First Morning in the Rain
Luing, in Argyll, in November 2023 was the destination for Brendan and my working week to gather material, me landscape and birds and for Brendan a source of inspiration for his paintings.
Here are the next 15 that I’ve posted on Instagram. It’s interesting to delve into the archives doing this on Instagram and looking through images you may have passed by before.
There are a few iconic species you hope for when heading to Mull and we were fortunate to see them all. The Otter showed on our last day and the Hen Harriers gave great scope views but were always a little far for photography. Both species of Eagles didn’t disappoint and Red Deer were numerous but better at dawn and late evening.
Mull, capricious, at times turbulent and always always changeable. This is an island of light and shade, of brilliance and foreboding often shifting between these extremes within minutes. It is a place that draws you in, holds you and tugs at you as you leave.
One of the star species on any trip up to the north of Scotland must be the Divers. The small lochans around Lochinver can be productive for the Black-throated, whist the Red-throated can be virtually relied upon to be in Scourie Bay. It’s not uncommon to encounter up to four at the same time here.Continue reading
Today was was a long sail; ten hours, with a lunch stop in Loch Scavaig,looking into the heart of the Cuillin.Continue reading
A little hazy today, but the sea state was good and made for a calm crossing over the Minch to the north west coast of Skye. We made a course to Dunvegan Head and then closely followed the coast past Neist Point towards Macleod’s Maidens, an impressive group of three stacks off Idrigill head. A bit of fishing here, which bought us a good supper of Pollock and Mackerel.
An early morning start at Llyn On gave a very atmospheric sighting of a Great-northern Diver. The photograph at the beginning of this post shows the breath coming directly after it called, a very erie sound with low mist hanging on the water.