IAIN TURNBULL PHOTOGRAPHY
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Photography Blog

Springtime in NW Scotland

14/5/2025

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Suilven and Fionn Loch, Assynt (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens, 1/320 sec at f/8, ISO 200, handheld)
At the weekend I had a couple of days camping in Coigach in the most splendid weather.  I spent the days travelling around Coigach, Assynt and NW Sutherland as far as Durness.  The above shot was pretty much the climax of the trip with a walk up to the Falls of Kirkaig and a little bit further to this wonderful viewpoint looking towards the south side of Suilven.  The Fionn loch wends it way into the distance providing an excellent leading line and the little patches of sunlight on the slopes of the mountain add just enough contrast to make the image interesting.

I have put the rest of the images in a slideshow below, rather than set them out individually as usual, I hope you enjoy looking at them.
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A Couple of Birds

14/5/2025

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Female Stonechat (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 300mm f/4.0 IS Pro lens, MC-40 2x Teleconverter, 1/1000 sec at f/9, ISO 2500, handheld)
I caught these two birds during a recent bird survey at Duirinish and Drumbuie on the Balmacara Estate in Lochalsh.  The first two are pin sharp as the bird was being particularly accommodating - not that unusual for stonechats which tend to perch on prominent plants or rocks making their distinctive chack-chack noise which sounds like two stones being knocked together.  I lke the first one because the bird is chacking with its mouth open, but the second one is perhaps slightly sharper, maybe it wasn't moving when I took the picture.
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Female Stonechat (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 300mm f/4.0 IS Pro lens, MC-40 2x Teleconverter, 1/1000 sec at f/9, ISO 2500, handheld)
he second bird is a sedge warbler, which like the stonechat is also prone to making itself fairly obvious and making lots of angry sounding chittering noises, although they also skulk in dense scrub making them hard to spot at times.
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Sedge Warbler (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 300mm f/4.0 IS Pro lens, MC-40 2x Teleconverter, 1/1000 sec at f/8, ISO 200, handheld)
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A Tour of Wester Ross

17/4/2025

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Clouds over Achnasheen (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 7-14mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 7mm, 1/1600 sec at f/11, ISO 200, handheld)
Last Sunday was one of those days where it appeared for much of the day that the light was going to let me down as far as landscape photography was concerned.  I had headed north for a tour of the bulk of Wester Ross and was feeling things were not going to yield much.  However, as the afternoon proceeded there were a few interesting little periods of light, some clouds doing fascinating things and broken light, all making for a few good shots.

The above shot was taken on the way home, just after Achnasheen, heading westward with the sun relatively low in the sky, but mostly behind the broken cloud.  Rain/snow was threatening on the hills, producing some great textured clouds.  The railway line provides an excellent lead into the frame from the bottom left, moving the viewer's eye towards the centre of the action where the clouds meet the horizon.

The next shot was taken from the road to Red Point, near Gairloch.  I was actually heading back towards Gairloch and spotted these dramatic clouds in my rear view mirror and simply had to stop to try and capture the view.  These localised squalls are one of the great things about our weather in NW Scotland at this time of year.  It all seems to be lovely and spring-like, and then suddenly, out of the blue, comes a burst of rain or sleaty snow.  Never leave a warm jacket behind on days like these!
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Dramatic Clouds over the road to Red Point (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 48mm, 1/640 sec at f/8, ISO 64, handheld)
The next shot is of An Tealach, one of the great mountains of Wester Ross.  The Gaelic name translates as the Forge or the Anvil I believe.  The ridge is one of the most challenging in Scotland, and in parts rivals the Cuillin on Skye.  This view is from the road to Ullapool.  I always think it makes an excellent composition, looking through the spring green birch trees and with a little bit of zoom to emphasise the height of the ridge.
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An Tealach (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 40mm, 1/400 sec at f/8, ISO 200, handheld)
Finally, the next shot was taken during an evening walk at Drumbuie on 1st April.  There was promise of a decent sunset, which never really materialised, but I did capture this image looking along the main drainage ditch in the crofting township, as the sun set beyond Skye.  Not the best sunset, but I like the composition with the square crop.
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Drumbuie Evening (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 7-14mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 9mm, 1/200 sec at f/3.5, ISO 200, handheld)
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Bright Cloudless Skies - Infrared Time

