Loch Meadie

Today's afternoon expedition was to Loch Meadie. I'd checked it out on the map and there was a farm track running alongside it and a layby to park in, so I packed up my camera rucksack (including tripod for once) and set out.

We'd had the most amazing stripey sky all morning, which was just starting to pass:



I didn't see a single piece of wildlife all day, though I heard a couple of birds. Not sure whether it was the time of year, the place or the fact that the tripod clanked loudly - probably the latter! So I became a landscape photographer for the day:



Until the sky went flat grey and I had to turn to lichens:



and water:



I'm having a play with Lightroom 2.2 at the moment and so far am very impressed. Not quite got to grips with it yet (I've had it less than 24 hours), but I'm finding it a lot more intuitive than Photoshop Elements.

Back on the beach

After being stuck in all week due to volume of work and weather, I was determined to get out this morning. It was dry but overcast and had rained heavily the night before, so I stuck on my walking boots and went down to the beach (no tales of jeopardy and mortal danger today I'm afraid!).

The tide was out, which made it a great day to explore round the rocks and rock pools that scatter the edge of the beach. This one made me think of a giant rock caterpillar that had crawled out of the sea to drink at the rockpool:



No scrambling about on them though, because they're covered in seaweed. I think this is serrated wrack, but I'm still trying to make sure of that:



I went down to the edge of the water and watched the gulls for a bit:





The rain had swelled the Allt Beag and the Armadale Burn and they'd cut bigger channels down the beach than usual:



And then the weather started to clear. The next two photos were taken from the same spot within a minute of each other - just pointing in different directions:





Caithness and Sutherland do big skies very well:





And finally, I can't go down to that beach without photographing a ringed plover, can I? Today's mission was to get a good shot of one on the move, since they're the coastal equivalent of Road Runner: