Three years with my SO calls for a (government sanctioned) mini-escape to the beach. We headed out towards Dunbar, in East Lothian, to explore the John Muir Country Park.









The country park marks one end of the John Muir Way, which runs across the central belt of Scotland. Perhaps next year we'll walk it!

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of wildlife photography. I love wildlife sanctuaries and zoos and basically any place I can take photos of animals. With no plans this Sunday, I didn't need much persuading to pick up my camera for a nice day out.





Well, it would have been a nice day only the Scottish weather was out in full force. It was sunny, but it was also raining and blustery and a little too cold to be outdoors for so long. But I still managed some very good shots!

















We had a bit of respite by nipping indoors to see a flying show. Some of the owls are trained to be Owl Ambassadors for their species. In practice, what this means is that they fly from perch to perch for bits of chicken, and their only goal is that chicken. They are so focused on lunch and so practiced at flying that they swoop extremely low over your head. There was an awful lot of ducking/protecting my camera!





Alicanto the Magellan Horned Owl




Tehuthi the Pharaoh Eagle Owl
















One surprise resident was this handsome kookaburra! Kookaburras are actually members of the Kingfisher family so decidedly not what you'd expect to find in an Owl Centre but since St Andrews Aquarium has meerkats, I've learned to never assume what I'll see at these kind of centres!













I will absolutely have to go back to the Scottish Owl Centre when it's a bit warmer!







Once again, another trip to Edinburgh Zoo. February makes for cold shooting but I'm pretty pleased with some of these shots. Always a treat to see the red pandas as well!
Here's v quick post from me, delving into the backlog of photos from the last time I was at Edinburgh Zoo. I'm pretty tempted to get myself an annual pass and start a photo series studying various species... We'll see.

It's a truth universally acknowledged that portraits look far more artistic when they're in black and white.

As I have said before, I'm super lucky that my job sends me off on trips to far flung areas of Scotland. I still can't drive (yes, still! I promise I'll learn soon!) so any trip that takes me off into the wilderness is something I couldn't do on my own and something I'm very grateful for.

This is a quick collection of photos from one of those trips - primarily through the Glencoe Valley and around the Loch Ness area. We were treated to both winter sun and a light dusting of snow.

 
Loch Tay from the coach


Buachaille Etive Mor (more like bae-chaille, amirite... I'm sorry it's my favourite mountain in Scotland, I had to)


From the Glencoe Visitors Centre


Ben Nevis


Eilean Donan Castle


Urquhart Castle


Loch Ness


I've never seen the loch look like this... actually to the point that it didn't look real. Such a treat to see after some truly dodgy weather!


On a completely separate note, I feel like I am perpetually trying to catch up with posts on here. There was a time when I was young where I'd stand puzzled about how adults didn't have time for their hobbies - I totally get it now. My bullet journal is the only thing keeping my life together at the moment, but ever so slowly getting there. Phew. 
There seems to be a tradition in my immediate family of escaping London around Christmas. We select a location around the UK and go exploring. With family dotted all over the country, we have a great excuse to visit beautiful towns and cities like York, Liverpool and Manchester while also seeing relatives. 

This year was Chester's turn. 


I think I was immediately struck by how old Chester is! It seemed like practically everything has its foundations in or inspirations from the Tudor era. An extremely photogenic city, I'm sure you'll agree!

Despite it being Christmas - the one time when shops actually shut in the UK - we did manage to find things to keep us occupied. As with York, Chester is a walled city, so we walked the parapets (both to see the sights and to keep warm). We climbed up to the Eastgate Clock Tower, pictured above, and began our perimeter of the city. 


If there's one way to keep me occupied and happy, it's to suddenly introduce me to an animal. When we approached Chester Cathedral, I spotted a falconry and nature garden in the grounds. I immediately zipped down from the walls and went nosing around. We were too soon to see the birds stretch their wings in flying displays but it's not every Christmas you meet eagles, hawks and falcons...


Inside the cathedral, I was reminded of a mini York Minster. You can tell an insane amount of upkeep goes into the cathedral and all its hand-carved wooden and stone insides.


Back on the walls, we were treated to more views of old and beautifully-kept buildings. Some more stern than others... 


