Grouse Butts In August.
08/05/2006
Blue Scabious appears amongst the hay and on the hillsides. As the Heather comes to flower at this time of year, it evokes a strong memory of idling as a boy on the moors, in the warmth of the sun, the breeze sighing around me. Mixed with the drone of insects and the odd distant “pop” as Father stood in his grouse butt more in hope than expectation of a brace to grace the Great Table of Trollaigh, ah happy days. Grouse shooting has never been a big thing on the west coast. However, I hear with sadness that many of the great moors of Aberdeenshire are in a sorry state, apparently, there are many reasons, however, it basically comes down to good land management and cash. So let us all hope that a few of the super rich will drift northwards from blasting away in Yorkshire and Norfolk and rediscover the wonders of August on 30,000-acre moors.
Local gossip revolves around the number of flies that are hatching and how to get rid of them. My personal choice is to have the Nilfisk vacuum to hand at all times to suck the buggers up, however we also seem to have an unusual number of juvenile bumble bees landing on the carpets, these are “good” and therefore must be rescued, not vacuumed, life is hard. The local hoorays are gearing up for the end of West Highland Yachting Week and the traditional Pole Dancing competition at Mondo in Oban. This event has taken on a greater importance than the yachting, with bookies taking serious money on the favourite fillies. All the other paraphernalia of horseracing is also present with bribery, hobbling, doping and drugging, no different from any other Friday night at Mondo!
The weather girls are struggling to get their forecast correct as some weak fronts wander across us from the Atlantic and we have various degrees of murk. It is rather frustrating as there is not enough rain to soak the ground or rivers, not enough breeze to blow the midges away, yet neither is there enough sun to cheer us up. Weather like this can stick over Glen Trollaigh at this time of year, so let us hope for a change soon. One result of the heat wave is that after weeks in shorts and sandals, my feet are a different shape, which has meant that cramming the plates of meat into the old RM Williams boots is a struggle. I hope to be fully fit soon however, because we have been kindly summoned to Colonsay next week for a spree, which we are looking forward to, and this will give us an opportunity to relax before the 12th and the start of the season with a full house, not least with the arrival of the girls with their assorted guests. Yours Aye, Archie, The Baron Trollaigh.