Vantage point Shetland

The weather has just changed, now we have lots of windy, rainy days. The lochs are filling up and the gardens refreshed. This time of year is great for clouds, some dramatic with many patterns forming. On the way back from Lerwick on Tuesday i had to stop in the middle of the road as a storm raged with torrential rain and hail, thunder and lightening

I got out the other day in some good light and went to the turbines just outside Lerwick. The views were superb especially looking down towards Tingwall and the church

Tingwall valley looking north

Tingwall manse

Asta golf course and club house, just can just see the standing stone as well

One thing you notice being so close to the turbines is the noise, the swishing sound gets on your nerves very quickly so i feel sorry for anyone living close to them.

Not happy to hear of a 18% increase in electricity prices. With no gas its nearly all electric heating in Shetland and part of the reason is that companies such as SSE are investing lots of money into wind farms. Another factor to consider if moving to Shetland is that our standing charges for electric is double that of the mainland.

Its not just electric going up, petrol is now £1.39 per litre and climbing so that will affect anything that is transported to Shetland.

On Tuesday i ran a photography course for Mind your Head and mental health charity. It went well with 20 people attending and a number of folk looking to book other photography courses with me. The astrophotography course starting in November has only one place left, book direct with Shetland Adult Education.

Looking towards Dales Voe. Good news coming in that it has been chosen as the favoured site for an ultra deep-water base. This will see a large number of decommissioning projects coming to Shetland . The Ninian platform will be dismantled at the Dales site in 2020 this follows a £12m investment in extending the quay.

Tingwall airport

Dales Voe

Looking north to Cunningsburgh

World travellers in Shetland

On Thursday the `World' visited Lerwick, this is the largest privately owned Cruise liner. This is owned by Millionaires with 165 rooms available, you can pay anything from around $1m - $15 for a three bedroom apartment, with 3 bathrooms. Only people with a net worth of $10m will be considered to be a part owner of the ship.

At the end of the year each person has to pay a share of the costs as well, anything from the fuel, meals, port charges, staff wages and maintenance of the ship.

The Shetland Fiddlers and Folk dance had been asked back to play for the residents, they had to go through  security checks before allowed on.

The route seems to be hush- hush and not revealed to the public until they have docked. On board facilities include 2 swimming pools, 6 restaurants, a golf simulator and tennis courts.

They do however get a say in where the liner will go each year. Already this year they have visited Brazil, Miami, various European destinations before seeing the first light of 2019 down in Africa

.

Back on land and down at Scalloway the blue door always draws me. Its a very photogenic place, nicely framed by the trees. Scalloway is an area of old trees which are quiet rare in Shetland although many 100's have been planted and are doing well
.

I have been planting a few rosebushes but one has been ripped out of the ground three times already, and the strong Shetland winds are due to hit again in the next few days. Next door around 50 young willow trees planted a few months ago have all died, partly due to the wind but also the large amount of salt that's carried in the air.

visitors

Over the past few years we have had a number of friends and family visit us in Shetland and they have gone away wanting more. Shetland seems to get under your skin and a quick return is always on the cards

Next few from the Sumburgh area

Jim, Diane & Pat on a visit a few weeks ago

Stone age women discovered at Sumbugh

A lovely wooden bench at Hillswick

Open air concerts possible at Hillswick

The Minions make a visit to Shetland

Another interesting visitor

Filming has again taken place in Lerwick during the past few days for the BBC Shetland Drama and they had superb weather yet again, cannot wait for it to start.

I am delivering a photography course for Mind your Head, a mental health awarness charity next week in Lerwick and are looking forward to meeting everyone

Shetland Invaded again

The other week Shetland was invaded for the third time. First the Vikings came and swamped the Shetland culture. Then during World War Two over 22, 000 service men arrived to protect the islands from invasion from the Germans (see ww2preserved.blogspot.co.uk)

The other day  Lerwick's population doubled when around 7,500 cruise liner visitors arrived, mostly on the MSC Meraviglia  5,000 passengers and 1,500 crew and Europa 2 with  900 crew/ passengers.

On Saturday is was a break from the normal sunny still weather when a storm hit with Force 7-8 winds.

I love to get out in strong winds, especially as it was not raining and the sun even came out for a while. I didn't see anyone else

I carefully chose a spot where the spray wasn't coming over the cliff's and settled down in a safe spot looking west.

There was many photo opportunities, just had to wait for the waves to crash in. Getting the exposure correct is vital to capture any detail in the sea.

It was back to still sunny weather the next day and the only reminders of the wind was a few newly planted rosebushes laying on the grass. I remember a few years ago that rose bushes had to be replanted four times with constant Autumn gales.

Next door a newly constructed fence was partly blown down and we are no where near the stormy season. At least the new wheelie bins stayed secure.

It was good to hear that the Shetland Island council are going to bid to bring the Tall Ships back to Shetland in 2023, it would be great to see them.

If you want to learn how to use your own camera then come and join

 me on a course in Lerwick starting 10 September, you can book now see poster for more details