by Claire
Every trip, no matter how poor the weather, has its moments that will be recorded in the brain even if not caught on camera. Bringing home memories and stories to retell is a good second best to having a memory card full of images. This trip failed to produce the light that I had envisaged but there were two events that are etched on my mind and will cause me to smile for years to come.
The first involved a pine marten. If you were to ask me what my genre of photography is I would answer landscape but I get huge kicks from seeing wild animals. We watch the nature programmes on TV but if most people actually recount how many truly wild mammal encounters we have in the UK it would be small. I spend hours wandering around the countryside but rarely glimpse anything other than road kill. The prospect of seeing a pine marten was therefore exciting and Mel, Dougie and Bill had assured me I would as they had seen one on a previous trip in the garden where we were staying.
In preparation for this I had brought peanuts with me. The first evening (they tend to come out to feed close to houses at dusk) had not produced a result but I had remembered that they love peanut butter so I zipped up a concoction in the blender. Again no result. I therefore grabbed a few jars of peanut butter from a shop. The shops in this part of the world are almost as rare as the animals so this was a bonus. I decided that a large dollop was needed to waft in the wind so found a small glass dish and filled it. The following morning it had gone. I don’t mean just the peanuts, I mean the dish. Gone.
Undeterred I filled the lid from the jar and placed it close to the window on the picnic table. As I was cooking supper the beastie arrived. We had a fabulous view. The onions were burnt but it didn’t matter as I had seen something few people have – and they are BIG, the size of a cat. As it left it picked up the lid and carried it away. We had a laugh about what Mrs Pine Marten would make of the latest treasure brought home.
My final attempt to see and keep the animal in view involved the whole jar. Surely a whole bottle would be safe? I was wrong. This too disappeared. It was probably a good thing I had to go home. Who knows where this experiment would have gone and I am sorry that I have inadvertently left the countryside littered with items from our kitchen. I just hope Mrs PM has uses for them….. What she doesn’t know is that I have a huge smile on my face recollecting this event. A precious memory.
The second encounter is one I have waited for years to see. The Scottish otter has proved so elusive to me. I’ve had glimpses but never been able to say I have really watched them. This time I was able to see three playing and diving for about 45 minutes, too far away for my camera to record them well but the event is imprinted on my brain. A real hallelujah moment.
So what about the photography? I can only imagine what this area looks like in good light. We had a few hours with sun but most were when it was too high, we had some interesting skies but they were brief. Here below are the few shots that are worth showing. I wasn’t able to stay for the Mull part of the trip but I just ask you to imagine what Ardnamurchan has to offer with frosts and mists – I will return and next time I will work out a way to photograph that beautiful peanut lover.
Well if this is what you managed from a disaster trip I’d love to see what you get from a week of good light. Your story and memories from our week in Ardnamurchan make feel that we all had a good time after all. Your images are much better than the casual reader would expect reading your words.
Here’s to the next time the four of us go on an adventure and here’s to good light.
Dougie
A disaster trip?! Your pictures look amazing considering the light was not great.
Bookmarked your web site. Thank you for sharing. Definitely worth the time away from the books.