Holiday snaps

Here is a random selection of photos from our few days on Colonsay.  My postcards from the edge.

One of Colonsay's raised beaches

This is the first time we have been on Colonsay when the heather has been in bloom.  On the hillsides the soft purple of the calluna, or ling, heather, the brighter bell heather, mosses, sedges, bracken and low growing grasses all mingle to produce that lovely overall colour which becomes reflected in Scottish tweeds and knitwear.  

Common Darter dragonfly

The berries on the hawthorn and rowan trees are plentiful.  I noticed this at home too.  Mr Gaucho read on his iPad that the forecasters are predicting a return of the 'beast from the east', early in 2020.  I did wonder about the quantities of berries and maybe Mother Nature is laying in provisions.

In various places I saw some lovely heads of hydrangea, both in the outer gardens of Colonsay House and in the gardens of the hotel.  I love their colours as the flowers begin to age.

I saw a different range of wild flowers during this September visit to Colonsay.  Purple loosestrife and the remnants of meadow sweet, meadow vetchling and devil's-bit scabious.  Here is purple loosestrife which enjoys having its feet planted in deep damp soil.

Purple loosetrife

Another apiary of ten hives in total, which I hadn't spotted before.

You can't visit a community, repeatedly, without a wander around the cemetery.  Colonsay's cemetery looks west, out across the Atlantic, which is fitting for a considerable number of its occupants who were seaman and fishermen.

Of all the headstones I have ever seen, the one pictured in the photograph below is the one for me!  It's tiny and I think it is quite beautiful with its lichens and cushion of soft green moss.

Before we took the ferry home, we popped into The Pantry, the island's only cafe.  Outside, chilling out on the grass, were about a dozen cows, some dozing peacefully in the sunshine.

 A last glance up the road at the hotel and the church, perched on the left hand side.

 By the time the ferry pulled away from the quayside, the clouds had come over the island again.  I suppose grey skies makes it a little easier to leave, but not much.