​A collection of images taken in each month of 2022 that portray the varying landscape of this unspoilt part of the north-west coast of Scotland

Read the story behind them in my blog titled “A Year of Recovery”

Gilt Wrack
Sàilean nan Cuileag,
​Sunart

Sàilean nan Cuileag (Bay of Flies) lies at the bottom a quarter mile track that winds its way through one of Sunart’s many patches of Atlantic oakwood. The bay forms a safe natural harbour that has been used since Viking times and at low tide it empties all the way to its entrance. In the summer the entrance gets covered in thick layer of gold coloured bladder wrack which on this occasion contrasted beautifully with the grey clouds of an approaching rain shower.​

Misty Isles
​The Small Isles viewed across Sanna Bay from Portuairk, Ardnamurchan

My favourite view of the Small Isles is the one that you get from Portuairk because you look directly into the caldera of the extinct volcano that forms the central part of Rùm. I normally photograph it from the shoreline, but on this occasion decided to try from the hillside before you go down into the village. It was quite a misty evening with rain showers and cloud passing across the Muck, Rùm and Eigg. I took a few shots and was drawn to this one because it captured the slightest of light breaking through the clouds to highlight the white sands of the beach at Sanna.

Tidal Mirror I
Portuairk,
​Ardnamurchan

This shot was taken about an hour after the previous one, but from down in the village. The pink hue had disappeared from the sky and a high tide had filled the head of the bay at Portuairk. The weather was till misty, but the wind had dropped to leave the incoming see flat calm and like a mirror which reflected the now steely grey clouds that filled the sky all the way to the horizon when the jagged profile of the Rùm Cuillin could be seen.

Tidal Mirror II
Portuairk,
​Ardnamurchan

A third and final shot from the July evening at Portuairk, taken about half an hour after the second shot shown above. The wind had died down even further to allow the surface of the water further out in the bay to be completely still. This time, a slight hint of an orange glow formed in the sky and was reflected on the surface of the sea. It was not quite the show of colours I had hoped for, or indeed was promised by the weather forecast. Nevertheless, it was incredibly calming to stand there and take in this scene while contemplating a return visit.

Two Minutes Please
Muck and Rùm from Portuairk
​Ardnamurchan

I returned to Portuairk just over a week later in the hope of capturing the seemingly elusive image I had in my mind of the Sun setting behind Muck and Rùm. It had been cloudy all day, but the forecast was for the sky was to clear for an hour or so either side of sunset. I found my spot at the end of the headland on the eastern side of the bay and waited for the colours to appear. The clouds did thin, but only enough to allow a pink tinge to appear above the peaks of the Rùm Cuillin. However, I did like the simplicity of the composition I had found, so decided to simplify it even more by setting the exposure at two minutes thus softening the sky and flattening the sea.

Sundown Blues II
Sailean Dubh, Ardtoe,
Ardnamurchan

There’s a particular point at the end of the headland on the southwestern side of the entrance to Sàilean Dubh, where your eye can pick its way out beyond the entrance to the distinctive shape on An Sgùrr on Eigg and then to the Rùm Cuillin behind. It’s a favourite place of mine to watch a Summer’s Day come to an end, especially on evenings like this when the blues of an emerging blue hour mix with the golds of sunset in the time shortly after the Sun sets directly behind the Isle of Eigg.

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