Category: Scotland

A Late Afternoon Sun over Arran

Spring is most definitely on it’s way!

It’s been an absolute gorgeous day in Cowal with a lovely sunshine, although there was still a bit of a chilly wind. A great day for pottering about the garden and pretending to be a lumber jack. The best thing was to be able to sit outside with a cup of coffee in the sun.

The views from our cottage are always superb, especially when the sun sets with its warm glow over the forest and a pink glow over the mountains on Arran beyond. Although a great colourful sunset, I prefer the black and white version above.

It promises to be a very cold night with a clear, star studded sky and a touch of ground frost. And who knows, maybe a chance to see the Aurora Borealis after a week of red alerts and cloud covered skies.

Gone for a swim in the loch

We got up and came downstairs in the morning to find an empty dog basket in the lounge and Lola nowhere to be seen. That is, until we opened the curtains, with a hot dog lying stretched out in the spot of sun between the French doors and the curtains.

The nice ‘early spring’ morning with a warmish sun and without the biting cold wind from the previous days looked inviting, so after a cup of tea we went for a morning’s wander down the field to the loch. Lola running ragged through the field, chasing imaginary mice and a couple of real pheasants.

Lola must have got too hot lying in the sun that she thought it was spring and decided it was time for a swim in the loch. The water was pretty freezing and did not look inviting to me at all. But Lola loved it, as she went in for a paddle and a swim several times.

Hunting for prey or popping by for a coffee?

While making a coffee in the kitchen, Dowanhill Bob, our local sparrowhawk, swooped into the tree adjacent to our kitchen window, perching on a branch about one metre from the window. He happily sat there for a while, looking round for prey, not bothering with us behind the kitchen window at all.

For the first time in weeks, I did not have my Canon handy so I grabbed my little Lumix LX5 compact and took a few shots at it’s maximum zoom of a meagre 90mm. These two images are cropped a little, but not much, showing how close Bob actually was.

I then went downstairs to get my Canon and Lola ran after me barking her head off. Surprisingly, on my return to the kitchen, I found Bob still sitting on the branch. I aimed the camera but saw nothing. While I removed the lens cap, Bob had enough and flew away.

Flying high

The spring like weather made for a wonderful afternoon’s walk along the River Kelvin with (finally) some good opportunities for some photography. Not only did I manage to get some good shots of the dipper, I also got this wonderful shot of Lola in action.

The original black and white image (middle below) has become my most successful photo on 500px to date (by a mile!) gaining 33 votes, 13 favourites and 439 views overnight. Being picked by the editors as the second photo in their ‘choice of fresh content of the day’probably helped a lot.

I really love this black and white shot, especially the detail, but was not completely happy with the composition, with Lola being dead central. I played around with different compositions, even tried square, but did not get anything better.

A friend suggested editing the image, lowering Lola in the frame, closer to the log, so she would be on the bottom third. I think this change would take away from the look and title: ‘flying high’. So I decided to do the opposite, placing Lola higher in the frame, on the top third. In my opinion, resulting in an even better shot than the original.

So here are the steps I took to create the final image above. Using the lasso tool in Photoshop, I selected a band containing the tree and Lola, stopping just above the log, then moving the band upwards such that Lola is on the top third. Using the clone stamp tool, I carefully restored the edge and adjacent area as closely as possible to the original look. Using Silver Efex Pro, I then applied the ‘High Structure (Smooth)’ preset and burned the edges softly, still keeping the editing to a minimum. 

I would love to hear what you think of the different versions, especially which one is your pick of the crop and why.

Dipping amongst the scrap

It still amazes me how many people always congregate at the weir in the River Kelvin to admire the heron fishing on the far side, and how few people actually notice this lovely loud and active little bird when walking along the river.

The dippers loud call ‘zit, zit, zit’, similar to that of the wren, is a dead give away. On hearing bird’s call, it is always easily spotted due to its white chest and continuously bobbing movements.

This afternoon, I spotted this dipper on the other bank with the wreck of a car as a backdrop, making for a contrasting image. After the bird moved along the bank a little, I got the opportunity to take some shots ‘unspoiled’ by men, getting as close as possible by stepping on some stones in the water. When I turned to step back onto the bank of the river, I realised that I was the attraction of passers by. My jaw dropped when they asked me what on earth I was taking a picture of.

