15th July,2010.

With the car retrieved, time spent with the girls and the odd foray out, life seems to have slipped back into some semblance of normality!! Sadly the weather has been less co-operative with rain , mist and more rain.

An afternoon spent on the Black Isle was thoroughly enjoyable followed by an evening with me helping with survey work on some hill land to the west. The Black-throated Divers appear to have moved, although a pair of what I suspected were Red-throated Divers slipped rapidly onto a distant loch just before 2100 hours after returning from the sea. Little else was apparent during a full evening to dusk, but a major compensation was being "perched" very high in the hills and witnessing the gradual and ever changing character of the landscape as the sun's rays lost power and focus. The sun dappled slopes of some distant hills moved through from being distinct in all their features, to losing their source of light and transforming through a succession of colours ranging from mauve, to grey ,to black and then into silhouette. At one point , some distant wind turbines picked up the last rays of the sun and stood out in stark contrast to their dark surroundings. Spiritual stuff and the diet for a variety of mental considerations about our very position within such a grandiose canvas. The reality of crossing a moor in the dusk sodden with recent rain brought flights of fancy to an end! Talking of diet, and certainly more down to earth, the fish and chip shop in Muir of Ord can be thoroughly recommended! Oh, perfect day.