Did I really sneak a colour photo in? (Days 21 - 30)

Another 10 days has passed and the weather is still dominating the news nationally as well as locally.  Ferries have been erratic and on one day the timetable was completely reversed causing confusion if nothing else. But remembering to take a photo is becoming easier, although colour opportunities seem to tease when I'm staying strictly to monochrome! As the days are still short and the weather abysmal the majority of images are captured during my normal working day or routine such as dog walking.  Fortunately, being on Arran does mean that we don't have to pound the pavements as we easily reach forest tracks and paths.

Day 21 - Kings Caves

I do try to vary my dog walks although I have a few set favourites which I know how long they take, how muddy the path is and how messed up the dogs will be when I get them back to the car.  The Kings Cave circuit is one of my regulars and I often go 'camera less' but not when I need my daily piccie.

Day 22 - David looking dry - it didn't last for long!

Friday 31st January brought another bout of terrible weather; I had a teaching class booked for the morning and it required some outdoor photography.  The students were split and took turns between braving the elements and sitting in a hide with blankets.   Fortunately the location provided some shelter and after suffering mild hypothermia we all returned to a warm studio.  The conditions are not reflected in the photo.

Day 23 - These trees are still standing

Now into February, Saturdays effort was fairly woeful and lacked inspiration as conditions remained the same and I got stuck into some decorating, with just a short dog walk for fresh air.

Day 24 - The water is blown back over the top of the waterfall

On Sunday a friend had asked for some help with his PC so a trip over to Kildonan and a walk on the beach in high winds blew any cobwebs away and nearly everything else.  The small Auchenhew waterfall was also fighting the wind with the water being pushed back up the flow.

Day 25 - Sea at Lamlash

More storms on Monday, with high tide around 2.30pm I readjusted my college students timetable a little so we could go out on a field trip to see the waves.  Lamlash was under a flood alert warning, but it is perfectly safe place to see how high the tide would come in.  Roads were closed between Sannox and Corrie (parts having been washed away) but Lamlash stayed dry.

Day 26 - Brighter skies and fresh sea spray

Day 27 - A pair of Shelduck in flight

Tuesday and Wednesday saw more beach opportunities with seaspray and a pair of Shelduck in flight. I am often on the look out for birds and keep up to date with the Arran Bird website.

Did I really sneak in a colour photo?

Day 28 - a snapped tree trunk

Thursday brought another day where the colour of something attracted me to an old broken log stump.  The wetness was reflecting a fabulous blue colour, which was rapidly disappearing as I moved my camera into place as the light changed with the clouds. But it still provided an image for the day.

Day 29 - Diana focuses for a long exposure

Friday again and amazing the students arrived for another session on how to survive hypothermia (this time they had been fully warned that standing in water may form part of the day)!  But I managed to find dry bank sides for their first lesson on long exposures.  Some of their pictures I posted on facebook as I think they did really well.

Day 30 - Simple photo demonstrates multiple composition 'rules'

And yesterday I was actually looking for a photo to demonstrate some of the composition guidelines I plan to teach my college students next week and although I won't be using this one, it reminded me that spring and summer are not far away.

Outer Hebrides - Part 2

Beach on Harris

Moving on from the Isle of Lewis I travelled down through the Isle of Harris to travel across to the ‘Uist’s’.  This Isle of Harris is actually on the same land mass as the Isle of Lewis although the landscape changes and becomes more mountainous. Harris also has some wonderful beaches and the weather made the water look quite inviting! Don’t be fooled, its freezing!

Fabulous wild and empty beaches

A small ferry was required, taking about an hour to meander around the islands to reach North Uist.  The ferry times were disrupted due to the tides and I was glad I had checked beforehand.

Making the Orasay Inn, at the top end of South Uist, my base for a few days, I enjoyed  the remoteness of the island, often not seeing anyone all day, and indulged in fabulous sea food meals in the evening.

Typical South Lewis scenery on a cold grey day

North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist are all connected by causeways with one long road running down them all. I felt like I was playing ‘chicken’ on these roads as they are predominately single track with what I can only describe as ‘passing bubbles’, where the road widens enough for two cars to pass.  Travelling head on at 50mph to oncoming traffic, timing to meet at a ‘bubble’ became second nature very quickly, however disconcerting it seemed at first!

