Tags
Ben Nevis, Caledonian MacBrayne, Corran ferry, Devil's toenails, Gleann Gael, grey seal, gryphea, Isle of Mull, Kingairloch, Loch Aline, Loch Linnhe, Loch Uisge, Lochaline, Lochaline Mine, Morvern, otter, pine marten, red deer, red-breasted merganser, sika deer, Sound of Mull, stonechat, whinchat
Tuesday, 13th September. Today, having passed through Fort William, we went down the eastern side of Loch Linnhe (pronounced ‘Linnie’) to its narrows, where we crossed the loch by the Corran ferry, enjoying the view of the lighthouse on the other side.
After the narrows the sea loch is much wider. We followed it southwards.
At one stop along the loch I was pleased to have my 2007 Open University geology revised. I had never realised that Ben Nevis was an extinct volcano.
We left the Linnhe at one point to visit a small lochan (that’s tautologous) with a very long name in Gallic.
Back beside the Linnhe, I was delighted to see a seal come in to cavort in the rocks and weed. It was some way away, and rather difficult to photograph, but these are my two best pictures.
Our packed lunch was taken at Kingairloch,
from where we made our way inland on the Morvern peninsula to Lochaline, on the Sound of Mull. We had on the way passed Loch Whisky and Gleann Gael. [Linguistic note!: I wrote ‘Whisky’ in my notebook, because that’s what I thought I was being was told, being assured that it was its real name, and that ‘whisky’ means ‘water’ in Gallic. I was being teased to a certain extent. On the map I find it is spelt ‘Loch Uisge’. And ‘uisge’ does indeed mean water, ‘uisge beatha’, the water of life, being the Gallic for ‘whisky’.]
We walked away from the Sound, and made our way a short distance along Loch Aline off it, past a fascinating sand mine and its works.
There was some waste sand lying around. On picking it up we could see and feel just how very white, fine and soft it was, quite unlike any I had encountered on a beach.
I would love to have had a visit round the works, not to mention the mine itself!
We walked on.
I then got absorbed into the next activity and totally forgot to take any photos of it. There were literally hundreds of ‘devil’s toenails’ on the beach. David collected several. Devil’s toenails are fossils of bivalves, gryphea, about two inches, 5 centimetres, long. And here’s a (copyright-free) picture of one found on the internet..
Time to go home the way we came.
This evening a pine marten visited even before our meal, so it was possible to get some semi-daylight pictures through the glass.
I decided it was time to take a video,
We continued climbing, into 
Snowcoaches it was now.
Not that I was aware of it at the time.![th[3]](https://musiewild.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/th3.jpg)
The briefing told us that the land had been in cultivation until 2003, when it was bought by the RSPB and converted into wetland for wildlife. We would make our way to the main hide, where we would spend about half our time, and then walk around those parts accessible to the public. Most of the area was kept behind electric fencing for the tranquillity of the birds and animals. It was good to come at all times of the year, but this season was the best time because of the thousands of different birds over-wintering there.
Once at the hide, we had this general view ahead of us.
Looking round, and closing in a little with binoculars and camera, here are other aspects.
Experienced birders were soon exclaiming at this clump, just 20 metres or so from us.
A pair of teal can be seen easily, especially the male. But are there really snipe there? And four?
In due course I managed to find three, and indeed once you knew that they were there, it was even possible to pick the nearest one out with the naked eye, they were so close. But what wonderful camouflage! They didn’t move the whole of the time we were there.
And as at Ham Wall, there was a Great white egret in the distance.
To the left, the other part of the otter path could be seen.
We were pleased then to see crowds and crowds of lapwing flying around, as if there had been a signal to the thousands in the area all to rise up at once. Here are just a few of them.
Swans have no need to fear humans, and they know it. This one made for an easy photo, just a very few metres away from where we were walking.
A distant view of another great white egret.
Evidence of a recent hare boxing match.
And of a sparrowhawk kill.
We hoped to see more small birds, and indeed we did see redwing, and stonechat, but I couldn’t get photos. We went on to a viewpoint:
But few wetland birds were favouring this area of the reserve. 
Perhaps, along with the small birds, they were favouring the more sheltered areas on this chilly day. But I, usually spending far too much of my life in front of a computer, had really enjoyed my three outdoors outings this week. I must do it more often, and certainly return to Greylake at other seasons.
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