Little jaunt to Exmoor

WE treated ourselves to a night away on stunning Exmoor NP last weekend, which at this time of year is bright with purple heather and late summer sunshine.  We saw the usual ponies and views and walkers and dogs etc., but the air was so clear and the rolling moors heading off to the sea so...well...scenic, that we were truly glad to have made the effort.

We stayed in The Royal Oak Inn, Withypool - very oldie-worldly, but bustling and comfortable - with great food.  There is no doubt that this is no messing farming country and H-S-Fing are popular pass times, judging by the trophies in the bar.  After an excess of food and drink on Saturday night, we wandered down the road to the stone arched bridge spanning the river, and watched Daubenton's bats skimming over the mirror flat surface hunting insects.

The landscape of Exmoor is generally quite gently rolling, with some high points and occasional deep cut valleys where ancient rivers have cut away the hard rock.  The shallow, fast flowing water of the River Barle looked clear and healthy, and the fly fisherman we came across on our walk seemed to be able to lure the occasional fish to his fly.

We did a valley walk on the Saturday to Landacre bridge and a short skip up to Dunkery Beacon on Sunday followed by a drive around.

Landacre Bridge

From the top of the Beacon

The top

A gate promising new adventures opposite the beacon hill

Wonderful Scotland 2015 (Day 5)

JUST the name of the Summer Isles inspires excitement - these scattered islands in the NW of Scotland are becoming an mandatory pilgrimage for us each time we visit the area, as the scenery enlivens the senses.

To get there (from Lochinver to Achiltibuie) we took the "wee mad road"; a long, twisting and largely single track road, which skirts around the coast and provides stunning views and scary encounters with speeding locals.

You can see our destination in the distance from the view below, taken from the front door.

Looking out from the front door

After surviving the WMD drive we reached the wide sandy bay - (Achnahaird Bay).  The sheep were grazing a pink "meadow" - it turned out to be a sea of thrift flowers - quite spectacular. It started being quite overcast so we decided to move on a return later.

Our drive around the area took us to a number of  bays and beaches.  There is a resilient community here that finds ways to make a living from tourism, fishing, farming and providing local services.

One far off headland beach, scattered with massive boulders, had a large stone enclosure - it could have been made in the last 100 years or could have been 1000s of years old - it was hard to tell.  The area is good for ringed plovers - these wonderful, diminutive waders are full of character and are very attractive in their own right.  This pair that I found were ringed...ringed ringed plovers!  They let out a short, high pitched peep and I assumed that these were young from the same parent, i.e. siblings, rather than a breeding pair.

 

 

The sun did make an appearance, and this opened up the fantastic and breath taking views.

 

Back to the thrift bay and the pink shone out:

 

The flora of the area is rich, as there has not been any attempt to fertilize the ground - the insect eating butterwort was plentiful and was flowering during our visit:

This is a wonderful area and one highly recommended if you are ever up that way.

Wonderful Scotland 2015 (Day 4)

HAVE you ever breathed in the air around a big sea-bird colony - it's something never forgotten.  Rotting fish and bird...well you know what - poop...festering in the sunshine makes quite a sensory impact, but this is what we came for.  Well, actually we visited small, but beautiful, Handa Island to see the birds, rather than smell them, and we were not disappointed.

The super stars of this wonderful place are the puffins, but the great skuas (also known as bonxies), arctic skuas, guillemots and razorbills, red throated divers and eider ducks are also pretty special.

A small inflatable craft takes you from the mainland to this SWT nature reserve, where there are no trees, just the occasional stone walls running over the open moorland, massive cliffs and some beaches.  It's a great place and a real a must-see in the bird breeding season.

Razorbill

Fulmar

Snipe

Great skuas

 

Puffins

 

Kittiwakes

 

Puffin in thrift

 

 

Fulmar (on the right)

Ultra cute juv. oystercatcher

A hatched egg

Guillemots

Big cliffs...