A bird in its wonderful breeding plumage that I encountered at a place the locals call Stinky Bay (on account of the pungent aroma of the rotting seaweed that makes the place a magnet for waders) on Benbecula.

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An image from one of many close encounters with a Short-eared Owl during a recent visit to North Uist. It was great to see how well this species seems to be doing on the island.

Tags:   Short-eared Owl owl North Uist Scotland Hebrides Outer Hebrides Committee Road bird of prey morning May

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The aurora was truly spectacular on Friday evening but having got out into the countryside where the skies were reasonably dark, I realised that I'd left the release plate for the tripod head at home. So I had to take images handheld. I took this 2.5 second exposure lying in the heather, looking upwards at a gnarled moorland tree, silhouetted against an array of purples, greens and blues. When word got out about the aurora, the roads leading out from Sheffield to the moors became almost grid-locked. I only noticed after posting this image that the rear lights of a car parked up at the side of the road can be seen through the heather.

Tags:   Aurora Borealis Northern Lights lone tree Sheffield May silhouette

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A rather heavily-cropped image of a Golden Eagle I encountered feeding on moorland on North Uist. I couldn't believe my luck to get so close to such an iconic bird; all my previous sightings had been of a distant bird in flight.

Tags:   Golden Eagle North Uist moorland Scotland raptor chance encounter

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Struan Cottage at Malacleit, North Uist, is probably the most photographed dwelling in the Outer Hebrides. I couldn't resist stopping to get a photograph as I passed by a few days ago, with the shallow water in the bay looking a typical, Hebridean turquoise under a cloudless sky.

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