Garden Birdwatch

On Saturday we spent an hour watching and recording the birds that appeared in our garden. This was for the Big Garden Birdwatch for the RSPB. As our house has windows covering most areas of the gardens we could do the watch from inside in the warm! Some media reports say that the number of birds in suburban gardens are declining, but the bird experts say that we will not see as many birds in gardens in mild winters as there is plenty of food in lesser inhabited areas. All that said, our garden definitely not suburbia and our birds were here before us. So late morning armed with pencil and paper, binoculars and camera we started the count. Nothing, no not one bird! So we tried another window and yes our Robin had decided to be counted. Then slowly but surely other birds arrived. Blackbirds, male and female, Chaffinches, Coal Tits, Great Tits, Blue Tits Dunnocks, House Sparrows in force and a couple of collared doves all came to be counted. Our Hooded Crows were conspicuous by their absence and the whole proceeding were overseen by our now very tame Pheasants. We were careful not to count birds twice as we needed to record highest number at any one time. Our Robin decided it was a great game so appeared regularly at each window, even cutting through the car port on his circuit of the house!

Burns Night

Last night Wife P and I had our Burn's Night supper. We could have gone to a formal supper at the local hostelry but decided to stay at home so our first task was to catch the Haggis.

What better place to start than the slopes of our highest mountain Ben More. We researched the best places to find this rather shy animal and what it would look like. Wikipedia, the electronic source of all knowledge states, "Haggis scoticus is said to be native to the Scottish Highlands and Islands It is comically claimed to be the source of haggis, a traditional Scottish dish that is in fact made from the innards of a sheep(including heart, lungs, and liver)." Other sources said that they do not enjoy rain ( living on Mull!!!!!!). So after much deliberation we decided to cheat and get a Macsweens from Tesco.

So Haggis sorted, neeps and tatties cooked, whisky in the decanter we could begin our feast to celebrate the Immortal Memory. We were celebrating the birth of Robert Burns, born 25th January 1759 the poet who made haggis famous in a poem that he wrote. We should have piped the haggis in, addressed it "Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!". We at least had Ali Bain and Phil Cunningham CD playing traditional tunes! We also should have said the Selkirk Grace:

Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,

And sae let the Lord be thankit.

But instead we poured whisky over the haggis and proceeded to enjoy it! Thanking, of course, Rabbie Burns for his poetry and mentally making a note to read some of his work!

The Tesco Run and a quick extraction

Wife P and I both had dental appointments earlier in the week. We left home well in time so that we could have a picnic overlooking the Sound of Mull on the way. It was glorious sunshine for the 45 minutes drive to Tobermory. As we drove along the deserted road thinking we were the only people of the island then we rounded a corner. Lo and behold there was a car in the ditch. Apparently, two cars had met on the single track, the ditched one sliding off the road to avoid the oncoming vehicle. So we stopped to offer help, and with the aid of our Land Rover and a strong rope pulled the car out of the ditch. Being the small world of an island, we knew the car driver who was unhurt, slightly shaken and very grateful! We still made our sunny picnic and got to the dentist on time.

The following day was our quarterly Tesco run. That is when Land Rover and I join Wife P for a trip to the mainland rather than she just pop over as a foot passenger with her faithful sholley, other people have pet dogs Wife P has a sholley! Up early and on to the ferry, bar is not open but we socialise with others on the same run! Four hours later, a very full land rover and feeling that we have just paid of part of the national debt we are back heading for ferry via opticians and outdoor shop you could say I was topped and tailed (new specs and boots) and by the skin of teeth managed to get the early ferry complete with its now open bar... so we relaxed, socialised and helped Cal-Mac's profits!

Seaweed for the Garden

This morning our weather could not make up its mind what to do. Rain or Shine? So it did one, then the other, and then both at the same time. The result of this prevaracation was beautiful rainbows!One, a full semi- circle, stretched from the slopes of Ben More in the South to the wastes of Lochaber to the north across the Sound of Mull. We drove underneath it to get our own crock of gold. Yes, I know no chance of finding it as you have to look at the ends of the rainbow! Unfortunately, for our fortune we were on a mission to collect seaweed from our local beach. As we have had high spring tides and gales the lovely fresh "Tangle of the Isles" was stacked well up the beach, ready for us to throw into our bins and lift into the Land Rover. We managed two loads so a good start for our storage pile.

Sure by Tummel and Loch Rannoch and Lochaber I will go,

By heather tracks with heaven in their wiles;

If its thinkin' in your inner heart braggart's in my step,

You've never smelt the tangle of the Isles.

If you know the song why not sing along whilst you are reading this!

What might have happened

The weather over the last couple of days has been an interesting mixture - Sunshine Yes - Rain Yes -Gales Yes - but not in that order! So many planned activities were "unplanned". Wife P and I were going to be community minded and join the village tidy up morning litter picking, but it was called off as lady organiser was at Oban on the mainland and the ferry that she was supposed top come over on was gale bound at our island end. Nevertherless public spirited wife P decided to carry on clearing some of the local beach but before long a neighbour dragged in her in for a coffee but by then it was raining again, this time horizontally just for a change!

Meanwhile I was sorting out the storage area for seaweed and manure, and as the photograph shows (The small box at the top!) put the first of a row of potato planters in position. The latter are boxes constucted from recycled fence panels made so that the the bottom section can planted first, and as soon as the shoots appear, the next section is dropped on and filled with a soil/compost mix, Then the final section and soil put as soon as shoots appear again. I am told by those who know, that each layer must be watered so I will experiment with water pipes at each level. The idea is that the boxes will be full of healthy potatoes and easy to harvest. We will see!

This blog was supposed to be about seeing the local otters but neither weather nor otters co-operated so that is still on my list to blog about. At the moment the small wee animals are Notters as far as I am concerned.