Cairngorm mountains.
July 2022 - Summer’s bounty
‘Flaming June’ was certainly warm enough with temperatures in the twenties and a bountiful amount of sun. The Platinum Jubilee was blessed with scorching weather which did justice to the historic occasion.
We had a couple of visits to our cottage in Kingussie. Some early morning starts caught both the light and the wildlife; I counted eight hares bounding around the town’s shinty pitch car park on one occasion and found several others near the roadway. We also enjoyed some time with the osprey near Kincraig although they spent an hour doing absolutely nothing! Perhaps they had gorged on a trout just before our arrival and it was time to rest up…
Clearing skies at the end of the day made for some beautiful evenings with gorgeous light hitting the mountains. With the longest day imminent, it rarely became dark maintaining a constant twilight. With a view towards Glenfeshie from our bedroom window, I didn’t need to venture far for a picture.
As always, I spent some time down beside the River Tromie to photograph the water. Rivers are always in a constant state of flux with differing water levels, rate of flow and colours of reflected light. Hence, I am always drawn back to this location and never tire of finding new compositions.
The summer is always ‘full on’ for flowers and I enjoyed sessions photographing twinflowers and orchids. While photographing flowers sounds genteel enough, it can be an arduous labour of love lying on the ground while inundated with biting insects and risking ticks latching onto you. Not for the faint-hearted! Nevertheless, I was satisfied with the results which made the discomfort worthwhile.
Wildlife on the estate where I work continues to flourish with young chicks around the loch growing rapidly. There was a moment when the male swan went for a Canada goose gosling and had it by the neck while trying to drag it beneath some bushes. A quick intervention by members of the public ensured the gosling came to no harm and it was quickly repatriated with its parents. The summer has been bountiful so far; moths, butterflies, damsel flies, wild flowers, deer fawns, baby squirrels… let’s see what July brings.
July 2022 - Summer’s bounty
‘Flaming June’ was certainly warm enough with temperatures in the twenties and a bountiful amount of sun. The Platinum Jubilee was blessed with scorching weather which did justice to the historic occasion.
We had a couple of visits to our cottage in Kingussie. Some early morning starts caught both the light and the wildlife; I counted eight hares bounding around the town’s shinty pitch car park on one occasion and found several others near the roadway. We also enjoyed some time with the osprey near Kincraig although they spent an hour doing absolutely nothing! Perhaps they had gorged on a trout just before our arrival and it was time to rest up…
Clearing skies at the end of the day made for some beautiful evenings with gorgeous light hitting the mountains. With the longest day imminent, it rarely became dark maintaining a constant twilight. With a view towards Glenfeshie from our bedroom window, I didn’t need to venture far for a picture.
As always, I spent some time down beside the River Tromie to photograph the water. Rivers are always in a constant state of flux with differing water levels, rate of flow and colours of reflected light. Hence, I am always drawn back to this location and never tire of finding new compositions.
The summer is always ‘full on’ for flowers and I enjoyed sessions photographing twinflowers and orchids. While photographing flowers sounds genteel enough, it can be an arduous labour of love lying on the ground while inundated with biting insects and risking ticks latching onto you. Not for the faint-hearted! Nevertheless, I was satisfied with the results which made the discomfort worthwhile.
Wildlife on the estate where I work continues to flourish with young chicks around the loch growing rapidly. There was a moment when the male swan went for a Canada goose gosling and had it by the neck while trying to drag it beneath some bushes. A quick intervention by members of the public ensured the gosling came to no harm and it was quickly repatriated with its parents. The summer has been bountiful so far; moths, butterflies, damsel flies, wild flowers, deer fawns, baby squirrels… let’s see what July brings.
