Monday 25 April 2011

Deer deer......deer! (Or, "Oh deer" if you prefer)



As we drive down the islands, there are several places that we almost *always* stop at, as we know that interesting birds can sometimes be seen there. One of these is what we know as the "School Loch" at Carinish on North Uist. Handily enough oposite the school buildings there is a turnbing circle for the bus, along with a few parking places, gving plenty of space for us to pull in for a few moments to see what's about. Regular inhabitants are Tufted Ducks, sometimes a few Teal, and Mallards. We've also seen Wigeon and on one occasion a Little Grebe there (Ben still looks for it each time but it's never been back!) however on this occasion more interesting than what was happening on the water was what was happening on the land to the side of it - a good sized group of Red Deer grazing, suprisingly close to both the road and the house nearby. We're used to seeing deer on the road out to Locheport, where we stay, and on one notable occasion one crossed the road in front of us on the western side of the island having just cleared the 8' high deer fencing along that stretch with ease. Seeing them so close to habitation though is unusual, so we sat and watched them for quite a while, and it would have been simply rude not to grab the camera too...

Tomorrows photo may be recognisable to any of you who watched the recent "Island Parish" series on TV - as we are off to Barra for the day via the ferry from Eriskay. I haven't decided what the photo will be yet - maybe Kisimul Castle, Maybe Father John-Paul's Church of Our Lady, Star of the Sea. Maybe something else entirely. we'll see!

Robyn

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