, in the West, where about 470 people live. The population there has declined significantly in recent years, but seems to be increasing again because of an influx of new arrivals from England and the Central Belt of Scotland, looking for a quieter, less pressured and better quality of life. House prices here have rocketed during the last 3-4 years, like most other places in the UK, but are now beginning to stabilise and some advertised properties are being reduced to sell. This remains one of the cheapest places in Britain to buy a house, but the great advantage, apart from lack of pollution, good schools and spectacular scenery, is that you get much more space for your money than elsewhere. Most houses, away from Stornoway, are detached and often have large gardens or crofts attached.

Work on the house continues slowly. Although there have been no disasters or breakages during the last few days, I am thoroughly fed up and have told both the plumber and builder that I am moving back into my home on the 29th of this month and expect them to have completely finished their work by then. Am I confident they will take any notice and make a big effort to have the house ready for me by then? Of course I am.

Have been struck down with Cabin Fever once again, so have decided to go to the mainland for a week, for rest, recuperation and shopping. Will adjust my attitude while I'm away, become more optimistic and persuade myself that I will return to a completed house with a nice new kitchen and bathroom and a gloriously welcoming wood burning stove. Poor naive fool.

2008-03-13T00:45:00.000Z

EARLY MORNING MOORLAND MIST, LOCHMADDY, NORTH UIST.

The renovation is at an interesting stage now where the end is in sight, but the builder and plumber have started to blame each other for a variety of small problems and deficiencies -- 'It's not my job to dig that hole, it's his' --. It's like referreeing a football match between young boys. They clearly don't like each other very much and the solution is probably just to get the job completed as quickly as possible so that they can both go their separate ways. Wherever the responsibility lies, I've learned from bitter experience during this rebuild that I will end up paying in the end. In general, I've not been too stressed about this project so far, but it is beginning to get to me now, especially after the theft of the plumbing stuff, and I just want the workers to go away and leave me alone. A further blow is that the new bath and wash hand basin have both been damaged and none of the workers are accepting responsibility. It very much looks as if I'm going to have to replace them at my expense.
This final stage of the work is dragging on and progress is too slow.
As I write this, the South of England is under siege from poor weather and is in dire danger of being drowned by high tides. Well, for the last few days here, the weather has been bright, dry, sunny and warm. After weeks of sufficient rain to float the ark, it's turned out nice again. Most welcome after a long, harsh Winter.
I'm working in Uist again this week, which is always a pleasure. Went to the ferry terminal at Eriskay this morning for the crossing to Barra, only to find it cancelled because of rough conditions at sea. It's a lovely clear day today and a disappointment when the boat fails to sail.
Yesterday, I was able to tick off another sighting on my 'must see' list. Driving from Lochmaddy to Clachan near Langass, on North Uist, I saw an eagle flying towards me. As the bird flew over the car at about 50 feet, I got out and could see that it was a white tailed sea eagle and not the more usual golden eagle. It's small unplanned events like this in life that cheer me up and give the most pleasure. I later heard that this particular bird had been seen hunting near where I saw it for most of the morning and lots of people had spotted it. Still a very exciting sighting for me though.
Interesting fact of the week - I've discovered that the residents of the Isle of Barra -- population approximately 1300 -do not have to MOT their cars or lorries because there is no testing station on the island. Their vehicles can remain untested as long as they are not driven off Barra, when they would be subject to the same rules as the rest of us. Was quite incredulous about this little gem of information, but have checked and it seems to be true. The same rule may also apply to other remote Scottish Islands lacking testing facilities.

2008-03-06T02:35:00.000Z

PALM TREE LETTER BOX, LOCHGANVICH, ISLE OF LEWIS.

This striking letter box is owned by a man who attends the same Gaelic class as me. I'm told that some years ago, there was a competition on the island to produce the most unusual letter box. This one is 6-7 feet high and made of sheet metal. It is lovingly cared for and repainted regularly.

So, who dares to be the first to ask me how the renovation is going? Well, not too bad really, thankyou. The plumber keeps working and the builder is doing his best to finish inside. The new kitchen has been ordered and is arriving on Saturday morning, probably.

The rain has been torrential recently and there is still outside rendering to complete, plus gutterings and downpipes to fit when the weather eases up. I'm hopeful that I will be able to move back in at the end of this month.

One depressing and surprising event this week though. The copper cylinder, pump and fittings for the new central heating system were stored in the loom shed and have been stolen. My house is about 150 yards from the road and not in a position where casual or opportunistic sneak thieves would be likely to pass by.The cylinder disappeared some time last week and Northern Constabulary are now on the case. Thefts like this are still rare here and I'm quite hurt that it's happened to me. The shed was closed, but not locked and now has to be made secure. People living here have always trusted each other and often leave houses and cars unlocked from one year to the next, but I guess that will change as crime increases. A new cylinder and bits is going to cost me about £300. Oh well.

The other scandal of the week occurred on the Island of Barra.

The tourist organisation here,Visit Scotland, has found itself in hot water. They thought it would be a good promotional idea forBarra if they spent part of their £15 million marketing budget on a film showing three young nude male surfers prancing about in the surf, just as the plane was coming in to land on the beach. This film was part of a plan to present Barra as a romantic and adventurous tourist destination - Oh give me strength! The modesty of the actors involved was protected by carefully placed surfboards, but Visit Scotland seem to have omitted to check out locally if anyone would find this offensive. Fairly predictably , the local Priest just happened to be passing whilst our unclothed heroes were frollicking in the freezing cold sea. He took great umbrage, along with a small group of parishioners and complained very loudly and angrily to Visit Scotland. They responded by issuing a statement saying "We received feedback that some people were quite offended. We have apologised. Our intentions were good, but we got it wrong. The film has now been destroyed and will never be shown". Wonder how much that all cost? Bless 'em.