Shetland February 2017

It’s been a longer than usual gap since the last chunk of time in residence at the south end of Shetland - and there’s been some weather recently too which took it’s toll on the fences.  Fortunately one of the neighbours did manage to retrieve the bits that were scattered down the road so all I was presented with was a rather heavy jigsaw.

What, no fence?

Having lamented the recent weather (and sorted the fence) I was then able to enjoy several days of typical February temperatures but very untypical precipitation and wind.  And as you might expect this gave the perfect excuse for wandering the beaches and headlands both down at the south end and (for a change) up in Northmavine (the wild Shetland northwest frontier) and particularly around Eshaness.

Quendale Beach
Scat Ness
Lady's Holm at the mouth of Quendale Bay, and Fair Isle on the horizon
Eshaness Lighthouse
Stampede Shetland-style at Quendale
Oystercatchers on Quendale Beach

Over The Fence

One of the joys of being in the Shetland house is looking out of the window.

From the south side of the house we look out onto Quendale Bay - with Lady's Holm in the middle distance, and (on a good day) Fair Isle on the horizon.

The view is in some ways unchanging - and in other ways changes minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour, tide-by-tide and day-by-day.

At some times of the year you can see porpoises feeding in the bay, at others gannets diving and seals basking on the rocks in front of the house - and very occasionally orca wander into the bay looking for the seals.

Sunday 11th February
Saturday 12th February
Monday 13th February
Tuesday 14th February
Wednesday 15th February
Thursday 16th February
Friday 17th February
Saturday 18th February

Photographing Scotland - Project Update: February 2017

The first step in my Landranger maps-based project to photograph Scotland is figuring out where I'm starting from - I think I've got images from 35 of the 80 or so Ordnance Survey Landranger maps of Scotland, and probably one or two more that I've missed on my initial haul through the picture archive - I knew there wasn't enough metadata!

The next step is to figure out routes through various bits of Scotland (with suitable photo-stops) to let me tick off the missing locations!


Sheet 1 Muckle Flugga HP 607 197 DSC_2326

Sheet 2 Whalsay HU 571 635  DSC_9186

Sheet 3 Eshaness HU 206 785  DSC_5079

Sheet 4 Compass Head HU 408 094  DSC_7306

Sheet 6 Ring of Brodgar HY 293 135 DSC_1584

Sheet 8 Port of Ness NB 638 538 DSC_5647

Sheet 9 Kyle of Durness NC 380 661 DSC_9629

Sheet 10 Torrisdale  Bay NC 700 620 DSC_7346

Sheet 12 Dunnet Head ND 205 765 DSC_1570

Sheet 13 Callanish Stones NB 214 330 DSC_5619

Sheet 14 Luskentyre NG 070 990 DSC_5355

Sheet 16 Loch Naver NC 608 367 DSC_9324

Sheet 17 Strath of Kildonan NC 224 904 DSC_1499

Sheet 18 St Kilda NF 095 995 DSC_5628

Sheet 19 Loch Maree NH 965 678 DSC_5812

Sheet 21 Dornoch Firth NH 748 855 DSC_2575

Sheet 22 Lochboisdale NF 791 193 DSC_5265

Sheet 23 Uig NG 388 634 DSC_2516

Sheet 24 Loch Torridon NG 866 542 DSC_5829

Sheet 26 Inverness NH 665 455 DSCF3451

Sheet 27 Findhorn Bay NJ 037 646 DSC_7671

Sheet 28 Lossiemouth NJ 238 705 DSCF3679

Sheet 30 Peterhead NK 137 457 DSC_1988

Sheet 31 Kisimul Castle NL 665 979 DSC_4852

Sheet 33 Eilean Donan Castle NG 882 258 DSC_5275

Sheet 35 Ruthven Barracks NN 765 988 DSC_0262

Sheet 36 Loch an Eilein NN 898 084 DSC_3793

Sheet 38 Ythan Estuary NK 005 260 DSC_9731

Sheet 43 Glen Shee NO 126 704 DSC_5417

Sheet 45 Dunnottar Castle NO 881 839 DSC_7780

Sheet 49 Lismore Lighthouse NM 778 351 DSC_4784

Sheet 54 RRS Discovery, Dundee NO 404 298 DSC_8905

Sheet 66 N Queensferry NT 132 803 DSC_0071

Sheet 67 St Abbs NT 921 673 DSC_8637

Sheet 78 Annandale Water NY 104 928 DSC_7377