Goodbye Iona

Over the Sea....

Looking over the sea to Labrador!

Willow Den

Leaves sprouting on the den built this spring!

A Taste of Summer

Even warmer than yesterday!

Fog Rolls In

The warmest day yet this year on Iona brought a rolling blanket of fog over the sea.

Abbey Ruins

Before the Abbey was rebuilt the chuch was open to the sky.

Morning Mist

Some days begin shrouded in mist and end the same way.

The Second Corncrake

There's a corncrake in there somewhere!

Hide and Seek for corncrakes! I can hear it, but have never seen it....

until yesterday I saw my first corncrake (rare brown bird) outside the village hall and then today I saw my second in the garden of the Columba Hotel!

North Beach

What a beautiful sight!

IKWIG

I Know Where I am Going...an old film with great scenes around Mull!

Cruising

Two cruise ships visiting Iona this morning!

The smaller ship is off to St. Kilda tomorrow...I am envious!

The Bridge

Bright sunshine moments before a Sunday afternoon shower.

Bird's-Foot Trefoil

Lotus corniculatus

Also called butter and eggs, this flower forms seed pods that resemble the foot of a bird.

The caterpillar of the common blue butterfly eats this plant.

Hermit's Cell

Perhaps this was the place St. Columba went to get away from the monastery?

Cuckoo Flower

Cuckoo Flower or Lady's Smock (cardamine pratensis)
This plant flowers in April and May when the cuckoo begins to sing.
Today I found plenty of these flowers with delicate lilac veins in the wet areas.
I also heard the cuckoo bird today! (I was out in the hills by the Hermit's cell.)

Early Purple Orchid

The first orchids blooming this year were found growing near the marble quarry on Iona and by the waterfall at Carsaig on Mull.

Scent of Coconut

Gorse in full bloom on Mull. Air filled with the tropical scent of coconut on a sunny spring day in Scotland!

Ammonites!

Amazing fossils in the shale at Carsaig on the south coast of Mull. The ammonites are larger than dinner plates!

Spring leaves

One of the few trees on Iona is finally showing leaves! Hailstones yesterday though so it's not feeling much like spring despite the sunshine.

You've Got Mail

The Iona Post Office on the beach!

White Doves on the Bell Tower

A New Day Begins

Entering into a new day full of promise.

Looking through the ruined arch over to the blue hills of Mull.

Rock Pool Reflections

Morning sun warms up tide pools high on the rocks.

St. John's Cross

St. Columba's Shrine

The Nunnery Ruins

Under the arches in the late afternoon sun... Looking to the sky for a different perspective.

Thousands of tiny purple flowers of ivy leaved toad-flax bloom between the stones.

Clouds

Yesterday at the north end. A cloud collector's delight.