Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Max, the parrot vampire of Kerrera!

We paddled down the Sound of Kerrera under darkening skies.

The great bulk of Scarba appeared in the distance and the wind dropped away to nothing.

The smoke from a lonely cottage on Little Horseshoe Bay curled lazily skyward. It is the home of Yvonne Macmillan and at least a dozen parrots!

Photo STV.

Yvonne has set up a sanctuary for distressed parrots on this remote spot on the island of Kerrera. Parrots are very companionable birds but need a lot of care and attention, otherwise they can develop behaviour problems. The island of Kerrera is now a sanctuary for distressed parrots. Yvonne is a parrot behaviour consultant, possibly the only one in Scotland. In 2009, STV made a charming short film of her interesting story. In it you will hear how a distressed Max bit Yvonne's neck right on the jugular! My father was a vet, my daughter and paddling companion David are vets and I know how pets can enhance peoples lives. It is good to know that people like Yvonne are prepared to look after needy companion animals.

With "Pieces of Eight, Pieces of Eight" and "This parrot is not deceased, it bit my jugular!" ringing in our ears, we  continued down the wooded east coast of Kerrera...

...until we came across the ruins...

...of Gylen Castle, which was quite free of parrots, though it looked spooky enough for more traditional vampires!.
Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

4 comments:

  1. highlandwriter24/02/2011, 01:18

    Fabulous pictures. If & when I visit Scotland, Kerrera is on my 'list' of places to go. :-)

    Thanks for sharing your journeys with us...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Phil Toman25/02/2011, 20:16

    "Max the parrot vampire of Kerrera"...

    " This parrot is not deceased, it bit my jugular ! "...

    and

    " Imminent Barassie monkeys "..

    Your on fine form Douglas ! Keep em coming !! :-0

    Phil

    ReplyDelete
  3. Douglas Wilcox28/02/2011, 01:49

    Thank you Highlandwriter, Kerrera has great walking as there is no vehicular access. Its little hills over great viewpoints.

    Thanks Phil :o)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ian Johnston04/03/2011, 10:28

    Hi Douglas,
    The parrot sanctuary was doing tea & cakes when i was last on Kerrera - very handy to just walk up from the bay. There was a fair stream of folk walking from the ferry to the sanctuary, with rather less heading for the south coast of the island - the cake was very good! Looks like you had ideal conditions; I've not yet managed to land on the south coast below the castle, always too much swell for a comfortable landing on the bouldery shore

    ReplyDelete