A Year of Recovery
March
Ardgour | Ardnamurchan | Moidart | Morvern | Sunart
Tioram and the Zodiac
Castle Tioram, Dorlin, Moidart
This image shows zodiacal light in the sky above the Castle Tioram, a triangular beam of light that is a feature of the night sky around the time of the equinoxes. It’s so faint that you need a clear moonless night to see it, so when the skies cleared on a moonless night in March, I took a trip to Dorlin with the sole purpose of capturing it in the sky above the castle. When I arrived, I could see the light as a false dawn on the western horizon and upon setting up the camera, I could clearly see a triangular beam light through its viewfinder and was fortunate enough to capture the image shown here.
Stillness
South Channel, Loch Moidart, Dorlin, Moidart
Dorlin is a popular place for visitors as it is where Castle Tioram is. If you go there during the day from March onwards, you will most like be sharing the place with someone else. However, if you time your visit for the end of the day, you can often have it all to yourself. I was lucky enough to be the only person there when I took this photograph shortly after the sun had dipped below the horizon beyond the entrance to the south channel of Loch Moidart. It was blissful standing there as a special kind of stillness descended on the Loch and brought calm to its waters.
Maclean's Moon I
Camas nan Geall, Ardnamurchan
I have a fascination with full Moons. Mystical in appearance, I’m intrigued by how they mark the passage of each month. Always rising at sunset and setting at sunrise because they lie on the opposite side of Earth to the Sun and if you time it right, you can capture the detail of both the Moon and the landscape before it gets too dark or too light to be able to. So, at the time of March’s full Worm Moon, I made sure I was at Camas nan Geall at just the right time to capture it over the sea out beyond MacLean's Nose. It looked stunning, hanging there in a sky filled with the warm pink and red hues of sunrise.
Shiver Me Timbers
Loch Shiel Jetty, Acharacle, Ardnamurchan
March mornings can be both still and misty and can bring conditions that are perfect for hoar frost to gather on vegetation, fences and in this instance the timber walking boards of the jetty in Acharacle that juts out into Loch Shiel. The frost brought out the lines of the woodgrain in the timbers, which were further enhance by some beautifully golden sidelight the rising Sun as it cleared Ben Resipole over to the east.
Morning Meanders
Abhainn na Coinnich, Kingairloch, Ardgour
This photograph was taken at daybreak on a March morning when I found myself driving on the road that leads down from the hills above Kingairloch Estate to Camasnacroise. I’ve driven this road many times and on this particular occasion my eye was drawn to how the pink from the twilight sky was being caught by Abhainn na Coinnich as it meandered down from Loch Uisge on its journey to the sea. A lovely sight that compelled me to stop the van and capture it.
Primordial II
Portuairk, Ardnamurchan
Anyone who has ever visited Portuairk, on the southern shore of Sanna Bay will have been struck by the view of the Small Isles and in particular, the view directly into the vast caldera of the primordial volcano that the Isle of Rùm was formed from. It’s an awe-inspiring sight and one that I have repeatedly tried to do justice to. I finally got the shot I was hoping for at dusk on a late March evening when the tide had receded enough for me to pick my way through the rocks and find an area of water that I could anchor my composition with, using it to lead the eye out to the peaks of the Rùm Cuillin.