The weather is playing with us.
This morning heavy snow flurries cancelled my trip to Bute.
But by this afternoon, everywhere was calm and still.
I took this from our bedroom window earlier-
Despite the poor light I was too lazy to set up a tripod. Here is another one, taken from William’s bedroom…
Storming
Ripping and rending
Bending then breaking
Scuttling and guttering
Litterbugs whirling
Hold fast to the railing-
Here comes the storm
Slates start their scissoring
Lifting and sliding
Chimney pots clinging
Open mouth howling
Insurance claims pending-
Here comes the storm
Foaming and crashing
Spray plume tongue lashing
White horses raging
Anchors are scraping
The shore all white teething-
Here comes the storm
Sirens nee-nawing
Some cars aquaplaning
Power lines sparking
Snaking and falling
Gadgets are dying-
Here comes the storm
Here is a bad photo of the Queen Mary 2 passing our house last night- so big it seemed like Gourock had come adrift.
Winds of over 70 miles an hour. Trees down everywhere. Lorries overturned.
Is winter here already?
I braved the low temperatures and crossed over to ‘the other side’ today. My intention was to go to Helensburgh, but Greenock was full of slithering cars and covered in freezing fog, so I rather tamely retreated.
But no time is wasted. I made some phone calls from the ferry- and appreciated the stillness.
The ferry is a great place to do this. It moves at a steady slow pace- giving around 25 minutes just to sit and think. It sometimes seems a very long time, and other times no time at all.
Today I had the camera with me too…
Hanging like old cobwebs
In a shipyard shed
The Clyde is fogged
The far bank
Invisible
And the flow of the old river
Is slowed by friction
Wrapped around
Rolling still, but slow
Like the year
Now passing
It has been wild here. Strong winds and really heavy rain showers.
Along the Clyde yesterday came a sight that must have once been common in these parts-
It anchored in the Holy Loch, like a thousand of it’s type before-
Before being replaced by paddle and screw…
Dramatic weather here over the last few days
First warm but very windy
Then a storm blowing in from the West
Then torrential rain showers
And dramatic skies-
Towering anvil clouds, and curtains of rain blowing along the Clyde
Lovely
Even if it all spells the retreat of light
When trees turn sepia
And die for a while
I was admiring the dramatic sky over the Clyde this evening (about 9PM) so I took my camera down to Dunoon pier to take some photos-
There is a bit of a rig doing something to the water works- but it looks a bit like an oilfield has been found just off Dunoon!
I decided to change to the longer lens, and while I was fiddling (of course it would be whilst the camera had NO LENS!) swimming in front of me, less than 10 metres away, were two otters.
Yes- OTTERS!
I could not believe my eyes.
I attached the lens as fast as I could, but this was my first effort, as they rolled over one another playfully-
Oops. Well it was very dark, and I was very excited.
I have never seen an otter in the wild before- and here they were, in Dunoon? Right in the centre, under the pier? On holiday perhaps?
I wondered whether I could be seeing something else- a couple of cats learning to swim? Mink? But actually, two otters at play that close are not easily mistaken for anything else.
They saw me watching them, and swam to the old pier, where they paused and watched me. So here are the photo’s-
I believe that otter have been spotted in all sorts of urban areas along the Clyde, even in Glasgow. But I have not heard of them being seen in Dunoon.
A couple of young otters on their way out along the Clyde perhaps? Doon the watter for a holiday?
I can’t help taking photographs of rainbows.
Rain is a bit of a surprise up here though- it has been bone dry for weeks. The garden certainly needs it.
this fragile tent 