Winter Birds on the Shores of the Minch 



waters penetrates to thein inmost reioesses. Long-tailed 

 duck and scaup ride buoyantly on the rough waters, diving 

 quickly at times to escape the overfall of an extra huge 

 wave. 



A few miles out to sea lie the Summer Islands, and near 

 them Eilean a Chleirich, or the Island of the Priest, where 

 many sea birds have their homes. 



Across the waters of the Minch there stand the hills 

 of Lewis, and there can be seen the entrance to Stornoway 

 Harbour, a good forty miles distant, with the rounded hills 

 that guard the port. Away beyond the entrance to the two 

 lochs — Loch Broom and Little Loch Broom — there stands, 

 perhaps twenty miles to the northward, the wild headland 

 of Rudha Stoer, with its lighthouse, built high above the 

 waters of the Minch. Even at this great distance one can see 

 through the glass of a clear winter's day the spray rising 

 high on the rocks as the swell from the north-west breaks, 

 with the full force of the Atlantic, on this exposed head- 

 land. 



With the coming of spring the winter population of 

 birds leaves these shores and makes its way northw^ard, but 

 in its place there come many migrants from the south. 

 Oyster catchers rear their young on the sandy shores of 

 the Minch; ringed plovers accompany them, and the sea 

 swallows make the sands re-echo w-ith their shrill cries. 

 Then to grassy islands there come the puffins, guillemots 

 and shearwaters, while in the rocky islets the storm petrel 

 has its home and the shag and cormorant rear their broods 

 in the strong summer sunshine, where is wafted the scent 

 of the sea thrift and of the young fresh grass. 



173 



