Eriskay - In search of unicorns

[KatTai]

For a while now I've been wanting to go to Eriskay to see the Eriskay ponies - the last remnants of the Western Isles pony and last week I made the trip. Short version of our trip report - found them

Grazing ponies

We took the ferry from Mallaig to Lochboisdale spotting some dolphins and porpoises along the way, sadly the main cetacean action seemed to be to the north and south of our ferry route though. At the other side we were picked up by a Taxi to take us to the B&B on Eriskay. Bag safely dumped we headed out in search of unicorns! In the summer months the Eriskay ponies graze freely on the hill Beinn Sciathain, and so that was where we headed. There are several paths, we selected one opposite the layby/viewpoint and followed it towards the hill. Sometimes the path split, sometimes other paths joined. There were a couple of maker posts here and there lower down. The ground was boggy in places but we soon reached a gate which took us into the area where the ponies grazed. It was around this point when I realised I'd lost my reusable coffee mug somewhere on the path up! I contemplated heading back to look for it, and then figured I'd just look for it on the return. Ponies first!

Eriskay

Looking up at the hill I spotted a grey pony just a little way below the summit and then also realised there were a couple of brown ones up there too. The path to the summit itself headed straight up, but the ponies were round to the south so we took a path of some sort to the right and started to make an easy zig-zag up the hill towards the ponies. On one of the zags I looked up and directly above us on stood an Eriskay pony! I said a polite hello, took a few photos and continued on my zag to get to the same level I'd seen the pony on. Finding a good spot on a rock I sat and waited, soon enough a herd of Eriskay ponies came around the side of the hill grazing in our direction. They really are beautiful and even more stunning with the blue sea and sky in the background.

Hello!

One of the ponies seemed to be exiled from the herd, I watched her trail them but when she got too close another would furiously chase her further away but she didn't go too far continuing to shadow them. Felt sorry for her and hope that she would eventually be accepted, when I spotted them from a distance later they did all seem to be in one large group together. They grazed their way quickly towards us and then one decided to take an interest in us and started coming closer so we moved back to another rock a bit further away as I didn't want to chance the dogs startling or being startled by the pony. The pony started to graze where we had been sitting and then after a time came over again, again we moved back and again she started grazing where we had been. She certainly was confident, including with the others in the herd, giving one of the others what must have been a painful nip judging by their loud reaction. It was fascinating just being able to sit and watch them interact with each other.

Chasing away the exile

Guess which one was the failed sheepdog...

This is the pony that moved us from our spot.

Swishy tail!

Moss watching the ponies (Zena was behind me looking in the opposite direction)

Ponies on the hill

Our friend giving another pony a nip!

The rocks where I was sitting were at something of a fork in the track with one heading up the hill and the other curving round at around the same level but getting narrower and going out of sight. I sat and watched the ponies for a while longer, seeing the exile chased away yet again, and then decided to head up towards the ones I'd originally seen. There were two grey mares up here and they were a lot more relaxed than the ones just below, grazing slowly around the same area and then both lay down, as I watched they started snoozing. Yes, I did sit and watch them sleep for a while before quietly moving away to see the youngest ones who were just a bit further up, perhaps the foals of the two sleeping mares.

The two more relaxed ponies a bit higher up from the main herd

The youngsters were cute, one was interested in us and started to come closer but stopped when we moved further away and again I sat and watched them as they wandered around the hill grazing. Overall we spent around an hour watching the ponies.

Younger pony

Eventually we did reach the summit, the 2.5km took us an hour and a half This is the highest point on Eriskay and gave views across the island to South Uist, Barra and way off in the distance the hills of Rum.

At the summit

We took the more direct route down, our path not crossing with that of the main herd of Eriskay ponies who had moved round to the steeper north slopes, and once at the gate started retracing our steps using Strava to try and find the route we had taken so search for my lost travel mug. There ahead on a good stretch of path I spotted it! We'd found it!

Found my travel mug - phew!

Looking down to Eriskay football pitch, one of FIFA's 8 most remarkable places to play football in the world

We returned to the B&B to check in with time for a break before heading to the Am Politician for a well-earned dinner. I'd booked a table in advance for the three nights and it was just as well I had as they were busy all nights but especially on the Monday when they had a funeral group in. Instead of sitting inside we went out to the beer garden and sat at the outside tables, which we also did for the 2nd night but the third night it was raining so we sat inside.

Why not?

From the beer garden is a path to the beach, somehow the dogs knew this and when it was time to go there was no question that our walk back to the B&B would be via the lovely beaches on the island!

Beach time!

Day 2 started as Day 1 ended, with a walk along the beach to reach the ferry terminal to go across to Barra. It is just a short 40 minute trip. Our aim this time wasn't to search for ponies, instead we wanted to see the plane land at at Barra beach airport. It's around a 4km walk from the ferry terminal to the airport along quiet roads. As we walked along the tide receded revealing more and more of the vast stretch of sand on which the aeroplanes land. There had been a café at the airport, unfortunately it was currently closed (as I later found out from the taxi driver was the case with the other airport too so is something of an issue at the moment) so it was vending machine tea and snacks. A crowd had gathered to watch the plane land, touching down on the sand and splashing through the pools that remained on the beach.

