Shetland exposed

We have been going through a quiet period of weather with some fine sunny still days and nights, however that all changed today with wind speeds picking up to Force 6-7

I like going out in winter, the cloud formations are always great to see and they are always changing, some very dramatic

Not many people out last weekend but they missed out with these sunrays taken looking west from West Voe at Sumburgh

Its been a sad day for us when we  had to put our cat Furbie to sleep, we had him nearly 18 years and he was much loved and will be missed greatly. He never enjoyed travelling so when we moved to Shetland we were pleased to find no other cats or dogs in the pens on the Ferry car deck

The Scalloway Vets were excellent throughout and we would highly recommend them.

Sun shinning on Cunningsburgh, a day later we had our first snow and found pavements covered here. It always seems to be worse for snow and ice than Sandwick just up the hill

Looking across to Mousa early morning

The Royal Mail is very busy as expected at this time of year but people are always surprised how quick we get mail at anytime of year, much quicker than when we were down in Sheffield. Amazon is very well used, is there anything they don't sell?

Quarff

Looking South to Sumburgh from Clumlie area

Scalloway in the winter sun

Just a few places left on the Get to know your own Camera course and Digital 2 photography course which I run at Islesburgh, Lerwick message me for further details

Remembrance Sunday in Shetland

I doubt that a single person will have got past the last weekend without remembering that it was a 100 years since the end of World War 1

Shetland had one of the highest losses of life in WW1, 1 in 38 compared to the Scottish average of 1:45

Even though the men had left for war, the Shetland women were busy knitting items to send to the front, more than 15,496 items were sent and after the war many letters of thanks were received.

Its interesting to find that Shetland also contributed 300,000 eggs to the `Egg collection for the war wounded', in total 32 Million eggs were sent from Britain to the wounded in France and Belgium.

In August 1917 the Shetland folk took to the hills to collect sphagnum moss, 2,500 bags collect and sent to be used surgical dressings as it had antiseptic qualities. The following year 3,000 bags were sent to the front.

At the end of the war 630 Shetland men had lost their lives out of the 3,600 who served in the forces with nearly 10 million men dead during in the conflict.

Like the whole of the UK various events took place, we went to the Festival of Remembrance at Clickimin where the above information came from.

It was very well attended and organised and then the following day we went over to St Ninian's isle where `Pages of the Sea' had been organised along with many others around the UK

Nearly 800 people attended with many folk taking part on the beach creating images of fallen soldiers, later to be washed out by the sea.

Scalloway Ancient Capital of Shetland

Its getting to be the windy month  with several Force 8 's passing through. Our new individual wheelie bins, which are tied to the fence even got blown over on Monday. Driving become difficult and a lot of people don't even go out 

Scalloway is a lot quieter than Lerwick with a population of about 1,000. Its a place where trees do well, growing in many sheltered gardens

Its an interesting place and offers many photo opportunities if you look 

Its the small things that make a good photo

Fishing such an important industry in Scalloway

The coloured houses just remind me of  Mull and it has the same feel to it.

Outdoor concerts?

We have been to the Accordion and Fiddle Festival this month and as always enjoyed the event although there seemed to be less people attending this year. I would like to see more local people play rather than bringing up Scottish musicians

Always good to see cats around and this  one came over for a photo. 

The castle, next to the very popular museum is a great place to visit. Although Earl Patrick was not a popular person and a number of people died building it. It was an ammunition dump for the Shetland Bus in WW2. This is only one of two Castles in Shetland, the other can be found at Muness in Unst.

You can book now for the above Photography course due to start in January