isleofronalog

What a wonderful week of weather just past, certainly gives us a Spring in our step and with so much rain over the winter it is good to get out without waterproofs and get something done outside. However, yesterday (Sunday) was a ‘normal service resumes’ day with a steady wind increasing to near gale all day, just a reminder, I guess.

First Chance To Get Up There

First job of the week was to fit the roof tiles that blew off in the big gale, with the new roof ladders it was safer than normal for sure, but I must be getting old as I am getting a wee bit uncomfortable up on roofs nowadays.

Early Risers

At the beginning of the week with the sun streaming through the window I was awake early so thought I’d take a run down South for a ‘nature walk’. it was a fabulous morning and so good to be out, the deer thought so too with plenty of them enjoying the early morning sunshine.

Spot the Stag

I saw a stag or two out on the Islands between us and Raasay, there is some good grass there and they don’t mind swimming back and fore for it. Simon’s passing fishing boat did not even make them raise their heads. We had had Dan out on the catamaran on Sunday and Kenny was coming off the cradle at Kishorn after their winter re-fit with his South Boats Cat’ so he took advantage of the calm weather and stopped in for a blether, good to see the boats re-appearing.

MV Seaflower Dropped In

With the weather so good I wanted to get our boat back in the water, which is always too early but it has to be done sometime. With the high equinox tides it is an ideal time.

Must Get The Boat In The water

The engines have been stored inside this year (again) and various bits replaced so I was hoping for a trouble free start.

Water Shortage

The water had been a bit slow in the house in the morning and when I finished for the day, Wednesday I think, L reported that the water had ‘just’ stopped. So back on with the wellies and up to the water treatment shed. Sure enough, half an inch of winter peat sediment had fairly choked the sand filter in no 1 tank. Nothing for it but a changeover to the emergency supply then plan tomorrow’s cleaning.

Another Good Day

In between filters and cleaning sand the boat was on standby waiting for the tide and with the warm sun on the deck it was a pleasure to be outside working on the boat.

Wedding Prep’

L meanwhile was prepping for the big day on Monday the 30th, lots to do and the freezers are filling up. Fingers crossed for the weather.

Parked Up

Again, dry weather and the list just gets longer. This is not a dry car park for the wedding car, just a car park!! All winter and for many years this area turns into a bog, so at last I’ve managed to get a couple of hours and scraped off the mud, replacing it with some hard stone soon to be finished with a top dressing (if I can find it).

Of course everything stopped for the Eclipse.

We had to watch it

The clouds were very kind, saved trying to find the welding googles.

The Clouds were kind

Of course just at the critical moment the clouds were not kind, too thick.

All Over

But all too soon the excitement was over, it had gone very dark, very cold and very very quiet all of a sudden. But soon returned to normal. Even the sheep new there was something up.

Floating At Last

back to the grind and the boat got launched. But only onto the mooring ropes. Next day I hoped top get it onto the pontoon, to finish.

Flotsam

Dan had been on the phone looking for pipes to rest the MV Stardust on when it is on the beach, we are happy to oblige with the feed pipes and fish farm walkways that end up (often) on Rona.

Too Low To Sit Alongside

The tides remain extreme and for the first time I had to move our wee boat onto the face of the pontoon, again another sunny day which was ideal for working on the boat.

Our New Guests

Saturday our guests arrived, Marc and Nicola back for their annual spring migration North, that’s not them on the decking.

They Are Seats…….honest

All the boat needed now on Saturday afternoon was to find the ‘stuff’. Lifejackets, radios, paperwork etc etc. With that out of the way we can turn our attention to the wedding plan, with up to 40 coming to Rona for the 30th of March we need to have some ingenious arrangements least of all for the weather. I was dispatched to find 10 clean prawn creels, they are for sitting on, I’m told, better catching prawns!!!!!!!

I was sorting out this post and realised that the last post, Moving On……. had not been uploaded, we are trying out a new layout for the blog and although it has been a bit of fun trying different styles we had not decided, but the last blog got lost a bit, so here we are with this weeks update right after it.

No phone call yet from SNH re: Wildcats!!!!!!

Spot The Deers

Sunday was a quite a good day, in between the showers. We went for our Sunday stroll over to the bay behind the house. Quite a lot of winter plastic needing to be picked up. A future job in the stinking seaweed which I hate. The plastic we get from Portree never gets any less.