Another day...same beach!

On the Barra ferry

Barra

Barra Beach

No going on the beach!

The passengers were soon off the plane and the next lot boarded while the plane was refuelled and then it was goodbye as it taxied to the end of the beach and took off almost directly above the airport. With the plane now gone we started heading back towards the ferry terminal. There is a café there so had some cake while waiting for the ferry.

The plane on the beach

Dogs on the bench

Back on the ferry!

In the evening I decided to walk across the causeway and back because why not? I don't think the dogs where particularly enthused by this walk but we did go back via the beach so I think I was forgiven

Crossing the causeway

And going back again!

Day 3 and there was a change in the weather, gone was the sunshine replaced with dull cloud and later on some heavy rain. We headed off on another walk, following a path up to the road where I would decide whether to head left or right. A pony to the left made the decision for us and we followed the road before cutting up the hill to visit the ponies that were in an area enclosed by an electric fence (that didn't seem to be on because I saw one of them touch the fence and they didn't appear to get a zap, though I didn't test it for myself ). Regardless of whether the electric was on or not, it did mean I had a chance to get close to the ponies . There were three altogether, an adult mare and two youngsters. The mare was too busy calling to the rest of the herd to pay any attention to us, but the youngsters were much more friendly coming over to say hello and I was even able to give them some scratches. I then decided to try and see if I could get a photo of us with the ponies, they had started grooming each other and I hoped they would stay there long enough to get some photos. There were some suitable rocks to sit the camera on and set the timer on, but while I got the ponies in shot the first attempt I cut myself and the dogs out of the picture Fortunately the ponies were just continuing with what they were doing while I messed around trying to get the photo. The mare came over as I was getting ready for the last set of photos and I finally ended up with myself, the two dogs (even if Moss was mostly hidden!) and the three ponies all in the photo!

More ponies!

Scratches

Eventually we headed away for our walk to Riosinis/Rosinish, a deserted village in the north east of the island. It was an easy walk following the road across the north of the island to its end and then onto a track that went passed a house and through a gate with a concrete base where I was amused to see a cat hadn't waited for the concrete to dry before walking across! The track became rougher and eventually turned to grass as township was reached. There were a number of abandoned houses of various ages dotted around from blackhouses to more modern ones made with concrete, and somewhere in the sound lay the wreck of the S.S. Politician though it is all under water.

cat prints

One of the ruined houses. Somewhere in the water is the S.S. Politician.

A more modern ruin

The walk back, where we spotted a juvenile cuckoo, was pretty much the same way...with a detour onto the beach of course!

Juvenile cuckoo

Later we had a second walk, the Acairseid Mhòr shore walk - https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/outer-hebrides/acarseid.shtml Again it was a there and back walk. There were a number of seals hauled out on the rocks, while I was stood watching them I noticed the dogs were both focused on something else behind me...of course as soon as I turned to look the animal they had probably been watching for some time decided to race off among the rockpools. Pretty sure it had been an otter though that they had been watching.

Eriskay football pitch again

Seals and a hooded crow

I waited a while to see if it would reappear but it didn't and so we continued on our walk following the rough road to its end which also marked the end of this walk for us because the stile wasn't an easy one to try and get the dogs across. On the return I scanned the rocks and the shoreline for an otter, but saw only the seals. The return to the B&B was along the beach, and this was when the weather really turned the rain coming on heavily so despite only having a short distance to go we were well and truly soaked by the time we got into the B&B!

Skull on a fence post for whatever reason with the floating dock in the background

Day 4 was our final day on the island, the taxi was booked and noon to take us back to Lochboisdale but we had time for a walk - and a final search for the ponies. We headed back up towards Beinn Sciathain but there were no ponies in sight, I had seen them from a distance on the steeper northern slopes the previous couple of days. This time we took the more direct route up which was steep and a bit muddy with the previous days rain but wasn't too bad. We crossed a point where we had seen the ponies previously and Moss lay down looking for them, but no ponies there this time, so we just continued on up to the summit.

Beinn Sciathain again

We descended on a slightly different path and though there was some fairly fresh horse poop, there were still no ponies to see. Was it disappointing not to see them one last time? Maybe, but it also makes that very first encounter a lot more special.

Last play on the beach before home, our B&B in the background. Spot the collies!

[litljortindan]

Excellent report and photos!

[John Doh]

This brings back memories. The Eriskay ponies on Eriskay and Barra are awesome and so are Eriskay and Barra. I am longing to return to the Outer Hebrides.

[KatTai]

This brings back memories. The Eriskay ponies on Eriskay and Barra are awesome and so are Eriskay and Barra. I am longing to return to the Outer Hebrides.

I have Barra on my radar for a future trip to explore properly Plus I can nip across to Eriskay and try and see the ponies again!

[KatTai]

Excellent report and photos!

Thank you Very hard trying to choose which pony photos to include, I took loads

[Sgurr]

What beautiful pictures, especially of the ponies.