Creag a' Ghaill, Balmeanoch, Mull, Scotland. Drystone sheep fank (pen) and abandoned lazy beds below Basalt cliffs on the Ardmeanach Peninsula.
Creag a' Ghaill, Balmeanoch, Gribun, Tobermory, Mull, Scotland. View south west from the B8035 showing stone sheep fank or fold, disused lazy-beds, and one of many Basalt cliffs which are a feature of the Ardmeanach peninsula on the west coast of Mull, where Loch na Keal opens out to the sea. When the North Atlantic was forming around 60 million years ago, Mull was torn apart from what is now Greenland, and the separation of the Eurasian and North American plates was accompanied by a long period of volcanic activity. Flows of lava poured over extensive areas of Mull’s ‘basement rocks’ which had been formed in a multiplicity of environments as Mull’s landmass journeyed north from the Tropics. The lava flows formed huge basalt plateaux or ‘stepped tablelands’ which were then eroded by glacial activity which continued into Mesolithic times, some 10,000 years ago. The handiwork of the glaciers can be seen in the long lochs, U-shaped valleys and dramatic cliffs of Ardmeanach. In places, the lava has been stripped away to reveal some of the older rocks such as sandstones formed in latitudes and climates similar to modern-day Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The glaciers also created moraines - dumps of rocks and sediments - on the plains before the cliffs, and post-glacial landslips formed sloping skirts of debris at their bases. On just such a landscape beneath Creag a’ Ghaill, crofters have built a stone-walled fold or ‘fank’ for the management of sheep, and piled up long mounds of soil and seaweed to form ‘lazy-beds’ for the growing of potatoes.
Size: 3707px × 2592px
Location: Balmeanach, Gribun, Mull, Argyll & Bute, Scotland, UK
Photo credit: © Jean Williamson / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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