Chester has a lot of pride for its buildings - even down residential streets - which is a thing I feel you don't see all that often. Although it was a very quick break as I had to wend my way back up to Edinburgh, Chester is definitely a very cute city and well worth a weekend break!  

In between working full time, teaching myself to draw by sketching every single day for the year (which, FYI, is looking more and more like sketching every day for the rest of my life because I'm too stubborn to let my draw count reset), attempting to have a social life, and continuing the very necessary habits of binging Netflix and hibernating to reconcile my sleep deficit from the week, it's hard to keep up with posting on here. I'm slowly catching up but it's more difficult than I'd like to find the time. But I will get there, so without further ado...

 Samhain, pronounced SAH-win or SOW-in, is an ancient Celtic festival celebrating the end of the harvest season and the start of the 'darker half' of the year. Each Halloween, the Beltane Fire Society perform a living, dynamic reinterpretation and modernisation of the ancient Iron Age Celtic ritual in central Edinburgh, complete with full costume, acrobatics and pyrotechnics. It was crazy impressive to watch. So much time, effort and dedication goes into the performance and the event is entirely run on donations!


In Celtic mythology, Samhain causes the veil between worlds to weaken, allowing faeries and spirits to cross over into this one. Performers are split between the faeries who belong to the court of Summer. They're covered in flowers and greenery and interact with the crowd by speaking about perfect weather and how wonderful the Summer King's eternal reign will be... while the followers of the court of Winter hiss and screech and celebrate the long-awaited coming of the Winter King. The main performance shows the kings and their courts fighting one another and Winter emerging victorious, ready to usher in the colder months.



While utterly otherworldly in person, Samhain was a huge challenge to photograph. It was raining like nobody's business, so cold I could hardly feel my hands, and the lighting was so strange with the general darkness from Parliament Square and the bright fire. I had to give up on my SLR (i.e. protect it from the elements!) and rely on my phone camera, which I have to say I was actually very impressed with.


Another exciting thing about Samhain for me was that one of my photos of the performance made it to the shortlist of a photography competition run by the Scottish Parliament! Super exciting and I was honoured to be selected for week six!

If there's one thing I really can't stress enough about this weekend in the Highlands and Islands (like I didn't mention it enough in my last post...), it was the ridiculously good weather we were having. It was October and while I had come prepared for rain and bitterly cold winds, we had beautiful blue skies. I think most of these pictures speak for themselves in illustrating how gorgeous Skye is so I won't write huge paragraphs like I am sometimes known to do... 


As it was so unseasonably nice out, we decided to walk over the Skye Bridge, which gave me the opportunity to grab some incredible photos - both looking back to the mainland...



...And out to the incredible Cuillin Mountains



Those who know me, know Iceland is at the top of my bucket list. Absolutely, unequivocally number one. Why am I talking about Iceland in a post about Skye? Because the entire island felt like a teaser for the country. Rugged volcanic features, vast open moors. I was struggling to pick my jaw up from off the floor. 



Every bend in the road led to even more impressive landscapes. 


The views from Dun Beag Broch - an ancient iron-age fort - were stunning. It was easy to see why it had been built in at the top of a particular hill; there was a clear view towards the Cuillin Range as well as an excellent scope of the bay. 


We could even see all the way out to the Outer Hebrides. (I think that's South Uist. Probably.) 


Suffice to say, I was enjoying myself.



On the opposite side of the island, we passed the Old Man of Storr - a rock formation that juts out of the Trotternish Peninsula. Storr gets its name from a folktale about two giants who were fleeing human attackers. They made the mistake of looking back to see how much distance they had gained and as they did so, were turned to stone.


I so wish we could have stopped so I could have stormed up there! It looks like such a good hike! Alas, coaches are not meant for such things. (Another point in favour of me getting a car...). Our actual destinations were Mealt Falls...


And Kilt Rock! 


Aptly named, as you can see. Mealt Falls plunge straight into the sea and we had good visibility back to the mainland. 


Skye's largest settlement is Portree and its harbour is iconic. Its name comes from the Gaelic 'Port Rìgh' meaning King's Port, possibly from a visit by King James V in 1540. 


It was fairly busy despite being outside of the tourist season too.


Saying goodbye to Skye was much harder than expected! It had been a whistle-stop tour but I absolutely fell in love with the wild landscapes. I will definitely be back (hopefully with the same wonderful weather and in a vehicle that can get inland!)