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| Atmospheric highlands |
A weeks holiday in Strontian, in the West Highlands of Scotland and a fickle jet stream unerringly changed its track to line up Atlantic lows with accompanying wind and rain, directly at the West Highlands, sigh. Still, I had plans in place to cover all eventualities, I'll also mention that the oh so cunning planning had failed to anticipate the effect on flora of a spell of below average temperatures and dry weather in late April and early May, deeper sigh.
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| Temperate rainforest |
After an early start from the Forest of Dean, we arrived at Glencoe for midday to take in the scenery, stretch the legs and do some spring flora 'ground truthing' with an excursion up into the Coire Gabhail (Lost Valley). The rain started as we crossed the footbridge over the River Coe. Still, at least the Allt Coire Gabhail was fordable, unlike on a previous visit.
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| Coire Gabhail (Lost valley) |
The flora 'ground truthing' revealed early dog-violets, with wood sorrel and anemones in flower in the woodland below the landslide, but up into the Lost Valley and a more montane microclimate with only early dog-violet's and the emerging leaves of alpine lady's mantle and saxifrage. Aside from savouring the scenery, the excursion showed the effect of a delayed spring and any aspiration of photographing highland alpine/arctic flora was shelved for this trip. It probably explains why June/July is scheduled for paid and guided alpine botanising tours in the highlands.
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| Atmospheric Glen |
The holiday accommodation was excellent with views over Loch Sunart to the Morvern hills giving a pretty good idea of wind direction and strength by the Loch surface and visual indication of the cloud base for a real time hill weather forecast. During the week, I could peer out the window at dawn, take in the view, reset the alarm clock and go back to sleep. The Mountain Weather Information Service forecasts held hope only for those aspiring to practise micro navigation skills in challenging weather and little hope for summit photography, so that ruled out the high summit potential itineraries, unusually for Scotland there wasn't a single dawn that warranted a photographic excursion from a hill summit and dusk excursions were likewise curtailed. Nonetheless, the plan had woodland, glens and minor summits to explore, with 'lichenscapes' and geology as a last photographic resort and I chalked up some brownie points accompanying Nic on wildlife spotting excursions. Wildlife sightings always add something to the Highland experience and this trips highlights being a Golden Eagle hovering about 60m away on a low hill col and a Pine Marten ambling across the road on a return journey from a fruitless vigil for Otters at a hide.
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| River Strontian |
During the week, winds were fresh from the North and West with accompanying windchill and combined with a warm May sun meant in the space of minutes you could go from full on winter wear and gloves to keep warm and dry, to a base layer to keep cool, a notable feature of the holiday was the number of stops to put on or pull off clothing and rainwear, as the weather changed.
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| Cladonia diversa |
The determining factor for outdoor photography is the wind strength, some effects can be mitigated against, but sustained exposure to strong winds have a dispiriting effect on ambition and with low angled rain it makes a demoralising combination. On higher ground the combination of wind and rain, can generate advection fog, upslope fog or a lowering of the cloud base, all of which make for poor visibility and a signal it is time to descend. In woodland and flower photogeaphy any wind is problematic. So the wind effectively determines where a day will be spent and for the holiday week it wasn't at altitude or on west/north facing slopes, the sheltered glens and SE facing aspects were visited.
Where the Highlands score so highly as a photography destination is the combination of scenery and lighting courtesy of changeable weather. Weather which provides the atmosphere, air clarity and rain that brings out vivid colour in the landscape and streams cascading down hill and valley sides. Even on a miserable day, there's the tantalising prospect of some dramatic fleeting light.
The Morvern and Loch Sunart oak woods are classed as temperate rainforest, the high rainfall and humidity, create a habitat where moss and lichen communities thrive, producing a woodland with no little visual appeal and are well suited to photography in the rain. Which was just as well given the weather.
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| Ariundle oakwood |
The highlands as a photography destination, often frustrate due to the vagaries of weather, but that's their intrinsic nature and a big part of their enduring appeal.
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| Ardgour Hills |
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