6/4/2025

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Beinn Alligin (Olympus Pen E-P1 (infrared converted), Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 25mm, 1/400 sec at f/8, ISO 250, handhled)
What an amazingly wonderful spell of weather we have been having, but I have not had a great deal of time to get out with the camera.  Today though I had a few hours in the afternoon and I headed north to Torridon.  It was truly spectacular, but for colour photography the complete lack of any clouds rendered the scenery less appealing for the camera at least.  Fortunately I had my infrared converted Olympus Pen E-P1 camera with me, so I set about trying out a few IR shots.  These are my three favourites.
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Beinn Alligin (Olympus Pen E-P1 (infrared converted), Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 13mm, 1/320 sec at f/9, ISO 250, handhled)
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Liathach (Olympus Pen E-P1 (infrared converted), Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 36mm, 1/320 sec at f/8, ISO 250, handhled)
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First Photography Outing of 2025

19/1/2025

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Suilven from Lochinver (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 106mm (212mm full frame equivalent), 1/250 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200, handheld)
So, after a couple of weeks back at work, and a decent weather forecast, I was keen to get out with the camera this weekend.  I agreed with a friend, Graham Ryland, that we would head north to my favourite area and just see what took our fancy by way of locations.  The result was a long drive around Wester Ross and south-west Sutherland, and we had a really good day out.

The above shot is perhaps a familiar one, although neither Graham nor I had managed to work out where exactly this view was taken from, until yesterday.  We had a wee rake around the back streets of Lochinver and eventually worked it out.  While it would be preferable to have a bit more dramatic lighting, or some snow on Suilven, I think it is such an excellent view, with the mountain looming large over the church, that it still worked well.  We will be back!

We basically visited the Achnahaird peninsula and then took the Inverkirkaig road north to Lochinver, dropped into the wonderful pie shop to get some pies for the family, and then up to the superb viewpoint overlooking the Assynt hills.  Then, finally in the late afternoon we headed home, via Loch Assynt.  The following shots are the best I managed to capture, and given that it was bitterly cold, with a strong wind, and the light was pretty flat and a bit hazy, the results are decent.
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The Summer Isles (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 40mm (80mm full frame equivalent), 1/800 sec at f/8, ISO 200, handheld)
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Old Anchors at Bandentarbat (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 36mm (72mm full frame equivalent), 1/320 sec at f/11, ISO 200, handheld)
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Old Anchor at Badentarbat (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 19mm (38mm full frame equivalent), 1/160 sec at f/8, ISO 200, handheld)
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Cottage by the Sea, Badentarbat (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 12mm (24mm full frame equivalent), 1/250 sec at f/8, ISO 200, handheld)
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Bouys (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 27mm (54mm full frame equivalent), 1/400 sec at f/8, ISO 200, handheld)
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Male Bullfiinch (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens with MC20 teleconverter (1200mm full frame equivalent), 1/1000 sec at f/8, ISO 6400, handheld)
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Canisp & Suilven from Lochinver (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 40mm (80mm full frame equivalent), 1/250 sec at f/6.3, ISO 200, handheld)
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Suilven Looming Over the Church, Lochinver (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 67mm (134mm full frame equivalent), 1/250 sec at f/6.3, ISO 200, handheld)
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Assynt Hills Panorama (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 52mm (104mm full frame equivalent), 1/200 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200, handheld) Panorama of 10 shots.
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Canisp (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 75mm (150mm full frame equivalent), 1/200 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200, handheld)
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Suilven (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 130mm (260mm full frame equivalent), 1/250 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200, handheld)
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Sunset and Pine Trees on Loch Assynt (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 7-14mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 11mm (22mm full frame equivalent), 1/250 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200, handheld)
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Sunset and Pine Trees on Loch Assynt - cropped (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 7-14mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 11mm (22mm full frame equivalent), 1/250 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200, handheld)
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A Beautiful Day to Celebrate 15 Years

5/1/2025

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Broc - Our faithful Border Collie - 15 years old today (Olympus Pen E-P7, M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 R lens at 150mm, 1/125 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200, handheld)
Today marked our dog, Broc's, 15th birthday and it was celebrated by a lovely walk this afternoon along the path to Leitir Fura in Sleat.  For 15 years old she is still energetic and enthusiastic about her walks, although she is happy to stay close by, and usually on the lead since she is almost deaf and can't hear recall commands.  As you can see from the photo, she still has a keen interest in what is gong on around her and a keen eye.  Happy Birthday!

