Claggain - Proaig - the birds.

Lovely to hear and see so many cuckoos; when we were down on the coast there was a splendid argument among male eiders; good to see common gull and oystercatcher eggs and chicks too as well as plenty of shags. 

Claggain Bay to Proaig.

An extremely hot day - 24 degrees Celsius when we got back to the car at 4 pm! A good yomp across boggy moorland - heather, molinia and peat. Thank goodness for the new path we used - turning left just before the bridge where the wooded burn is - we'd already gone over boot tops in peaty mud - so a dry path was a welcome relief! Superb views - incredibly warm - enough burns for the dog to be ok though.

Dead calm ......

Bilberry bumblebee - the NBN atlas only shows one record on Islay and no where near here.

Field sketching and a photo-bombing bilberry bumble!

The bluebells are still at their best too.

Traigh Bhan and Gleann Tuath.

A high speed walk as Steve kindly stayed with the dog on the beach while I headed over to Gleann Tuath to see the thrift and the view of the 'Opera House'. No dogs allowed as calves and cows of Highland cattle.....didn't see any though.

Views ........

The classic view .......

The first marsh fritillaries we've seen this week. 

Ardnave round walk.

Another scorching day and another walk around Ardnave point. Slightly different from in February!

Views ..

Ringed plover and oystercatcher.

One of my favourites - bog bean.

Mountain everlasting; marsh marigold; early purple orchids and yellow flag iris. 

Killinallan - a long paddle

Returning from the Bholsa caves was warm! On a bank holiday Monday there was no one there though on the whole beach! Fantastic - and the sea was warm too. Even the dog discovered the joys of paddling!

Killinallan to Bholsa caves, Islay.

Another great walk out along the coast. Took the old corpse road out from Gortantoid. So nice to walk on dry heath! Plenty of deer; small coppers; small heath and green hairstreaks....and a rather past int poplar hawk. Splendid views. Not many antlers to find - those on the beaches had been chewed and the deer are already in velvet. It was noticeable how many more quad tracks there are and they are putting up sheep fencing on the estate. The walk back was hot - photos in the next blog!

Setting off - Killinallan and the Doodilmore river.

Bholsa caves ....and below - the beaches.

Bunnahabhain, Bholsa and beyond.

 A long 14 mile walk, but what views and wildlife.

The dot over Bholsa is a golden eagle! 

Green hairstreak and latticed heath. 

Plenty of deer and goats.

Otter!

Heath spotted orchid; eggs and bacon / bird's foot trefoil; bog bean; yellow flag iris and thrift. 

Eider ducks ........splendid in the sun.

The view from our front door last night......

Portnahaven; Claddach and Currie Sands.

A lovely walk around the block when we arrived - gloriously warm.

Female stonechat

There are deer ....please mum? 

Royal fern.

Thrift, prirmose, marsh marigold and cotton grass.

Towards Portnahaven. 

Black guillemots at Kennacraig; eider ducks at Portnahaven.

While waiting for the ferry to Islay we had chance to watch these black guillemots bobbing in and out of the pier. When we arrived in Portnahaven there was a pair of eider.

Great Gable ... a slight detour!

Tonight I took paintings down to Eskdale. It was a superb warm evening, so a detour to Wastwater was in order. Just love Great Gable - unfortunately no time for an ascent  tonight!

Butterwort.

 

Wild garlic - a portrait

As I said in the previous post - I wanted to get back to the woods on the side of the Caldew between Caldbeck and Hesket Newmarket. So Molly, who is stopping for a couple of days, and I took the dog out first thing. The light was bright and the wild garlic in flower.

Spring woodlands ......

We had friends staying on Sunday, so a short walk from Caldbeck towards Hesket Newmarket. The flowers were stunning: wild garlic; herb Paris and bluebells. Thinking I may pop over again to spend longer photographing them.

Prints of Portnahaven sunsets.

Well I finally got around to hand-colouring these and making cards from the image ....  With the weather being so good we've been out and about a lot, so all artwork has to be bits and bobs  - finishing off and cutting and pasting!

The image for the card had to have severely increased for saturation to get the sky to print as a sunset!  

Humphrey Head - a spectacular flowering

After Latterbarrow on to Humphrey Head. You could see a yellow haze on it as you approach by road from Allithwaite. The top was covered with buttercup and dandelion while the cliffs were: kidney vetch; common rockrose;  hairy rockrose and bird's-foot trefoil. The green-winged orchids were at their best too. Rather splendid!

Green-winged orchid.