Skye U3A Nature day at Neist Point

4th June

It started off cool and breezy but finished up a warm, sunny day and most of us got star-burned. We had hoped to spot the odd dolphin or whale but saw nowt in the marine mammal category apart from a brief glimpse of something large and shiny breaking the surface north of the point..

Neist Point itself. The cliff face on the right was dotted all over with nesting fulmars and the area generally was well populated with gannets, shags, and guillemots; we also saw a pair of great skuas on the rocks near the lighthouse.
               

Southern side of Neist Point

                                       Former lighthouse, now holiday accomodation, on the tip of Neist Point

                                                                    Gravity dragging down the soil in ripples

Waterstein Head

                                                                    Looking south over Moonen Bay

Lazy beds. This strange archeological phenomenom dates back to a time when the people of Skye carried out sustainabke, subsistence farming. Long shallow trenches were dug and the soil was heaped up between the trenches and used to grow potatoes and other vegetables. Once the planting, hoeing, and harvesting work was completed the men folk would retire to the trenches with a plentiful supply of tobacco and whiskey. Lying down and covering themselves over with branches and moss, they would light up their pipes, uncork the bottle, and enjoy a bit of rest and relaxation. There would be several men at evenly spaced intervals along the covered trench and as this constituted a natural sound chamber a merry buzzing and burbling of gaelic conversation, on topics ranging all the way from turnips to peat shovels, would begin to arise from the earth, along with plumes of aromatic tobacco smoke. Some degree of restraint was important if the occupants were to avoid detection by their ever faithful and diligent wives who, it was hoped, would be working hard at home, making delicious potato and oatmeal cakes for tea.

                                         Left to right: the north of South Uist, Benbecula, and the south of North Uist

                                                                                        The Hoe

                                                                      A juvenile Ovis aries

                                                                   Frozen lava and turquoise sea

Marine life finally spotted two days later in the Little Minch from around 15 miles away. As no one seems to recognize this species I'd better name it: Nucleus submarina.