It’s a very wise dipper, staying on the safe and dark side of the river, as far away as possible from the walkway, busy with people and dogs. The little dipper is undeterred by the action on the other side of the river, and is continuously bobbing on the rocks and dipping in and out of the water. Occasionally, it will swim on or even below water in search of food.

Unfortunately, the river is too wide at this point to get close enough, even with 400mm, so the shots below are heavily cropped, in addition to being taken at high ISO and slow shutter speeds.

Dowanhill Bop

Dowanhill Bob, our local sparrowhawk, has been ruling the roost in the West End this winter, terrorising our garden residents, including siskins, goldfinches, robins, chaffinches, great tits, coal tits, blue tits, tree sparrows and even wood pigeons. The only birds that stand up to him and chase him away are the crows.

Our garden used to be teeming with little birds, but since Bob has appeared on the scene, it has been extremely quiet. And when the birds are in our garden, they are visibly on edge, looking round from a branch in the undergrowth, swooping into the seed feeder, grabbing a sunflower heart, and swooping off into the undergrowth to eat it. A complete contrast to last winter, when literally hundreds of birds were in our garden feasting on the seeds, fighting for a spot on the feeder.

We have been seeing Bob daily, when he swoops into Athol lane and perches on the tree at the back of our garden or sometimes on top of the seed feeder in the middle of our garden. Unfortunately, the tree in the back is too far away to get any decent shots, but when he is on the seed feeder, he is within good range as you can see.

He is lovely coloured male and hopefully I’ll be able to get some shots of him in flight soon.

Goosander (Mergus Merganser)

While walking along the River Kelvin, halfway between the Botanics and Kelvinbridge, I spotted a pair of Goosanders standing on the rocky shallows in the middle of the river. The drake had it’s head tucked under his wings, probably having a well earned siesta on the chilly afternoon, but the duck was busy cleaning herself.

I think that, unlike with most ducks (and birds), the duck (female) is actually more beautiful than the drake (male). And I just love the combination of the detail of her feathers with the turned head with crown.

Our ‘urban’ sparrowhawk

We have seen this Sparrowhawk swooping through our garden for some time now, but three times this week, I’ve actually walked into the kitchen seeing it perched on a branch less than a foot away from the kitchen window. On all three occasions, it had, unfortunately, flown away by the time I got my camera from the hall and sneaked back in to take a close up shot.

This afternoon, it flew into the tree at the bottom of our garden, perched high up, waiting for prey such as the tits and finches that frequent our seed feeders. I took a few shots, although it was just too far away for a real cracker.

Now my camera is ready in the kitchen, ready for the next encounter. I may actually need to park myself with my laptop at the kitchen table tomorrow, keeping my eyes peeled, as a Sparrowhawk swooping down to catch a garden bird is a mouthwatering prospect.

Moved by the sunset

This afternoon was the third time this week that Lola and I headed into Mugdock Wood for a wander and hopefully some photography of the devastation of fallen trees. Even after a week of cleanup, it still amazes me how much damage the last gales have caused in the city and the country side. I have never seen so much devastation and so many trees (and chimneys!) blown over.

On all three wanders, after an otherwise dry day, the rain started as soon as we left the car and headed along the tracks into the woods. Today, we retraced our steps from our previous wander, walking down the hill to the Allander Water and following the Wet Highland Way for half a mile or so.

The intention was to retake some shots (with the tripod this time) of a piece of bright red and orange bark that had fallen into a mossy hole in a broken tree. While Lola was running with a collie through the undergrowth I mounted the camera on the tripod and set about shooting the striking piece of bark.

Unfortunately, we started off too late and the light was gone, so with the combination of very long shutter times and dogs thumping past the tripod standing on very soft undergrowth, the results were a tad disappointing.

The rain started to get worse so we headed back and up the hill, where we got another photo opportunity, as the sky started to turn purple and red with the setting sun. Along our trek up the hill, I took quite a few shots of the silhouette of the birch trees against the colourful sky, both with a ‘steady’ camera and intentional camera movements.

Must go back soon, hoping that the striking piece of bark is still there and that third time is lucky.

Storm damage

We awoke in the early hours of Tuesday morning, unable to sleep due to the deafening noise of the gale force winds outside. Following several loud thuds on our roof and the worsening rattle of slates and metal, we decided to head downstairs to relative safety, scared that one of the trees would fall onto our cottage or a branch would break through our bedroom’s velux window.

