The day started cloudy but with the promise held by enough blue to make a pair of sailor's trousers - as my grandmother would have said.

After breakfast we drove into Stornoway for coffee at An Lanntair.

From its windows I watched the freight ferry while we did our daily crossword from The Times.

Going back over the Braighe I stuck the camera through the window and photographed the memorial cairn. which stands in the village of Aignish. It was erected in the memory of the men and women of Point who raided the farm in Aignish on the 9th of January 1888. This event was part of the great land reform struggle that took place in the late 1800s, when impoverished crofters and tenants challenged the authorities to improve their conditions and their rights to the land on which they lived.

Tigh na mara is in Eagleton and this is taken half way down the township which is unusual for the Western Isles as it is one of only two that consist of fisherman's holdings as opposed to crofts. These were small allotments created to provide land for local fisherman to build a house and to grow essential crops. Tigh na mara is the house at the end on the left but is hiden behind others in this photo.

There have been a large number of Snipe Flies around since we arrived and so far all of them appear to have been Rhagio scolopacea. There are a number of related Rhagio species with less heavily marked wings and this one that I saw this morning was also quite a bit smaller.

The common Daisy (Bellis perennis) may be abundant and it may be a 'weed' in most circumstances but that does not stop it being an attractive little fellow though this one was destined to meet GB's new paving tool in the near future.

After lunch we went to the Water Wheel Project in Stornoway Castle grounds. In the woods there were some fine clumps of Dame's Violet (Hesperis matronalis). An escaped garden plant this fragrant flowered species is found in woods throughout Britain. A large patch of Yellow Iris (Iris pseudacorus) was coming into flower and should be spectacular in a week or so.

Opened in October 2005, the Water Wheel Project is a restored water mill. The mill was originally constructed in 1816 but destroyed by fire in 1890. The restoration project revives an aspect of Stornoway’s history and has created an additional visitor attraction for the area, while creating general interest in renewable energy.

The waterwheel generates 4kW of hydro power which is used for lighting the castle grounds.

By the wheel was a splendid Wych Elm (Ulmus glabra). These are so hard to find nowadays since the outbreak of Dutch Elm Disease in the 1970s. I didn't check if I could hug it. This turns out to have been a mistake since the definition of a mature elm, for the Elm Map purposes, is one that is too big to hug! See http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/biodiversity/elm-map/elm-map-index.html

We then drove round to the Woodlands Centre and parked up to have a walk along the harbour shoreline to the River Creed and then up into the woods.

The views of the boats in the harbour in the strong afternoon sunshine were excellent.

One of the boats was a Ness sgoth, built in the style of a traditional wooden fishing boat that was widely used at the turn of the last century in Lewis. The tradition of building and sailing these boats was almost lost. But recently there has been a revival in interest.

Oystercatchers were, as usual, the most commonly seen and heard birds on the shoreline.

Despite the pervasive nature of the dreaded Rhododenrdron ponticum it has to be admitted that it can form a beautiful foreground to the scenery in areas like the castle grounds on a sunny day like today.

Using the camera's remarkable telephoto facility I took a picture of An Lanntair - where we had had morning coffee - from this opposite shore. An Lanntair is the building with the pink corner.

The table at which we sat is in the centre window!

A Herring Gull went overhead and fore once my attempt at a photo of a bird in flight did not look like the creature had been thrown across the photo.

Arnish lighthouse, past which the incoming ferry passes was clearly visible from this shore. According to the records, Arnish Light came into being in 1852, earning its place in the Northern Lighthouse Board's history as their first ever prefabricated tower. The 'Sailing Directions' for the east coast of Lewis, dated 1867 describe a ' lighthouse, painted white, stands on the eastern horn of Arnish Point, on the western side of the entrance to the harbour; and from an elevation of 56 feet above high water is exhibited a revolving white light, which attains its greatest brilliancy every half minute. The light should be seen in clear weather from a distance of 12 miles'.

We walked alongside the River Creed and I took loads of photos, playing with different shutter speeds to see what the effects were on the appearance of the water.

As we climbed another view of Stornoway opened out below us.

On the way back to Tigh na mara a Hooded Crow was kind enough to pose and GB kind enough to stop in the middle of the road. A quite satisfactory end to the photographic day.