The walk was followed by a late lunch at An Crubh, very nice as always, and then on the way home we encountered a magnificent sky, looking both eastwards and westwards, as the sun set.  Truly amazing pink clouds as you can see below.
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Magnificent sky looking towards Wester Ross from Ashaig on Skye (Olympus Pen E-P7, M.Zuiko 9-18mm f/4.0-5.6 lens at 9mm, 1/100 sec at f/4, ISO 800, handheld)
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Ashaig Sunset (Olympus Pen E-P7, M.Zuiko 9-18mm f/4.0-5.6 lens at 9mm, 1/160 sec at f/4, ISO 800, handheld)
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Happy New Year and Welcome to 2025

2/1/2025

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Late Afternoon Light on Clouds at Duirinish (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 43mm, 1/60 sec at f/5.6, 200 ISO, handheld)
So, after a horrendously wet and frequently windy end to 2024 the New Year has brought snow and some really lovely light this afternoon.  I took a short walk at Duirnish in the late afternoon and captured these images as the sun intermittently peeked through gaps in the clouds to the west.  The dramatic colours of the snow clouds was properly inspiring and I had a really enjoyable walk wiht my camera - a great start to the year.
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Illuminated Snow Clouds on the Applecross Peninsula (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 40mm, 1/200 sec at f/5.6, 200 ISO, handheld)
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Sillhouette of an Old Alder Tree (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 50mm, 1/60 sec at f/5.6, 200 ISO, handheld)
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Snow Shower Coming (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 40mm, 1/200 sec at f/5.6, 200 ISO, handheld)
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Snow on an Umbellifer (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 150mm, 1/500 sec at f/2.8, 200 ISO, handheld)
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The Cuillins from Duirinish (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 40mm, 1/400 sec at f/5.6, 200 ISO, handheld)
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Glascharn, Glen Shiel

3/8/2024

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Glascharn Deserted Settlement (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 7-14mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 14mm, 1/125 sec at f/8, ISO 200, handheld)
I had an excellent day out to Glascharn in Glen Shiel, Lochalsh with Graham Ryland today.  It was not looking very promising when we arrived at Chocolates of Glen Shiel, with heavy overcast and rain.  However, a coffee helped, not least in allowing the rain to pass, and we avoided the temptation of chocolate too.  We headed off on the north side of the river along to the deserted settlement of Glascharn, a long-time objective for me.  It turned out to be a lucky day with a prolonged dry spell, with ever-changing light on the surrounding hills and the empty pastures, where once people lived.
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Ruinous croft house, Glascharn (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 7-14mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 14mm, 1/250 sec at f/8, ISO 200, handheld)
Glascharn is one of those places where you know not many folk visit and while it is fantastically peaceful (apart from road noise form the A87 road on the other side of the glen) it resonates of a turbulent and tragic past.  There is evidence of a sizeable community that once lived on this spot and worked what is actually reasonably decent land, albeit pretty rocky, before being cleared to be replaced by Cheviot sheep, that still remain today!  There are some impressive stone walls, including the head dyke which is about six feet high, and another old dyke that heads directly up the slope, now surrounded by bracken, a sign of sheep grazing rather than the more traditional black cattle that would have been raised here once upon a time.

Many of the old structures are buried in this bracken which also reaches a height of around six feet in places, and is all but impenetrable, smothering all other vegetration.  Graham and I agreed that this site would very much merit another visit at the back end of the year when the bracken has died back.
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Old Drystone Dykes, Glascharn (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 40mm, 1/200 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200, handheld)
There are a few lovely old alder trees around the site, mostly running along a burn that, while dry at this time of year, shows evidence of a substantial flow in wetter times.  Sadly many of these wonderful old trees are showing signs of dieback, with dead branches in their crowns.

The light was providing some beautiful opportunities for contrasting shadow and light patches, offsetting these trees against the hills really nicely.  These moments were very fleeting and some patience was required to wait for a decent image.
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Old Alder Tree, Glascharn (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 46mm, 1/320 sec at f/8, ISO 200, handheld)
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Contrasting Light, Glen Shiel (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 97mm, 1/250 sec at f/8, ISO 200, handheld)
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Old Alder Trees and Contrasting Backdrop Light, Glascharn (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 75mm, 1/160 sec at f/8, ISO 200, handheld)
This delicate thistle drew my attention with a bright burst of vivid purple flowers against the otherwise largely green landscape.
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Thistle (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 150mm, 1/100 sec at f/8, ISO 200, handheld)
On my way to Kintail in the morning I had a little time to spare so went via Carr Brae to see what the view was doing in the overcast weather.  It fortunately cleared away a bit and the view east to Kintail  was brooding and mooody with misty cloud hanging over the distant hills at the end of Loch Duich.  To the west, the light was very different with some blue sky and fluffy white clouds and much more vivid bright greens of the grass and the darker bracken and woodland.