As it was still pitch dark and too dangerous to go outside, we made a cup of tea and settled in the lounge to ride out the storm. As soon as we had checked the weather forecast online, the lights flickered briefly before total blackout. With the emerging light outside we could eventually see the devastation of the huge branches that had broken off the trees beside our cottage and hit our roof lying in the garden

The force of the gales hitting our cottage full on was phenomenal. We could clearly see the gusts rippling across the loch before hitting our cottage full on. This movie was taken through our patio doors’ windows well after the height of the storm when there was sufficient light. The force of the gales was phenomenal and the amount of water being blown off the loch was amazing to see.

When the winds had died down even more, we went outside to inspect the damage to our roof. As you can see from the images below, the lead flashing was blown upwards, and the slates were damaged in five places, with the main damage being caused by the falling branches. Later we found some of the slates that had  been blown hundreds of meters away into the fields behind the cottages.

Later in the morning Jim, our neighbour, and I started the clearing and the repairs. First we nailed down the corrugated iron on Andy’s roof before clearing the fallen branches in our garden to gain access to our roof. Jim’s experience with slating was invaluable and we cannot thank him enough for his effort and help with repairing our roof.  Without him we would not have been able to repair the roof ourselves.

Thankfully, we were prepared for unexpectedly long power outages with an abundance of candles and an open fire for warmth, boiling water for tea and coffee, and for cooking. We thought of going to the Kames for a bar meal, but they were closed for food due to the blackout. It was a novel experience though, cooking Irish stew for dinner on the open fire by candle light.

Due to the non-stop horizontal rain and the continued blackout, we decided to head back to Glasgow on Wednesday afternoon, a day earlier than planned. It was a journey through a landscape devastated by the storm. We had never seen so many trees felled in one gale before. There were several stretches where the trees fallen across the road reached double figures. And we were lucky, as the road to Dunoon had literally just opened. In fact, were driving behind the van that removed the ‘road closed’ signs.

Urban cormorant

While taking Lola out for a walk along the River Kelvin in the West End of Glasgow, I spotted two cormorants sitting on a derelict railway pillar in the middle of the river. Even though it was a very damp, dark and overcast afternoon, I took my camera out of the bag to make an attempt at taking some shots of these magnificent large water birds.

It was so dull that I had to crank the ISO up to 3200 to get the exposure, while still only achieving a very slow 1/80 at f5.6 handheld using my 70-200mm lens with 2x extender. Above all, it was not easy getting a clear view of either of the two cormorants due to the straggly trees obscuring my view and thorny branches swinging in my face, but I eventually managed to get a few good shots of both birds.

While taking some shots of one of the cormorants, I noticed a movement on the far bank and was surprised to see an urban fox out on the hunt in the middle of the afternoon. Unfortunately, the fox disappeared very quickly out of view after I had managed two shots with the cormorant in focus and the fox out of focus in the undergrowth. The best one of the two (above) probably qualifies for a ‘spot the fox’ competition.

The apparent stalking of the fox and vulnerability of the cormorant in the above shot is in fact an illusion. The two birds were quite safe, sitting high and dry (ok, not quite so dry) on a 10 foot high pillar in the middle of the river, with the fox merely passing on the far away river bank, as the last image illustrates.

Once again, today has proved: never leave home without a camera, irrespective of what the weather is like.

Windswept Ranch Moor

I met up with Tim Parkin for some photography on Rannoch Moor, arriving at the lay-by after an hour and a half’s journey in the dark from Glasgow just seconds after Tim had parked his camper van. We started off in Tim’s camper van with a freshly brewed cup of coffee and a blether before heading out onto the windswept moor in the early morning light.

Unfortunately, the conditions were far from ideal, as there was a very strong wind blowing across the moor. Not only was the wind chill factor unwelcome, the wind was so strong that nothing, apart from the bigger rocks, was still enough to photograph. After a bit of wandering and shooting a couple of shots, we agreed that we were literally being blown off the moors and to seek a more sheltered location behind the mountains and in the forest at Glencoe Loch.

While out on the moor beside Lochan na Stainge, I only took two photographs, but managed to get one that I am actually very pleased with, especially given the conditions: a panorama of the view to the Black Mount across Lochan na Stainge.

Before heading to Glencoe Loch to seek shelter from the wind amongst the trees for some more photography, Tim showed me an area of devastation on Rannoch Moor. The forest had been cut down years ago, leaving a wonderful derelict area. The mixture of tree stumps, rotten wood, grasses, mosses and lichen is asking for a return in the near future for some intimate landscape photography.