MARCH 15th: Just back from Tankerness again (to take 2 photos of the Grieves Cottage stone’s placement) and the presence of two swans in the loch I took as a sign to go there again. Slabs are still visible, though no obvious structures. Stepping back I was surprised to see an apparent small oval structure abutting one of the large flags. Not a simple slab outline but I couldn’t help wondering if this was what Raymond Lamb had seen – maybe after the drought of 1980 the loch never recovered its former level and indeed receded further?
Perhaps in Mesolithic times this wasn’t even a lochan. When I stepped back up the hill the ‘structure’ seemed to merge into other stones about so it went unphotographed. One very peculiar feature to report was that one ‘corner’ was a red stone ball about six inches across. Actually it is completely and minutely speckled with minerals.