These last two photos were taken with my camera on the Shutterspeed Priority setting by mistake and a high ISO as I was shooting birds last time out.  This caused a little bit of noise in the images and some weird camera settings! Just ignore that.
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Mist Covered Mountains of Kintail and Loch Duich from Carr Brae (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 7-14mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 14mm, 1/1000 sec at f/8, ISO 2000, handheld)
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Loch Duich Opening Out to Loch Alsh from Carr Brae (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M.Zuiko 7-14mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 7mm, 1/1600 sec at f/8, ISO 2000, handheld)
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Bird Shots from Uist

9/5/2024

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Short-eared Owl (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 6.3, ISO 1000, handheld)
Last weekend we had a short trip to North Uist to visit friends and I took the chance to get out and do a bit of bird watching and photography.  In total I had 71 species of bird over the two days and I managed to capture the following shots of some of them.  The highlight was getting the one above of a short-eared owl sitting on a post watching me on Sunday morning.  There is a bit of noise as the ISO was quite high at 1000, but the early morning mist meant that the light levels were pretty low, so all-in-all I am pretty happy with the result.  Other bird highlights included seeing a corncrake, good views of corn bunting and a few black-tailed godwits.  I also had fleeting views of hen harrier, not good enough to try and get any photos though.
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Sedge Warbler (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 6.3, ISO 250, handheld)
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Wren (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/1000 sec at f/ 6.3, ISO 250, handheld)
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Starling (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/1000 sec at f/ 5.6, ISO 320, handheld)
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Greenfinch (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/1000 sec at f/ 6.3, ISO 1000, handheld)
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Black-tai;;ed godwits (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 6.3, ISO 320, handheld)
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Eider ducks (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 6.3, ISO 400, handheld)
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Shelducks (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 6.3, ISO 400, handheld)
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Turnstone (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 5.6, ISO 320, handheld)
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Eiders (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 7.1, ISO 200, handheld)
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Turnstone (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 6.3, ISO 200, handheld)
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Preening dunlin (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 6.3, ISO 200, handheld)
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A group of dunlin (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 5.6, ISO 250, handheld)
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Dunlin (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 6.3, ISO 320, handheld)
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Dunnlin (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 5.6, ISO 250, handheld)
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Sanderling (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 5.6, ISO 250, handheld)
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Ringed Plover (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 6.3, ISO 200, handheld)
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Corn Bunting (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 5.6, ISO 400, handheld)
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Whooper Swan (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 8, ISO 200, handheld)
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Dunlin (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 7.1, ISO 200, handheld)
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Dunlin (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 8, ISO 200, handheld)
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Shovelers (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 10, ISO 200, handheld)
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Collared Dove (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 5.6, ISO 640, handheld)
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Wren (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 6.3, ISO 320, handheld)
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Female Wheatear (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 5.6, ISO 500, handheld)
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Male Wheatear (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 IS Pro lens plus MC-14 1.4x teleconverter, 1/500 sec at f/ 5.6, ISO 640, handheld)
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A Few Old Trees

1/5/2024

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A weathered old hawthorn tree at Applecross (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 12mm, 1/1000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200, handheld)
The good weather last weekend allowed me to get out a couple of times with my camera, firstly to Dundreggan on Saturday to visit the new Rewilding Visitor Centre, and then on Sunday for a drive around Strome and Applecross to recce a few sites I had not photographed previously.

Despite the decent weather I did not capture many good shots, more planning required in terms of tide times and light, but useful for recconnaisance purposes none-the-less.  That being said, I did capture these three images of old trees.  I never tire of photographing the old specimen trees that we find, often quite isolated in a generally over-grazed environment, but struggling to survive the combined forces of weather and deer and sheep.

The above shot is of an old hawthron tree at the shore in Applecross village.  It appears to be standing free on its roots, clinging to the gravelly soil of the shore.  No doubt this tree has survived through many a storm and its footing must be a bit precarious with shifting gravel.

The next two are old ash trees near North Strome above the shores of Loch Carron.  As a result of ash dieback disease these old trees are disappearing from our countryside at an alarming rate.  The nearby Rassal Ashwood, which was once a National Nature Reserve has the disease and many of the old trees there are suffering badly.  All very sad, but hopefully some will survive with natural resistance, and regeneration might be possible in the future - let's hope so.
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Veteran Ash Tree, North Strome (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 17mm, 1/250 sec at f/11, ISO 200, handheld)
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Another veteran ash tree, North Strome (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens at 17mm, 1/250 sec at f/11, ISO 200, handheld)
The last few images are macro shots of some spring flowers captured at Dundreggan on Saturday.
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Wood Anemone (Anemonoides nemorosa) (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 Macro lens, 1/80sec at f/8, ISO 200, handheld)
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Primrose (Primula vulgaris) (Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 Macro lens, 1/80sec at f/8, ISO 200, handheld)
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Common Dog Violet (Viola riviniana)(Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 Macro lens, 1/80sec at f/8, ISO 200, handheld)
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    I am an amateur photographer who is also a Chartered Geographer with his own part-time consultancy business and I work as an estate manager for a national conservation charity in Scotland.  I am based in Lochalsh, Wester Ross, Scotland, just next to the Isle of Skye.

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