Thursday, 14 March 2013

Arrival



The journey – Train journeys are always pretty long, however the scenery is beautiful along the route from Glasgow to Fort William and then on to Mallaig. It was either my accent or some other issue that caused most of the Fort William locals to think I was saying “I’m going to Rome” instead of “Rum”. The ferry journey was uneventful with decent weather but what struck me was the diversity of people I met on the journey north. The Australian who was moving to Fort William to start her new life because the climate of Oz was causing her serious medical issues, the heavily London accented ticket collector on the ferry, the man from Newcastle that was only going on the train to Mallaig because it’s one of the last lines in the UK he hasn’t traveled. All far from home for different reasons but happy in whatever corner they have found for themselves, it really is a small world.

It was very good to see Rum and again, but what really brought a smile to my face was that the Islay ales I ordered the week before I was due to arrive came off the very same ferry I was on. So I simply picked up my box from the pier and met Martyn. Kilmory glen is quite like I remember, only much more brown with this years greenery and grass just starting to grow back. I can recognise a few of the hinds from last year but will need to brush up on my identification skills. The wee calves I saw born last year are now quite big things but are sometimes much easier to ID than their mothers.
I made a venison pie for dinner on the Sunday, which although was not totally up to my usual standard was still very good. More pies are planned! The hearty meals have been very welcome as especially through the first few days an unholy bitter wind cut in from the north east and night-time temperatures have been below freezing (I never thought I’d see icicles form that close to the beach before!). Hopefully the relatively late frosts and ice will knock the midge and tick populations down a bit.  Apart from the wind it has been very pleasant weather, although today (13/03/13) we’ve had a few squall showers of hail. I heard through bits and pieces of news via the radio, the rest of the country has had a fair deal of snow. From where I currently write I can see the tops of the Cuillins of Skye which have had a dusting of snow over the past day or so. The wind is thankfully less bitter now and blowing from the North West. Depending on what the weather does over the next wee while we’ll see what the mortality season will end up claiming. We had quite a spectacle the other day as two sections of south west Skye were burning, we could smell the smoke at Kilmory! It burned into the evening as the fires glow was quite pretty from our view point at night.
As for wildlife there hasn’t been too much of interest although Martyn suspects he saw a Steppe Buzzard near the house yesterday. Notably the Rum ponies make their presence felt by charging about the place (even now the noise I thought was an engine turned out to be the ponies rushing down to the short greens for the evening).
Haven’t been for much of a wander around yet, although I walked the glen on my second day to get my bearings again and have been a mile or more east to some of the site I never got to see last year (wish I had taken my camera as it is beautiful). When we really begin mortality searching soon, I’ll have plenty of freedom across the whole site. Got a fair few photos so far (finally my camera armour arrived) but will collect and log what I can as I go. No fishing yet sadly, the wind has been strong and straight onto the rocks I’d like to fish from. I need to get a good morning or afternoon and see if I could catch some mackerel and then maybe fish for something bigger.
All in all so far it’s been quite busy, doing assorted bits and pieces in preparation for the mortality season and calving season. The next week looks to be more prep and the beginning of the mortality searches, so plenty to look forward to! I’m very much looking forward to seeing the glen come alive again over the oncoming weeks with the grass returning and all sorts of species kicking off the spring!

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