FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Mike Wood]

I took a trip to the far north of scotland in May, to have another look at Ben Loyal. I've only been there once before, in september 1997, and I had good weather but was predated upon by midges and some horrible flying things which might have been deer flies. I was hoping that in the spring season the deer flies would be absent (they were), and there wouldn't be too many midges (there weren't). I camped wild close to a minor road near a small lake (lochan), and got water from the lochan, but boiled it first. The road was very quiet, as the main road along the north coast goes across a causeway, crossing the Kyle of Tongue, a big sea-inlet that the main road used to go around. It was very very quiet and peaceful, apart from the cuckoo(s) that abound in western Scotland in May. I only stayed for three nights, it started raining and wasn't forecast to stop anytime soon, so I headed south.

Ben Loyal is an impressive mountain of modest height (for Scotland), at 764m - a little over 2,500 feet. It is a few miles south of the village of Tongue which is on the north coast, a long way from anywhere. The mountain rises dramatically from the surrounding low-lying land, and is made of syenite/quartz syenite. On it's eastern side there are geochemical reports of enhanced REE minerals in stream sediments. (See bgs .ac. uk) (And look at the 'Mineral Reconnaisence Program' reports). The north and west sides are very steep, and there are supposedly pegmatite veins on the 'Great North face of Ben Loyal'; a huge precipice, the peak at the top of it is called Sgor Chaonasaid (708m). I had a close look at this in 1997 by scrambling up the right-hand side of the precipice, and I couldn't see much.

A boulder found on Beinn Bhreac, a small hill just to the east of the village of Tongue, was found by Professer Heddle in the 19th century and was made up of many different exotic pegmatite minerals, such as microcline var. amazonite, topaz, zircon, thorite, magnetite, celestite etc.; and this boulder was reckoned to have originated from Ben Loyal and deposited a few miles to the north by a glacier. It is known as 'Heddle's Boulder', and I haven't been to see it.

In 1997 I found thin pegmatite veins high up on the mountain, but not on the northermost peak (Sgor Chaonasaid); it was on one of the other peaks on the western side. These contained amazonite, magnetite, smoky quartz, and also curious empty casts in the pegmatite of a square-section to about 1cm across and several cm long. I fancied these formerly contained celestite! Some of them did contain small patches of what looked like a replacement mineral - it was white, acicular and radiating, which I took to be strontianite replacing celestite! Wow!
I still haven't had this stuff confirmed by xrd. Worth another look though..

[GneissWare]

Wow, Mike!! Great photos! The country side is incredibly beautiful. Paradise, except for the midges, ticks, gnats, flies and other bloodsuckers (no I don't mean politicians).

[Mike Wood]

Awww...Thanks Bob!
Funnily enough, I'm reading a book at the moment; called 'The Fell Walker', the author is Michael Wood (no relation!) and one of the central characters is a guy from Talmine which is a small village only a few miles from Ben Loyal, who goes around pushing people (including politicians!) off of steep mountains to kill 'em. Spooky or what?
At least, I think it's going to be him - I haven't finished it yet.

The village of Talmine is in a direct line, on the other side of the kyle of Tongue, on the photo of the view looking towards my tent behind the lochan (IMG_3811.JPG).

[Jordi Fabre]

Great post Mike!

I split it from the thread of your collection and I created with it a new thread. Much better here (Mines and Mineral Localities)

Again congratulations for a so nice post (now thread ;-)

[chris]

Hi Mike,

Great photos. Even if it is hard to find collectible rocks there, you might convince me to take my backpack and have a look at this place one of these years.

Thanks for sharing

Christophe

[David Mustart]

Hi Mike,
Great photos and nice of the red deer! Too bad the pegmatite dikes weren't more exciting.
Just a thought to add to your mention of deer ticks (which you probably know already). Deer ticks are carriers of Lyme disease, so if you get a bulls-eye ring around a tick bite, you should get to a doctor for antibiotics as soon as possible. Without treatment, Lyme disease can result in either encephalitis or arthritis symptoms. Doctors in California were for many years in denial about the disease occurring in the western U.S., which had serious health consequences for one of my students doing field work north of San Francisco.
But to end on an upbeat note, the photos are great!
Cheers, David

[James Catmur]

Mike

Great report and an interesting area. Clegs (I assume that is what you mean) [tabanos in Spanish] can be a real nuisance and really hurt too, but midges are far more annoying

James

[Mike Wood]

Thanks Chris, it's great backpack country; I think that mid-April to mid-May could be the best time, it is before the midges, plenty of daylight and quite often dry. Late September is when the midges disappear, and it can be warm and sunny sometimes; but there is deer-stalking at that time of year, all over Scotland.

Hi David glad you like the photo's. Yes I know deer ticks, I've been getting bit by them for over twenty years in various parts of the UK, and they do seem to be spreading. They seem to prefer the lower elevations, but still occur higher up in the mountains if there is heather or long grass for them to hide in.

James thanks for your comments.
Clegs I know too, also known as horseflies and they do hurt and leave a big swelling. They can even bite through thin clothing. I've seen them in July and August. They prefer sunshine so are around during the day, unlike midges who don't like strong sunlight and get active early and late in the day (if it is sunny).
Horseflies are very persistent and will follow you as you walk - you can stop every few hundred metres and have a quick look and swat them if they have landed on you, then walk quickly away. You can't usually feel them land on your skin, they have very soft feet; they also fly almost silently!
The 'deer flies' or whatever they were, are small, about 3mm long, and launch themselves out of the trees straight towards you - as if they can see movement then home in on you. When you try to brush them off the wings fall off, but this does not stop them in the least as they crawl (sideways!) all over. They cling tight while you're frantically trying to brush them off, you end up scratching them away. They get in your hair and everything...
They didn't bite though, I don't know what their motive was but they moved with a distinct purpose, whatever they were doing.

When I got pestered by these things I ended up climbing 200m straight up the increasingly steep slope through the treees, up the cliff and to the top, where I spent the next half-hour getting rid of them. It was the cliff in the distance near the loch, in the photo..

I'll post some more photo's

Cheers

Mike

[Mike Wood]

Postscipt: while I was on Skye in September, I noticed a few of the dreaded 'deerflies'. I tried to take a photo of one but failed. However, my friend did get a photo of one and he let me post it here.
The other thing is, they were not deerflies that I was complaining about upthread; these things are stoneflies! Now, why they should attack humans is a mystery. Perhaps they are some kind of carnivorous sub-species? Maybe they were just bored - who knows.
Mike

[Michael Shaw]

Mike,
Don't know about stoneflies in Scotland but here in the western US, stoneflies = trout food.

[Mike Wood]

Another postscript:

After watching 'Springwatch' on BBC I did a little seaching - for 'flat flies'. Now I know what those things were. They are deer keds, they are parasites and feed on deer blood. A member of the Hippoboscidae. There are quite a few varieties of these things, and the stories of their interaction with humans (which were identical to my experience with them) leaves me in no doubt. It seems that late August and early to mid-September is the time that they are active, from the accounts I have read.

My apologies to the stoneflies, for blaming them earlier!