Heron or Cormorant

It was a very grey and rainy day on my visit to North Kessock and very near to the end of daylight hours.

I was determined to get a few photos regardless and I spotted a heron in the water (the Beauly Firth) that was making a good silhouette and reflection.

Or WAS it a heron?

There has been some debate over the bird but I'm fairly sure it's a heron in the photograph. The argument was based upon the legs being shorter and that herons are not normally out in such an open space to do their fishing. Plus, cormorants stretch their neck out when they are about to grab their meal.

However, I say that the legs look shorter because it is in the water and it's neck is long because....well, because it is a heron.

A silhouette photo from a distance is not much to go on but what do you think?

Scottish Reptiles

During a trip to Culloden I almost trod on a lizard whilst walking around the battlefield. Yes, a Scottish lizard, about 3 inches long.

In my Scottish Wildlife challenge (that failed and fell by the wayside) I had obtained a list of all Scotland's indigenous species from Visit Scotland but after finding the lizard I couldn't remember any reptiles being on the list.

However, here is a site with information on Scotland's 3 reptile species - Scottish National Heritage

Here are a couple of photos of the little creature.

The red stone is a bit unfortunate as it looks like a giant tongue. The lizard would not move, though, and I didn't want to frighten him any more. A couple of quick shots taken then I moved on to give him time to recover and hide before anyone else came along.

A quick half hour with the macro lens

The sun was shining outside so I thought I would put my macro lens on the camera and see what I could find in the garden.
It was windier than I would have liked, the sun kept disappearing behind clouds and using continuous autofocus made things harder rather than easier.
However, I did get a couple of photos taken. I tried out some multi-frame shots and I quite liked the result.

150 years since American Civil War Battle of Antietam

(Photo taken from BBC History: The Scot who shot the American Civil War


Paisley.Org: Alexander Gardner (1821-1882)
N.B. The 1st line should read "...born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland...". I will have to let them know.

South Queensferry

On a whim, we stopped off at South Queensferry and walked along to Hopetoun House. We didn't go to the House because it was late evening by the time we go there but we did walk along the coastline. (Someone I know will be very interested to know that there was a multitude of White Foxgloves along the roadside.)

I only had my Lumix compact with me and the weather wasn't great so I didn't take any great photos. However, I found a terrific spot, on-route, for taking some photos of Forth Rail bridge and I hope to get back out there at night to take some photos if they still light the bridge.

Here is a slightly 'posterised' view of the Forth Road and the Rail bridge from where we were. They look like one single bridge from this angle.