The Oyster catchers arrived I think around the 18th of February, they are never far away from that date, a pair of them were bobbing about on the shore making a bit of a noisy welcome. Two deer were skulking in the Aspens trying to look like trees. It was a good walk and the view from the top of the hill was super as usual, watching the next shower coming up the Sound  we headed home quickly.

Now For The Painting

The boards arrived Saturday as promised but no flues, so Monday I started re building the fire but I new I’d come to a halt again mid week.

Oh OOH!

L went down to the hens mid morning Monday and it was a real gale, overnight the wind had kept us awake. She was looking for eggs when the nest box lid flew up and caught her right in the middle of her eye. So she arrived home with a ‘keeker’. Although the eye was scratched she said it was not too bad and thankfully all is ok now. But it is always a worry the most simple situations that make the worst accidents.

Later I took a walk down around the pier and hens  and noticed something was not right, I headed home and asked L if I had taken the IBC up to the shed, because I could not remember and it was not down there on the pontoon. No, it was on the pontoon I was told, I thought I had tied it down. So I was a wee bit worried the wind had blown it off and  it would be floating out in the sea possibly causing a hazard. Although with the amount of debris we get from elsewhere it should not have been a worry.I headed round the shore and there it was in the Bay we had been in the day before. Not the first time this has happened!!!!!!!!!

Found It

It wasn’t a waste of time though, I found a good deer post I had not seen on Sunday.

We are off this weekend and if we get away we hope to visit the planners to enquire about building a new house for us, up behind the cabin. Here is the site.

This Will More Than Do

Elevated and just out of sight, but we will still retain the view. Quite exciting but a lot to do before we get going, possibly next year for sure. Best get planning though.

Back to Monday and with spring knocking on the door the push is on to get the boat ready. The annual engines overhaul is not a job I look forward too, they did not look too bad but there is always something. They live for half the year just above the water and they get plenty salt to corrode them.

This Is The Sixth Time

So far just a sensor, fuel pump seals, pipe and a bit of the electrics needing a clean. A new key too in, last year the key broke in the remote so it was not the best trying to start the engine with half a key.

The New Ladder Heading To Work

On the ferry this week came the new roof ladder, MacGregors in Portree are really handy. Just a  call away  and the staff are very helpful. The ridge tiles are overdue for refitting but I was not happy going up on the roof with the old ladder, hence the new one.

Pedestrians

It was quite a good day Wednesday and good to see a calm sea with the boats out in the Inner Sound.

The Escapees

When I arrived at ‘Escape’ I found the escapees trapped in the garden. Derick had managed to creep round the house the night before and lock the gate. I was pleased that I had repaired the fence, because the sheep were very wild having had their freedom since the sheep incident in September.

The Set Up

Change of plan, no roof repair. Quickly over to the Lodge, pick up L load up the jeep and back to catch them.

The Capture

10 minutes later with a little help from Derick they were in the jeep trying to smash through the glass. So I had to quickly tie their feet, I never thought about the windows!!  The sheep would not know what a window was of course. The only damage was the window clips, they both got bent but the glass stayed whole.

They are now in the field in front of the house, still bonkers. As soon as you go in the field they are off round and round. What fun.

It is a miserable day on Rona this Sunday the 22nd, we were expecting it yesterday but Saturday turned out quite a good day. Our first visitors of the season arrived around 10am in  glorious sunshine but it is a different story to-day. I hear from the mainland that there is snow about but by the time it got here it is wet sleet. Not very pleasant.

George ‘The Rona Cat’

Been listening to Mark Stevens on Out of Doors this morning, one of the better ‘Countryside’ programmes on the radio/TV.  The programme  was tootleing along when my ears pricked up, ‘Scottish Wildcats’. Now there is only one ‘wildcat’ on Rona, George the Island Cat. But having come across Scottish Wild cats in my lifetime, many times I’m always interested to hear anything about them. I guess I have been  lucky in the respect that I was working or walking in their areas but when I think back over the years I have had many sightings. Which brings me to the ‘Out of Doors article’. They were talking about saving the ‘Scottish Wildcat’,  from what?  There is a thought there is only 400 left, which is quite a bold statement. To cut a long story short I had to write a comment to Mark after I heard them talking about drugging ones they trap, taking all sorts of samples and then fitting GPS collars. Oh and ‘getting rid of hybrids’.  In my head I was screaming, ‘can’t you just leave them alone’!!!!!! I’m must be getting old!!