Storm clouds gather

As could be expected at this latitude the sunny weather did not hold and grey misty rain piled in, shutting down visibility and making it feel more desolate. Trying to capture the essence of poor weather can be a challenge but a storm rolled over the hills behind this cottage and I was torn weather to run for cover or get the camera out!

The rain approached as the wild ponies meander through the heather

As the weather wasn’t quite so nice once I reached South Uist I spent some time on the beaches watching a variety of waders including Sanderling and Bar Tailed Godwits. These were in a variety of stages of plumage. I am also sure I heard a corncrake although I never saw one.

Bar tailed godwits

Sanderling

There are a large number of ‘Sites of Special Scientific Interest’ on the island (I think over 50), the two biggest being in North Harris and North Uist.  A further large area is Loch Druidibeg on South Uist.  Here there are also a large number or Eriksay wild ponies roaming around, some of which appear quite tame.

Wild ponies roaming

Not that I saw them, there are still some hedgehogs on these islands after being brought across in the 1970’s by someone to reduce slugs in their garden.  These non natives, wreaked havoc and enjoyed not only the intended slugs but also the eggs of ground nesting birds.  Eventually culls were undertaken but now they are trapped and returned to the mainland. The island are known to be windy (good to keep the midges at bay), but in reality there were only light breezes.

Godwits in flight

Leaving from Lochboisdale across to Oban, a 5 hour sailing, we were accompanied by large pods of dolphins playing in the wash, had a huge Calmac breakfast and vowed to visit again.

Greylag geese migration

Beachcombing on Arran

1. Sannox beach

Beachcombing and rock pooling are great to pass an hour or two regardless of the weather.  It goes without saying the Arran has some beautiful beaches and plenty of them - being an Island! But not having an hour or two and in need of something for my blog, I challenged myself to photograph 10 different things, on the beach, in 15 minutes.  Setting photographic challenges for myself are good practice and loads of fun.

2. Driftwood

Beautiful sandy beaches can be found at Kildonan, Machrie, Sannox, Brodick, Blackwaterfoot and Kilmory (to name a few) but predominantly the beaches are pebble. Sannox just happened to be my port of call for these photo's - possibly not my best choice (sand and cameras are not very compatible) but that was my location so off I set, parking in the lay-by and using the stepping stones to access the beach (3 minutes gone already!)

3. Bivalve seashell (unknown type)

Sand or pebble all have tides which leave debris on the high tide mark, perfect for a bit of extra scrutiny. It's easy just to walk along the tide line and not really see what's under our feet - or maybe we're distracted by the sea birds and scenery?

4. Periwinkle

The day was really quite pleasant, a little breezy with the sun poking out every now and again.  The beach was deserted - not unusual for Arran! Most of the debris looked fairly routine, limpets, razor clam and mussel shells, seaweed, nylon fishing net and bits of drift wood. And I have to say, not a lot of plastic.

5. Whelks and limpets

But then the bright yellow periwinkles caught my eye and some whelks. Periwinkles come in a range of colours from white to orange with red stripes.

6. Seaweed, probably a type of wrack.

On picking through a patch of seaweed I noticed the fine detail on the leaf, which I think are called 'blades'.  Seaweed is a fascinating plant, it can survive extremely saltly water, being submerged for hours in freezing temperatures, drying out in baking sunshine, being battered by storms and feet and manages to survive! The seaweed on the shore varies and the ones found nearer the upper and middle shore have longer blades and often have 'bubbles' or floats.  Those nearer the lower shore have broader blades, but this is a big generalisation! The seaweed I looked at was a type of wrack, but I don't know which one.

7. Worm casts on shell

A bit more digging and I found the remains of a crab.

8. Eye socket of crab shell

Then a dried out starfish with only 4 legs left.

9. Remains of a starfish

And it was back to the seaweed.  This is part of the root system known as a hold fast.  But I'm not duplicating a photo of seaweed here.  I draw your attention to the fine white bone like chains entwined within.  I've no idea what they are but that was photo 10. Challenge complete and within the 15 minutes! Even though I got distracted with some duplicates (see more below).

10. Fine bone like structure entwined in seaweed holdfast.

3a. The beautiful shiny inside of the shell

4a. A white periwinkle

8a.  A crabs claw