isleofronalog

Excuse me for my absence, but we have been extraordinary busy for some reason!!

So excuse me again for re-posting a facebook post I put up when we left Rona but it is a start. Our move to Camastianavaig has been good and we love it here. It is very strange being retired but we are getting the hang of it. More later as we try to catch up. What is the future for the Isleofronalog? I don’t know to be honest but I think I will look back from the start of our tenure on Rona and post some historical stuff. Watch this space.

Yesterday was the day. After 23 years on Rona it was time to say goodbye. It was a bit of a rush at the end so we had no time to contemplate. We have had numerous boatloads of our belongings and to-day we are struggling to find a space for a lot of it. But we will get there.

It was a stunning day and very nice to leave Rona feeling emotional for sure but lucky to have had the opportunity to live there for so long.

Dan and Tommy picked us up on MV Stardust for the last load of belongings, then off for a very calm sail back to Portree. Sea Eagles, Dolphins and lots of Seabirds were with us right up to Portree Harbour. Not to mention the G n T Tommy had stashed in the bottom drawer.

It has been a blast, some trying moments but overall a great experience. What now? Who knows. We will see what the weeks ahead bring.

We would just like to take the opportunity to thank those that helped us. Too many to list but you know who you are. It would not have been possible without you, sadly some no longer here but never forgotten.

Thank you all and thank you Rona.

Not that we are counting down, but our exit from Rona is coming closer. I see it was the 8th of August that I last posted. Been busy here.

So here’s a catch up of activities here these last few weeks but only till September 1st, more coming soon.

Steve arrived on the 11th of August with my son and family from Oz, home for a wedding and family visit. So nice to see them.

It was lovely to have them and being a good time for fishing we had a few nights out in the Gap fishing, good to see some good sized Mackerel getting up North, a good sign perhaps.

Life went on when my guests were here and venison production continued with my new assistant
Steve, an able, enthusiastic helper.

A wee gallery of events in August, the Deer are getting fat, even Tufty has put on weight. The weather had been generally good but Storm Floris was quite damaging with heavy, heavy rain. An early storm that was not usual. Stalking continued as I tried to get my cull numbers in the limited time left. Every year we get new groups of folk visiting and this group of Botanists were over from Skye but they all said 4 hours was not enough, ah well there is always next year.

I think that groups like these find a wealth of ‘biodiversity’ on Rona and that is the surprise. Unfortunately I was not around having left on their boat with boxes of our effects to our new house. So I could not regale them with the reason for Red deer on Rona and the benefits of a totally natural herbivore on all the ‘biodiversity’ we have.

So there we have it, the start of the big move with Dan Corrigal our long time friend and aquaintance Who, very kindly is helping us by providing the boats that will remove us and our personal effects, which was a cost that we were not looking forward to funding ourselves, Thank you very much Dan.

It was a beautiful sunny calm day for our first of four boats, Dan also gave us the use of his van. Portree was busy, with a humungeous cruise ship in with lots of people wandering around Portree aimlessley. Remided me of sheep and as we headed to Camustianvaig, more of the same on the road in.

In the meantime my Sister flew over Rona, sending us this stunning aeriel shot.

Talking about Biodiversity- for those wondering: Biodiversity is all the different kinds of life you’ll find in one area—the variety of animals, plants, fungi, and even microorganisms like bacteria that make up our natural world.

In the picture above we have burrowing bees, the are obviously here forever as I first came across them by our Genny shed 23 years ago (but I am sure someone will ‘discover’ them in the future). I had not spotted them for many years but they were there for sure. This year they took up residence on this old bare earth bank where I had scraped off the top peaty layer to get road material but I never did get round to that road surfacing!! It is on the list.

The temperature was warmer this year for sure and the plethora of insects really spang to life, what a year for butterflies, dragonflies, all sorts of weird and colourful insects. The sea was busy and the heather really bloomed, the deepest purple I have seen for a long time. It was nice to enjoy on our last year here.

On a more serious note, we had reports of a break-in at the Base up North. It had certainly been abandoned We were concerned as we had suffererd a change in behaviour of visiting ‘boat people’. It appeared that due to various press reports on the sale of Rona, which were to say the least, of poor quality reporting. There was a thought that Big Harbour, our end of Rona, had been sold and was unoccupied. More on that later. In the meantime we visited the Base and were horrified to find the place not in good state. We notified those that we thought were caretaking the North end and left it at that (and more later on this too).

We have had small motor boats rock up to the pontoon, never having seen them before, on going down, by chance to the harbour on the ATV, they very quickly let their ropes go and took off!!!!! We have had yachts tie up only to be ‘surprised’ to be told to move. We have had people ignoring signs and coming into the curtilage of the properties, looking for Dry Harbour? Looking for showers (no towels or kit with them!! etc), “we got lost and came this way”. I have heard it all before, its called being nosey. I will not miss that bit.

The guy with the rubber boat was filling his tank up, I think he had four trips, he was anchored for most of the week and helped himself, enjoying the water and pontoon, tracks etc. Never left a bean, that’s not true he did buy a bit of venison. But hey, we ran out of water that week!!!! Not his fault but I will moan about it anyway.

The ‘Right To Roam’ meant well but out here it seems to mean lets have a look inside every building we can, again I will not miss this. None of the above yachties would like it if I came around their house and poked my nose in, Why Here?

So to our very last cottage guests, Debbie and Dave, were husband and wife, now seperated but still together, on holiday at least. They love Rona and are among our long term visitors that kept coming back. They had booked two years ago and we honoured their booking. But time is running out so no more. We will miss all of our Cottage Guest returnees, our very good yachting friends (we have a few) and all the folk that have helped us over 23 years. But there are a few more blogs to come so no farewells yet.

So bringing us up to the end of August one more removal trip, MV Wavedancer this time.

Delivered to Camastianavaig that day.

A few views from above the house, the living room, the yard and the sunrise. We love our new ‘Corner Hoose’.

More coming soon.

As I said we are here until the 31st October. We await the arrival of the lucky people who are going to take over and that is happening soon. In the meantime life goes on.

We have had quite a few visitors these last few months as we reach the end of our time, mostly family but good friends too. Last week Wayne and his family came over for three days. Wayne worked for me when I was a Contractor for Scottish woodlands Ltd before going onto a career in Gamekeeping/Stalking. A very knowledgeable and experienced stalker, he has been on various properties since his days with me. At the moment he is Head Stalker at Braemore Estate, North West of Inverness on the Ullapool Road.

Wayne had been at our wedding 10 years ago and the following year on a Deer count covering the whole of Rona. It was a succesful visit with a good thorough count of the deer at the time.

I had asked him to take his rifle and hopefully we would get a couple of Stags for the venison business.
The weather was very calm and midgie, not ideal, the Stags elusive.

We went to the gap (Kyle Rona) in MV Rona 2, dropped a line and Robbie, Wayne’s son was quickly into some Mackerel. Not too big but still enough for a meal, then it was off to Eilean Tighe. The Pollock there were not so plentiful but a few wee ones were pulled in, then Grace Wayne’s daughter caught what you would call a “Whopper”.

A change of location took us to just North of Dry Harbour. We saw a “rise” and headed for it, looked like more Mackerel, then Robbie shouted, ” There’s a Stag”. We quickly spied it and decided to go for it, Wayne had his rifle with him, I had been hoping to spot something worth going for and here we had it. The Stag was one Marc and myself had bumped into a few weeks previously, I had had only a glimpse of him as he took off over a bank and into the trees. But to me with his small head (at the time) and body he had looked like a young stag.

We headed towards the shore out of sight and wind of the stag, we quietly dropped Wayne and Robbie off. We then pulled back and went fishing, having a grandstand view of proceedings. Wayne, Robbie and Jock (I forgot Jock the Patterdale) went about 50 metres then Robbie stayed back with Jock.

I lost sight of Wayne and for the next half hour he was mostly out of sight or camoflagued from my eyes. The next thing I heard was Grace saying, “There’s a shot”, we looked up with the binoculars where the stag had been lying and he was still lying. Wayne had had a clean shot. Out of sight of us the stag had been lying below an overhang, Wayne reported that this had been his hideout for some time. Lots of dung and the grass there well cropped.

Now the hard work begins.

Wayne quickly dealt with the Stag, Robbie and Jock in attendance. Then the drag, it was not far but the terrain was testing, a little bit of grass then rocks, nearer the shore with barnacles. But the stags hide was tough. Rather Wayne than me, I’m getting too old!!!

We headed inshore to find the landing place that was perfect for dropping Wayne, now perfect for picking up the dead stag.

Wayne was doing well and was almost there, just a couple of hollows to pull the deer up over and then the lift onto the boat.

Grace wasa tasked with holding the boat tight in we hauled the Stag aboard and loaded up the crew, textbook.

The day was flat calm always a bonus when going out using the boat, the swell is not kind especially from the North West. Been there done that one.

Now the drag up the pontoon and gangway much to the amazement of the two Belium Yachties standing there. This is the real world of Deer Management on Rona.

Then back to the larder for dressing out. First thing we noticed was the abnormal hoove

Wayne was still saying this was an old stag and seeing this, I was definitelycoming round to agreeing with him. The extended hoof was a sign of injury as the stag must have been carrying it for sometime. There were other ways of assessing the age and of course a look at the teeth would definitely tell us. A tip Wayne had heard from one of his ghillies was the way the brow tines were short and swept up indicated a stag going back.

So for sure Wayne was right and I was wrong, in Deer Management you never know it all and you would be a really smart guy to think you did. By the way, I got banned from Linkedin for a post similar to this, yesterday, too much blood for them!!!But this is the reality of Deer Management and in the end the culled deer, die. I do not like it, it is the end result in proper deer management, in a perfect world it would all work towards a nice ending but it is not nice, it is not easy and there is no perverse enjoyment of killing a deer. Just a feeling that you did your best.

We skinned the deer and hung it in the chill, it was late by the time we had finished so we did not pay the carcass particular attention. Always making sure the inside was clean, the outside just skinned, it will be clean, so no need to look. Until next day whilst checking the temperature of the chiller, I noticed the front leg on the malformed hoof side was emaciated. With not using the front leg, the muscle had wasted.

A more thorough inspection told me the story of the elongated hoof, possibly an injury, a fight or a fall. This stag had a serious front joint problem, and it was not in good shape. Arthritic and inflammed. It was on its way out.

The rest of the animal was good, the venison first class but this front leg in poor shape. We butcher all of our deer and these things come up now and again, but it is good to anaylise it and put it in the memory bank.

All in all a good result, an exciting stalk, retrieve and good discussion on the location, age and state of the carcass.

After months of toing and froing, emails galore and lots of visitors looking into this and that, the Island finally concluded its sale to new owners.

We are pleased to announce as per the Press release interpreted by Katherine Hay of The Scotsman, below.

We are going to stay and support the new owners until the 31st October then depart to Camastianavaig on Skye. We get the keys on the 21st of August and Look forward to it. We will no doubt flit between the two places during this period.

The Blog will continue, we most likely will change the name but only after we leave or when I get my “saved” posts sorted out. I have one or two up my sleeve!!!

We will take this opportunity to thank everyone who have helped us over the years, the many contractors and good friends pressed into service, without you all it would never have worked.

The Story Continues: