The Beluga.

I caught wind that a Beluga had been sighted in the North of Shetland

Seeing it was an opportunity I wasn’t prepared to miss. When I arrived home that evening, I messaged a friend who’d posted about having been that same day. We made a plan to head out that next morning and arrive at first light. That week we had seen some very heavy snowfall and in places it was easily knee deep - Not easily navigated even in the best of vehicles! I carefully packed all my gear and charged every battery I could find before getting into bed.

The following morning I awoke to considerably more snow. It was bitterly cold and the wind had really picked up. We decided it was still worth trying. Full of anticipation, I hurriedly loaded up the Landrover and set off. Roads weren’t particularly awful by the house but as I drove further north they gradually worsened.

Turning off the main road and into some deep snow I ploughed my way to Richard’s house - very nearly getting buried on the hill up to it! Fortunately I just managed to claw my way to the top and waited. It felt as though all of the snow had been dumped in the area he lives. It certainly added to the sense of adventure. If it weren’t for the fence posts barely poking out of the white I’d have easily lost sight of the road at times. I don’t think anyone else had been out that way before me, for obvious reasons.

Richard emerged from the darkness, illuminated by my headlights. Arms laden with camera gear and bags, it seemed we had the same idea when it came to bringing everything we might possibly need.

The best part of two hours later, we finally arrived in Hillswick. Snow had drifted overnight and blocked access to the planned route so we opted to park by the shore a little further away and hike out over the hill and along the cliffside.

Trudging slowly forwards, unsure of how deep each step would go into the ground beneath us, we made our way out to the point of the headland. I must admit that the two of us fell into some fairly big holes and ditches along the way but laughed it off quickly. The wind was now very strong and snow showers were becoming more frequent. At one point we were both on our knees with backs to the sea to protect our cameras and faces, hoping the storm would pass. What would’ve been a 10-15 minute walk took much much longer.

Despite sub zero temperatures and strong gales, we continued. It took a good few minutes to spot what we were hoping would be there, but once it had caught our eyes there was no mistaking it. A brilliant white shape below us in the cold blue water was of course the Beluga. Swimming majestically around the bay.

There have only been a handful of sightings in Shetland and to have witnessed one of them was something very special for me.

A day of Ice caving..

We set off just as daylight broke. Not that it was particularly early given the minimal daylight that exists at this time of year. On a giant 4x4 with tyres the height of a small person. Our wonderful guide Marcelo played all sorts of dramatic music on the way to set the mood - though the landscape is more than capable of captivating those who experience it.

Once off of the main road, the bus bounced and swayed along a winding dirt track for 20 minutes. As we came around the back of the mountains the landscape opened up and the blackened dirt of the valley looked to go on for miles around us.

Given how unusually clear the skies were we had the opportunity to stop for a while before travelling to the glacier. Almost everywhere you go in Iceland - I feel - its hard to know where to look. Everything, and I mean everything you can see around you is just breathtaking. It truly is unlike anywhere else on this planet.

After some time in the valley we clambered back on board and headed towards the ice. The bus stopped a few hundred metres from the glacier’s edge as the terrain became a bit difficult to navigate any further with a vehicle of this particular size. We climbed down out of it, put on our helmets and crampons then headed excitedly for the caves.

As the glacier declines. New caves come and go. Each year there will be entirely new ones to explore. No season is the same as the last. Meltwater in subglacial rivers passes through cracks and crevasses to unify into a main river, carving the ice as it exits into the surrounding landscape. In the spots where the water escapes the ice, quick sand can be found and without proper precautions and knowledge of the area it would be quite easy to find yourself waist deep in it!

December 2022

Life has been rather hectic over the past year that’s for sure! The whole idea of having a consistent and regular “blog” hasn’t exactly been kept up.

Moving forward, I’ve decided for this space to be used more so for telling stories rather than a blog. That way it provides greater freedom to be creative and share my experiences without any ties to time. Here are a few images from the past few months.

February 2022

So its February already! It seems quite typical of people in Scotland to be: A - Surprised by the weather and B - Surprised by the time of year it currently is. Which I suppose is rather odd given that time moves relatively unchanged year to year as does weather (for the most part).

I recently had some necessary knee surgery which has caused me to be off work for a few weeks and relatively housebound. This has given me more free time than I can handle. Being fairly limited in the early stages of recovery as to what I could do, I thought I would sweep through my whole (horribly large) lightroom catalogue. I was amazed how many images I had overlooked in the past as I didn’t think them to be worth sharing or editing at the time. I quickly came across my photos from when I spent some time working in Skye between 2018 and 2020.

Having spent almost all of my life living in Shetland, I thought that Skye would be highly populated and relatively busy - certainly given how popular it seems to be and that its so much larger than home. Oh how wrong I was. The very first time I went there, I drove through the night in pouring rain and howling wind from Fort William, unsure and unaware of the landscape around me. I reached my destination late at night, met my work colleagues in total darkness and went to bed. The next morning I awoke to some incredible views - Nothing that I had pictured in my mind beforehand. I drove through to the town of Portree -Skye’s capital situated on the East Coast of the Isle - a quaint little place full of character and most importantly multiple places in which you can find good coffee!

Though it was windy and rainy almost every day for 6 months during my first trip there, I fell in love with the atmosphere and the landscape immediately. Thankfully on the days I managed to get out hiking and exploring the weather was like this and I hardly came across any other humans. Its much nicer to be alone in nature, unbothered by the presence of others.

Hopefully one day in the not too distant future I’ll manage to return here and see more of this ruggedly beautiful Isle.

For now, I guess I’ll just look reminiscently at pictures…