George came from Raasay via the landing craft, he had been neutered, a bit of his ear cut off to tell the Vets on Skye ‘that he had been done’, so by the time he got out of the lobster creel he was transported in and out of the front bucket of Hugh’s JCB, he was petrified. Poor brute. He still is sort of wary of men and I just wonder what all the handling of wildcats will do to them? There is a good bit of colouring in him of a wild predecessor, but he is tiny compared to some of the wildcats I’ve seen.

He was one of Paul and Barbara’s Kittens, Life At the End of The Road a birthday present for L. He looks to have a bit of wildcat in him and he certainly knows how to hunt (and eat).

Julia With Katrina Very Much on Guard

I spoke to Julia this morning, always a mine of Raasay information. She told me that when they stayed on Eilean Tighe herself and her sister used to go up to where the wild cats den was and ‘poke a stick ‘ into the den. She says ” the wild cat used to get very cross and swear at them”. It really is a uplifting experience chatting with Julia. So instead of photos to-day I think I’ll just try and remember the conversation.

She had lived on Eilean Tighe until she was about seven, herself and her sister Betty went everywhere on the Island, I cannot imagine two ‘toddlers’ having a free run, so close to the sea. But she says there was never any fear of falling in or getting into scrapes, which is what they used to do. Her visit to the wildcats den was quite a walk round the hill to the South side. The place they called the ‘ruinn’ or she thinks ‘rings’. As she described the place to me to-day, it still has gorse (or whins) around the spot and it is perfect cover for a wildcat. How they found it I do not know but it was just normal to go and see if it was still at home. Often they would see it, sometimes it would come to the mouth of the hole, they were never frightened of it despite its ‘swearing’. I asked her about what it may have lived on and apart from seabirds and eggs there were hares, many of them on Eilean Tighe. Not rabbits, but there were rabbits at Kyle Rona, the croft they left the Island for which is described in Julia’s book ‘ Wirlygig Beetles and Tackety Boots’. I guess the cat made trips to the main island at low tide.

As often happens in these situations the wildcat lived in close proximity but they kept very much away from the house and hens, no doubt they lost a ‘chook’ or two but it seems her Father never felt the need to get rid of the cat, much like my own experiences of them.

As often happens during these conversations you definitely get the feel of a person harking back to the old days and the tastes or smells of these times, the diet is often discussed and foods that we would turn our nose up at, perhaps to-day were very much enjoyed. As we said hunger is a great appetiser. Hare soup, barley broth, rabbit stew, jugged hare, cormorant, salt fish, mutton. Sounds good to me. They did not grow many vegetables, probably because a lot of what we take for granted simply would not grow but they did have potatoes and cabbage plus three dairy cows. So mashed potatoes and milk were often the main meal of the day, and plenty of them. One more thing that was very important was a bag of dried broth mix, must get some.

We are hoping to visit Julia in a week or so, I’m looking forward to quizzing her about the wildlife during her young days at the North of Raasay. I’m interested to hear about the Eagles. I can remember seeing Golden Eagles on Rona, occasionally many years ago but now only Sea Eagles. Although the younger Sea Eagles could easily be mistaken for a Golden.

I have sent a text to Hugh on Raasay to ask Calum Don if he had any info’ on Raasay wildcats, CD has worked for the Forestry Commission for many years so here’s hoping he will know something.

I’m half way through Seton Gordon’s biography where he has come to live on Skye but no mention of wildcats ,yet. However plenty mention of Golden Eagles around Duntulm which is not a million miles from here. Although a birder once told me on Rona that Golden Eagles do not fly across the sea!!!!! Make up your own mind.

After weeks of looking after the ‘Applenet’ system with great telephone support I thought I had left the electrics behind (it is now working perfectly after Calum’s intervention). But no, we are going to sort out damp and the stove in the lounge so the co-axial cable needs moved.

After Much Cursing…….

Of course you need the telly on Rona!! After much cursing I managed in the end, quite easily to get the cable across. However the wiring ‘really’ needs attention. After 22 years and various DIY sparkies having a go, I was not liking what I was seeing and neither will Calum when he has look next. Jobs like that are no problem on a bad day but the weather dried up and the past few days have been pretty good.

The Annual Road Repair

Although the sun was struggling to get out at the beginning of last week it was dry enough for the machinery to get going and I got some of the pot holes filled in. Every winter the road behind the house washes down by the house (a lot of it ends up in the house) and every winter we put more stone on the path. The nature of the stone we have means that it is hard and does not bind well, and there is not a lot you can do about it. After a bit of roadwork I fancied a bit of forestry so decided to do a thinning in front of the Lodge. The birches are a great source of firewood but they can get a bit dense and need freeing up to allow the rest of the trees to grow. So that was the idea but on picking up the saw I found my thumb had got old and seized up, so I only managed a couple of hours before I could not hold the saw, wear and tear, maybe!

Thinning at The Well

Late in the dry day I got L to come and hold a board against the torn plastic on the polytunnel, hopefully we can keep it together for a little bit longer. We will get a new plastic and are planning a new polytunnel too but that will be when Hugh arrives with his diggers then he can give the area we like a quick scrape.

More Tape than Plastic

It had been a busy week despite both of us taking back another cold/flu to Rona from Inverness. That was not all we took back. We had had an email from Stuart saying Erik was ready. So on our Inverness trip we had to go up to Strathconon to pick up the now mounted ‘Erik’.

Ready For Off

I’m not a great lover of ‘Trophies’ and although Erik is one, the reason we got him mounted was because of his place in the deer re-introduction on Rona. Long after we’ve gone, Erik will still be here. We no longer see him on our winter trips out at the mouth of the harbour or for that matter any of his companions, they are keeping a very low profile. But deer management necessitates.

Coming Home

Welcome Home

He is now looking down on us when we are up in the cabin and I guess he will generate lots of discussion when visitors come. One other highlight of our trip was a stop in Beauly at Campbells, it was 30 years since I last went through the doors but it seemed nothing had changed. The same staff, the same shelves, fantastic to still find these shops around the Highlands.

Nothing Changes

We got a lovely jacket in the sale but heard that the shop had been sold and the staff (owners) were finally hanging up their scissors, after many years of good service. well worth a visit before it changes hands.

Back on Rona, these colds just seem to floor us nowadays and this one just seems to be a continuation on the ones we caught way back in November, thank goodness for Night Nurse. As the week progressed I got better L got worse but by the end of the week there was a promise of very settled weather so we organised a ferry for Saturday and started to prepare lists for Kevin and Pam, the cold forgotten. I headed over to Dry Harbour for the ladder (Kevin was taking the fixings over for the replacement onduline sheet on the bunkhouse)and when I got to Dry Harbour  here was one of our missing sheep stranded on a rock with the tide, but next day it had come ashore and was wandering about looking pretty wild.

Spot The Wild Sheep

Later that day from the top of the hill the skies had cleared and there was a promise of a better day and weekend.

Promise of a Better Day Tomorrow

By the time I got down to the House the colour had really started with a very warm sunset.

Calm and Warm

When the light finally went out the temperature plummeted and it was a very frosty night. Friday morning all the sheep were around the house first thing, it had been a very cold night. After I fed them we started spring cleaning in earnest. L was stripping the Lounge and I started on the sheds and boat stuff. After lying mouldering in the corner it was no surprise to find the boxes of boat stuff, the cables, remotes, and engines needed a major clean, degrease and lubrication , with lots more work to come. The creel hauler as usual was a ‘lump’ of rust, no wonder the harsh environment but a good machine made locally on Raasay, I am told it is one of the early ones of this model.

Annual Service

I took the head apart and put the discs (Pans) away with Kevin on Saturday to see if they were worth skimming. With a bit of sun it certainly puts you in the mood for the new year ahead.

Saturday promised to be a stunning day and we were not disappointed. It was Valentines day and the Tup was obviously in the mood!!

Love is in the Air

He was surrounded by his girls on the grass in front of the house, there is not much feeding for them so they hang about looking for sheep feed, any chance and they are in the shed raiding the bags. We had the boat coming at 12.30, with mail, rubbish, empty fuel cans and recycling to get together there was no time to ‘observe’ the sheep so head down and we got going. The morning passed very quickly and MV Aspire soon came into view.

Loaded Up

They had had a lovely sunny sail up and we got unloaded quickly as lunch was getting prepared up at the Lodge. By the time we got there the sun was at its best and we decided to eat out, we had a very nice lunch with a beer in the sun, almost summer like and everyone in good form. We had a look up at the cinema to see how Erik looked in his new home and then a wander up to the proposed new house site. All to soon the boat left and we enjoyed another Rona sunset. Saturday night is movie night and last night we watched the ‘Shining’ just the movie for winter on Rona!!!!

Sunday, a good gale is blowing outside and it is pretty cold too, the fire is on and it will soon be lunch. Just a day for reading the papers and ‘maybe’ some computer work. This morning’s sunrise was beautiful but we were too late for photos, however when I went to feed the sheep there was a beautiful light so I took a run up to the top of the road to see what the view was like this morning, I was not disappointed.

Late Morning Sun Coming Through

Looking Over To Torridon

Yesterday (Tuesday) morning, I was reading the paper from a fortnight ago, news travels slowly here. An article caught my eye, ‘Extreme Survival, Island, N W Scotland’. I immediately read through it, just in case it was Rona but no, it was far from it.

However, it made me jump and get going, I was looking to complete the deer cull and have a look around, just to see what the deer were up to. As I was walking in the south end of Rona  I was thinking about this article (not really keeping my eye on deer stalking) and peoples desire to experience ‘Extreme sports/survival’ when the phone rang.

Back to earth with a bump, I don’t usually carry the phone but I had an idea that ‘Dan’ would call once he saw the rest of the weeks forecast. So there I was taking a call, in the ‘remote NW Highlands’, discussing the possibility of getting 1000 litres of much needed diesel over and the Applenet cable which I guess is much needed too. To cut a long story short, we had planned Tuesday for this ferry, but Thursday looked better, but as what happens here the weather took another twist and Tuesday was definitely the best day. I made an about turn and got home to get prepared for the boats arrival.

Fuel Cable, Cable Stand.

I had to get the pipe out for transferring the fuel and all the equipment. Make a Cable stand for running out the 750 metres of cable, get the mail, rubbish and stuff to go off all in under an hour and a half. Very quickly I could see MV Stardust heading up in an increasing wind!!

Much Needed Stores, Diesel and Cable

Dan duly arrived with Ian and Calum, we manhandled the cable off, with ramps and a high tide we did not have any problems. We then left Dan and Ian with the fuel whilst we took the drum of cable to the site and ran out half of it.

Drum Roll

After an hour or two the fuel was in the IBC and the wind was getting stronger, the pontoon was at a queer angle so without more ado, Dan was off to bounce back to Portree.

Out Of Shape

I disconnected the pump but did not manage to retrieve the pipe, I had no option to leave it where it was but it is pretty strong and quite safe.

I’ll Pick It up In The Morning.

First of all I had to get the derv’ into the tank, I hate leaving it in the IBC, they have a habit of springing a leak!! I started pumping and headed to the house for a cup of tea.

Derv’ Delivered.

When I got in Lorraine told me she had spotted one of the late twin lambs was limping, so we had to capture it and see what was what. (another quick lunch) Half an hour later we had the two of them in the shed and here was a three inch piece of bramble caught in the lambs groin, it had ‘worn’ a groove into its flesh, poor brute. So an injection was required and one the next morning. I’ll give the cut a spray with ‘stuff’ and let it go. Brambles are pretty hard on the sheep, they get caught often and cannot get out so you have to be vigilant.

Sheep A & E

Once we had finished that, time was getting on. There was an hour of light left and lots to do, the tractor had to be put to bed and I had to tidy up the cable run. We had left some of the cable hanging up in trees so I was keen to get it down before the wind got going. I ran all the cable off and finished up pushing it through an ancient drain. It got stuck and I could not see where, cameras can be handy things when you don’t want to lie in the mud to look.

Stone Drain

These track drains are all over Rona and it is amazing to see the quality of the old stone masons work, even to-day, 100/50 + years on they are still running, clear and usually just as they were built. No plastic required here. Just about there, I collected a trailer load of birch for the ever depleting wood pile.

Firewood Stock

Just another day on Rona!! Extreme survival, I don’t know, just making it work, but at the end of the day I switched on the lap top and clicked on the link to see where this remote NW Highland extreme survival course I had read about was happening, because as the day was unfolding I thought I could do that here with a day just like to-day. Which happens pretty much most of the winter, and charge for it. Given the prices quoted on the ******survivalacadamy.com web site we would do rather well.

I’m thinking maybe Rona at this time might just be a bit too extreme. Last weeks visit from Tom, where he was looking at the potential for Rona to host his survival courses has so far drawn a silence!!

By the way the Island in the newspaper article is ‘Alladale Estate’ west of Bona Bridge, which is slap bang in the centre of Northern Scotland, it could not be farther away from a remote Island although handy for the airport I guess.