A Young Photographer

While, like everyone else of her age, the younger of our two grand-daughters has a smart phone which she uses for most of her photography, she also has a Panasonic Lumix bridge camera.  There's no telling her that she has to take it with her when we go walking but, on the occasions she does, the results can be dramatic.

Unlike us of the (much) older generation, she's very willing to experiment.  Not that she fires off hundreds of pictures - she doesn't - but she's quick to exploit an opportunity, like this rather grey cloudscape taken from the slopes of Druim na Gearr Leacain on Monday....

....or, during our return from scaling Beinn na Seilg, spotting the possibilities in the shimmering waters around the Clansman as the ferry passed a small tug towing fish farm pens.

She's fully aware that trying to focus on something that's close, like the back of her sister's head, and a distant view means that, with the limitations of her camera, one or the other is going to be out of focus, but she'll still try the shot - with some success.

Sometimes her projects are chosen for her, like when she was 'commissioned' to record her parents' annual early swim in waters where the temperature is still below 8C.

This is another opportunity seized because, while the pied wagtail was prepared to pose for a moment or two, his attentions were concentrated on another pied wagtail and he wasn't hanging around.

But this young lady's best pictures, and the ones which she seems most to enjoy, are her close-ups, here of one of the first dandelions of the year.  She's coped with the depth of field, and managed to capture the detail wonderfully, yet she's self-taught.

Her generation is growing up with this technology and, while they enjoy it, they have little of the reverence in which we hold it.  So her camera is slung around her neck without its case and, if it bashes against a rock, well.... it'll probably be okay.  The priority is that, when it's needed, it's readily to hand.

Many thanks to Hebe for allowing me to use her pictures.

Glorious Sunshine

With the sun out all morning and light winds, the air temperature just before midday today hit 19C, and the wildflowers are now rushing into bloom after a late spring.  The first violets, in a bank along the Ormsaigbeg road, always seem to be the paler varieties, with the deeper toned flowers appearing later.

Lesser celandine have been in flower for a week or two but now they're out in profusion, with a better display than last year.  In many places, like this one, they have to hurry as the area will shortly be shaded out by bracken.

The buff- or white-tailed bumblebees - I can't tell the difference - have been visiting our garden heathers for about a fortnight, but today's warmth brought out the first common carders.

If the sudden heat is bringing out the wildlife, the domesticates seem to find it exhausting.  These pigs are on the croft next to us.

Lone Otter at the Pool

The trail cam has been watching the pool for a couple of weeks.  Almost every night, except when there was a storm, otters have been visiting it.  They've come singly, in pairs, or three together, almost invariably at night or at first light.  Because the camera definition in night-time shots isn't very good, we haven't been able to tell how many different otters have visited.

We've been able to watch them play, swim in the pool, and mark various tufts of grass.  On one occasion, an otter brought a large fish which it seemed to be anxious to offer to another otter.

This clip shows a lone otter which is calling.

Kilchoan Clean-Up 2015

From Geoff Campbell

Another year, another community clean-up. This year we had beautiful weather as we set about cleaning up the foreshore. Once again many thanks to everyone who helped out on the day and to Gillespie & Alayne for getting the trailer ready and emptied. The usual haul of plastic rubbish was present although not as bad as in previous years.

Now that the place is clean, please pick up any litter you see on the road and help keep Kilchoan that way.

HMS Pursuer

Good to see the Royal Navy's contribution to the massive Joint Warrior training exercise, involving 55 warships, 70 aircraft and around 13,000 personnel, hurrying up the Sound of Mull yesterday.  This is HMS Pursuer, P273, an Archer-class patrol and training vessel.  She spent the previous night in Tobermory Bay.