The night was completely silent bar the distant washing of the waves and the occasional croak of a corncrake. We woke up to find the other two campers had disappeared early and so we had the whole machair and beach to ourselves. Breakfast was served and we supped our morning tea and coffee and then we were off.

The plan for the day was to do a long walk around a loch called Loch Druidbeg. It was one of the walks in a small book of walks we bought on one of the ferries and also the expert birders I had talked to yesterday were planning the same walk because it had been recommended in some birding magazine (apparently there are such things).

Loch Druidbeg

Basil took us to the north of South Uist and parked in a small area at the start of the walk. The weather was the same boring clear blue skies and light wind, so hats and sunscreen were called for.

The walk was a rough, but straightforward and essentially circumnavigated the loch. Unfortunately more of the walk turned out to be along South Uist’s main road, which being South Uist, was not like the M1, but being single track did not make for pleasant walking.

None of the rare bird species that are alleged to frequent this lock showed their beaks, but I still managed to get a few shots of birds I have not photographed before. Better still, from Sarah’s point of view, we came across some wild ponies and a little foal allowed Sarah to get really close, while I took the dogs out of the way.

Redshank in flight

We are back tonight at the Balranald campsite and on our drive we did see an Eagle, but it was so high I couldn’t make positive identification, but it was almost certainly a Golden Eagle, of which there are many on these islands.

Skylark

Tomorrow, due to shortages of ferry spaces, we are on the 7.15 am ferry from South Uist to Harris!!!! We will have make sure we are tucked up in bed early this evening, although the beauty of Basil we can leave having breakfast until we are in the queue at the ferry or even until we reach Harris.