Scatness

Shetland plans to have separate bins for recycling, even out in the country so that will affect us. Someone has not taken into account that it gets rather windy and I can see them taking off with rubbish scattered all over the place.

All Photos from Scatness

Only a few days ago we had an early gale which flung a neighbour's trampoline up in the air, the same could easily happen with a bin.

We have just changed Electric suppliers to save some money, moving from Scottish Power to a new company called Bulb. It was straight forward but lots of people on SSE would have problems moving as they are locked in on Total heating Total control - a Scottish thing

For the last week or so we have not had a Laptop having had an accident with our last one. Amazon acted swiftly and a new one was in place quicker than expected, they have certainly been a great help to us and with no postage costs either.

Today we reached 1,000 members on Shetland Aurora Hunter Facebook page  just send me a request to join. We only started this mid December last year.

My photography courses `Know your own Camera and `Night sky Photography are now both full but have some places left on courses after Christmas- search on the Shetland Adult Education website for further details

Good news for Shetland

I will be running more photography courses for Shetland dult education starting 11 September with a beginners - `Get to know your own camera' course (See below). Message me if you need any further information

If you are going to visit Shetland next year then there is good news. The Scottish government is due to look at reducing the ferry fare to Shetland and about time too. With the Outer Hebrides having a 50% cut the other year, Shetland's fares actually increased.

                                            Multi Coloured sheep - a TV star ?

The plan is to reduce the car fare by 30 % and passenger fares by 40% but cabin fares will not be reduced at present. These cuts will come into effect in April 2018. Cabin fares will be looked into when the new Ferries start sometime 2018/2019

While this is good news for some, cabins are somewhat essential, not chance that you will find us laying on the floor or in a seat over night.

                                                   A training ship for school children calls in at Lerwick

Other good news for Shetland is that a decommissioning project , hopefully the first of many has now commence in Lerwick. Around 30 jobs will be created and the first one, the 12,000 tonne the huge oil production vessel Buchan Alpha is starting to be dismantled over the next 17 months.

Another plug for Shetland was the Channel 4 programme on Fair Isle, the Good Shepherd just one way to get to the island for just over £5, however many come back by plane as the sea even on a calm day can be very rough.

No news yet on whether the Shetland webcam's will continue beyond the end of next month. It will be a big loss to many in and outside Shetland if they go. I normally look at Cliff Cam 3 for signs of the Aurora. If you want more information join us on facebook at Shetland Aurora Hunter - send a request to join.

Facecloot

Just back from 2 weeks in Sheffield and had a great time but we are glad to be back in Shetland. The weather at the time was better in Shetland than Sheffield and even Cornwall.

The trip did give us chance to give an illustrated talk on Shetland to 54 people at St Augustine Church hall in Sheffield, a mix of wildlife, Shetland Life and Landscapes. It was a very enjoyable night and i have been asked back next year.

While we miss our family and friends in and around Sheffield we don't miss the traffic. It doesn't get any easier travelling in Sheffield, with frequent traffic jams, pollution and difficulties in parking. The proposed Ikea store is well on it way to completion and an extension of Meadowhall still to commence,  all this will add to the congestion.

Our journey back to Aberdeen was straight forward after all, even though on the way down we had to go through 11 sets of roadworks. The fun run in Dundee had ended an hour before we arrived as had a number of roadworks

Don't forget to join us on Facebook (at Shetland Aurora Hunter) we are now on our way to 1,000 members. more at shetlandsky.blogspot.co.uk

Lots of ships visit Shetland with a great variety of oil and tourist ships joining the local fishing boats

The nights are closing in now but with blue skies and sun today its great to be back in Shetland, the travel to work a pleasure with roads free of heavy traffic. We do have a few reminders of our visit south, Yorkshire teabags, Henderson relish ( a specialty from Sheffield) we called in at Tesco for Yorkshire puddings but didn't bring back the Sheffield fishcakes , although we did have a few at the time. Lots of photos to come as well

Earthquake

Seems a bit ironic that we went to hear a talk by the Lerwick Observatory on Earthquakes and the Aurora the other Friday night but that afternoon an actual earthquake hit Shetland , with a magnitude of 4.8.

It hit a point in the north sea south of Shetland, 10 km deep and this time people have felt the effects. The last one, 8 years ago close to Lerwick measured 3.3 and there has been a few more going back 25 years but not as big as the other Friday.

I do like photographing detail and Lerwick provides many opportunities. I took a group of photographers from my Shetland Adult Education class on a practical the other day and had a good time. Everyone sees different things or different angles so we all got something a bit unique.

Details about a new Beginners (Know your own camera) photography course starting in September and a brand new Night Sky Photography course starting at the beginning of November should be available very soon. Both will be run at Islesburgh in Lerwick

You may have seen a petition going round to try and change the Shetland Island council's mind about withdrawing funding for the Shetland Amenity Trust who run  Promote Shetland.

If you are thinking of moving here then this is an excellent resource, they provide a lot of information together with running the webcams around Shetland and also proving a Video link to Up Helly , today i was informed that at least the webcams will still run for the time being.possibly to the end of September.

                                                                        No Policeman outside our No.10

While it may not have been as hot as the south of England we have just had a superb week with temperatures up to 18 degrees. With the ozone layer being much thinner in Shetland this made it a lot warmer than recorded

My Other blogs:

shetlandsfp.blogspot.co.uk
shetlandsky.blogspot.co.uk

Shetland aurora Hunter (Facebook) just send me a request to join

www.amazingshetland.co.uk (Canvas Prints)