Glassy seas, Inner Hebrides

Inner Hebrides, Scotland. Day 21 , 19th July.

Heading back for Oban in very still conditions. We are passing Neist Point near the north-west tip of Skye. You can just see the lighthouse. It looks very different here from when we saw it on land.

For a time the mist descended and we could hardly see anything. It seemed the sort of weather where one might encounter the Marie Celeste. We didn’t see her but were soon to make other sightings and the sea was amazingly still….

An orca dorsal fin (not the flipper of a whale).

Female orca.

Male orca. The birds appear to be ringed plovers.

Fishing boat (dredger) in the distance.

Ringed plovers.

There are three orcas altogether. A bull known as “John Coe” and two females.

Common gull.

Lesser black-backed gull.

Gannet.

Dolphins.

Altogether, an incredible display in remarkably calm conditions.

Soay

Jul15

St Kilda, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Day 20 , 18th July.

These images are all from the Atlantic coast of Soay (the north-western island of the St Kilda group) as we slowly sail by….

St Kildan hunting parties frequently came here to gather birds and eggs from the cliffs of this wild landscape. There are 40 cleits on Soay, though I didn’t notice any from the ship (and certainly not in this image!).

There are no trees here on Soay, so the gannets cannot use leaves, branches and twigs to build their nests but make do with whatever materials are available, mainly probably flotsam and jetsum. Notice the number of pieces of rope hanging from the underside of the nests.

gannets, Hebrides, History, Landscape, Nature, Photography, Scotland, seascape, St Kilda, Travel, Wildlife

Soay and Am Plastair (small island to right) with Hirta in the distance – Click to zoom into very large image

This is another panorama available in large size. Click on the image to zoom in for detail.

Stac Biorach

Jul13

St Kilda, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Day 20 , 18th July.

We are in the channel between Hirta and Soay. Hirta is the main island in the St Kilda group and Soay is the large island to the north-west of it (original home of the Soay Sheep). Refer map in the Arrival at St Kilda post.

It’s a bit hard for me to know exactly what we are looking at here. The triangular rock looks like Stac Dona but that’s beside Soay and too far away so that must be just a coincidence. My guess is that the two rocks in the foreground are at the end of Hirta off An Campar (or the Cambir) and are too small to appear on an online map. The larger rock in the background is probably Stac Shoaigh, seen lengthways and looking closer than it really was due to perspective compression with a long telephoto lens.

The same two rocks in the foreground and definitely Soay in the background to the right. Probably Stac Shoaigh again in the background to the left.

Here we are looking back against the sun at the headland at An Campar on Hirta. What appears to be a square end to the point is actually a small island (Mina Stac).

On the left is Stac Shoaigh, showing a hole from a tunnel through it. The tall rock to the right of it is Stac Biorach. At the far right is Soay. The sea mist is a bit heavier here. it comes and goes.