The one that got away...

I tried to update this while we were away - honestly, I really did - sadly the connection I was on was a little twitchy and I couldn't keep a strong enough signal to get both post and photos to upload..... Anyway, as it's all written, here it is. More from the holiday to follow.....

I'm sitting here at Nunton Steadings writing this - as the wind howls round the building! Looking straight up I can see the clouds scudding overhead through the skylight, but the sky behind them is blue and the sun is shining.....as it has each day so far since we arrived - lucky eh?! The first shot I have for you is the sunset on our first evening -


we walked from the cottage up to the road end at Sidinish, only a mile or so each way but a pleasant enough stroll to start us off - on the way back we were rewarded by this fabulous sunset in front of us - just what we wanted really! It topped off what was a rather special first day as we'd not been at the cottage more than a couple of hours when a glance out of the front window revealed Otters at play in Loch A Ghoill, just across the road from us. Amazing watching them - and especially considering all the time we'd looked fruitlessly for them previously, there they were just over the road. Didn’t manage to get any very clear shots of them unfortunately, but this one does at least prove we saw them! We've seen plenty of bird-life since we've been here too - seen Golden eagles several times now, and also a heron, whooper swans, black throated divers, Shelduck, Tufted Ducks, and the sweetest pair of Stonechats playing "kiss-chase" around us on our walk at Rueval (Benbecula) yesterday. Altogether so far we've seen 29 species of birds, and on the mammal front, seals (including yesterday evening on in the Loch at the back of the cottage!), rabbits, Red deer and of course the Otters

Finally - this is the beach on Berneray looking

splendid in the Sun - nothing like a walk on a white sandy beach to remind you that you're on holiday!

Hebrides Countdown....

This shot was taken on the Tuesday of our trip last year - we were heading home after a day exloring Eriskay and South uist, and had just turned into the Locheport road leading back to the cottage when, up on the hill ahead of us, we saw a herd of deer. We managed to find somewhere to pull in and sat in the car and watched and waited but they never really got close enough to us to photograph so we drove on. Lo and behold just a mile down the road there was another herd, this time right next to the road! Again we pulled in and I grabbed the only camera to hand - my old D30 which mercifully had the Sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6 lens on board already......I was desperately wishing at this stage that when we'd left our previous stop on South Uist I hadn't decided to put my camera kit into the boot, as I could definately have done with the advantages that my own 70-200mm f2.8 would have given me - notably IS (Image stabilisation) considering by the time that this shot was taken I was hand holding at 1/30th with only the car window-frame for support! It certainly taught me a valuable lesson about leaving the gear accessible!

Robyn

Hebrides Countdown...

This is Eilean Donan Castle, on the A87 shortly before you reach the Isle of Skye. You round a bend in the road and there, suddenly in front of you is this lovely building, and you know you're on the final stretch of the journey. By the time you get to that stage it seems almost rude not to stop the car, get out, stretch your legs and reach for a camera.......

This shot was one of the first I took with my 12-24mm lens last year - I ran really tight on time for getting it - it turned up literally days before we left and I was beginning to get more than slightly nervous! As soon as I put it on the camera all the stress and worry was worthwhile - it's a stunning bit of kit to use on the Digital cameras, but when you attach it to a full frame 35mm SLR it's phenomenal. The film camera gets so little use normally but every time I break it out with the super-wide lens attached I get totally carried away and shoot far more than I intended! I've little doubt that will change any this year.....hmmmm, that reminds me, I must remember to take the film out of the fridge.....!

Robyn