Light snowfall

Several snow showers here overnight This was the track to the beach mid-afternoon. Not a lot of snow here on the coast, but I saw a car passing through the village with several inches on it's roof so there must have been heavier falls in the hills.

Sunset

Friday Dec 18th. A day of low cloud and snow showers then at 3:30pm a break appeared just in time for a short-lived, but spectacular sunset over Tralee Bay.

Winter moorings

This slightly surreal image of boats moored at Connel is the result of combining three images of different exposure.

Connel Bridge

Cloud cleared this afternoon and the sun shone on the hills just in time for me to capture this high-tide view of Connel Bridge, two miles south of Benderloch. For most of the day this is a wild stretch of water as the tide flows rapidly over the underwater cliff. This causes waves and whirlpools called the "Falls of Lora" which make for hazardous navigation but which are popular with canoeists. (See pictures on earlier post.)

Buildings

Benderloch buildings on a frosty day, December 13, 2009

Cottages at Port Selma

The old barn at Port Selma

Frosty morning Benderloch

Temperature stayed around freezing all day. I went down to the beach this morning and took some pictures. The sun appeared over the slopes of Ben Lora about 11am and the colours were interesting.

From behind the beach looking over the frozen ponds.

From the top of the beach as a lone boat exits Loch Etive and heads towards Mull.

Clouds over Ben Lora, Benderloch

(Click picture to enlarge)

The view from my front door this afternoon as cloud from a weather front started to pass overhead.

Standard photography didn't show this dramatic sky very well so I took three bracketed shots and put them through Corel PSP X2 using the HDR function - image below should show this.

So from three "interesting" pix I created the "dramatic" one which was much more as I saw it. Photos taken with Panasonic TZ7 which has a max +/- EV of 1.0. I could maybe have used RAW with my Nikon but the Panasonic was handy and time was of the essence!

December sunset

Sunset taken from the car park in the centre of Benderloch.
About 3:30pm December 3rd.

November snow

Driving round Loch Creran today we spotted snow on the Glencoe hills. Not quite the first of the winter as there was a light covering a few weeks ago.

Looking back along the loch we had this view of the sunset over the isle of Mull hills.

Sunset from Loch Creran

Took these from the road bridge across Loch Creran, near Benderloch at about half past four today. We are looking down the loch and the distant mountains are on the Isle of Mull.

 

 

Loch Creran area

Went up Loch Creran today and got some nice pictures.

At Glasdrum car park. The tide is out.

Looking up the glen.

View from picnic area at the start of Glasdrum walk. The dip between the hills opposite was the route of the old cattle drovers’ track heading into Glen Etive.

Rainbows and otters

Photos taken around the Sealife Sanctuary near Benderloch on 31 Oct.

A showery day with good rainbows.

Invermoriston

Had another trip along Loch Ness while driving to Inverness.
It was raining but the autumn colours still looked good.
These were taken by the bridge on the A82 at Invermoriston.

Looking upstream from the road bridge to the disused Thomas Telford bridge

 
Standing on the Telford bridge looking at the falls where I photographed a leaping salmon a few days ago (see entry below)

The dramatic autumn colours in the wood, taken from the road bridge

Waterfall, Barcaldine

Sutherland’s Grove is a particular group of trees by the car park at the bottom of the forest walk in Barcaldine. When you start to walk up the track you pass these small falls on your right. Best seen after a good downpour I took this as the low October sun shone through a short rain shower.

Views from Ben Lora

Took a walk up through Ben Lora Forest to the Eagles' Eyrie viewpoint on Sun Oct 18.

Benderloch and Tralee bay from the Eagles' Eyrie viewpoint on Ben Lora.

Late afternoon looking towards the Isle of Mull

Looking north from the Eagles' Eyrie.

Loch Creran in the centre and Loch Linnhe on the left.

The Beech grove in Ben Lora Forest, Benderloch.

This part of the forest is currently closed to walkers but I was able to take this view from the closest point you are allowed to get.

Autumn Colour, Urquhart Castle, Loch Ness

Taken yesterday afternoon on the way home from Inerness to Benderloch.

More info about the castle http://bit.ly/2ijLRa

Invermoriston Autumn & Salmon leaping

The main road from Inverness to Fort William passes through the village of Invermoriston. Looking upstream from the bridge over the river you can see old old bridge built by Thomas Telford.

Walked onto the old bridge and shot a video which included a leaping salmon. I grabbed this image from the video. In over 50 years of trying, this is the first time I’ve ever successfully photographed a leaping salmon. It made my day. Once I get Adobe Premiere figured out for HD I’ll post a video of the river and the salmon.

The leaping salmon

and for comparison the same view without he salmon
(just in case you missed it!)

By Loch Ness

Travelling home in the late afternoon the autumn colours were impressive. Here we are at the side of Loch Ness with a couple of views over the water.


I have removed the second view as the image and © have been sold.
(It was similar to the view above. S.)

Kessock Bridge, Inverness

I was at the opposite end of the Great Glen yesterday, in Inverness. Weather was great. Missed seeing the dolphins though the locals said they’d been seen as the tide came in. Contented myself trying to be creative with pix by the road bridge.

This from directly underneath the bridge supports remind me of the graphics used for aliens’ legs in space invader movies.

I used a wide angle lens for this as I wanted to include the word ”Lifeboats”.
The building is the RNLI station adjacent to the Kessock Bridge at North Kessock village.

Victory Hall – whats on soon

What:	Theatre - On The Black Hill On The Black Hill A play by Charles Way based on the novel by Bruce Chatwwin brings its distinctive style to a new adaptation of Bruce Chatwin's award winning, and much loved novel.
When:	Saturday, September 26, 2009 7:30 PM
Where:	Victory Hall Benderloch Argyll Benderloch Oban, Argyll PA37 1QP   UK

September sun and beach

A lovely warm day so couldn’t resist the temptation to go down to the beach. Naturally the camera went too and here are three shots taken there.

I liked the reflections on the wet sand here.

After running comes study – is it a pebble or a shell?
(Actually it was a collection of small marble pebbles.)

Meanwhile I relaxed on the seat at the east end of the beach.

Open-topped bus tour & Notepaper

The bus company in Oban operates an open-topped bus tour. It goes on the road under Connel Bridge on its trip and I took this shot as I came out of the village store in Connel and spotted the bus was passing.

Why was I in Connel Store? I had just delivered some packs of “Connel Bridge” Notepaper to Rosie, so if you are looking for some special writing paper and envelopes Connel Store is the place to go!

Red pin = Connel Store Location

Autumn approaches

Weather has been more autumnal than summery up here. Its a bit deceptive though – I look out of the window and put a coat on to go out only to find that while its windy and damp its still quite warm.

I’m testing out Live Writer as an alternative means of posting blog entries.

Waves breaking on the beach, Benderloch.

Plums

Victoria Plums growing against a south facing wall. The crop this year is large and the fruit nice and sweet.

Butterflies

In the greenhouse. Peacock and red Admiral butterflies resting on the large leaves of a courgette plant. (Click on image to enlarge)

Peacock butterfly


Red Admiral butterfly