Barra Life

A foaming end to the pounding Atlantic waves on the coast of Barra This page has images from the life of nature on Barra, the last page had some links Go to another page.

to general information on the island. Barra in May, when these pictures were taken, teams with life, not just the life of birds and animals, but the constant, insistent, varied motion of the wind, and the sea. Being a small island, less than 3 miles across, the sound and smell of the sea are always present; carried so often by the wind that relentlessly plays with all that will move in response to it. And in May the flowering of the machairs and the nesting of birds reaches its height. This page does little more than allude to all this, hoping you will, as with all these pages, get there yourself. Water boiling amongst the rocks.

The water 'boiling' among the rocks on the shore Breaker over rocks.

Atlantic breakers breaking - over the rocks Ferry's bow wave.

The ferry's bow wave Swell surging into the shore.

The swell of the ocean reduced here as it surges into the shore Wave retreating from the sand.

You can almost hear the rattling, sucking noise of shingle as the waves draw back Light on the rocks of the shore.

Light playing Go to another page.

on the rocks of the shore Wave with Kittiwakes following and fish jumping.

A fish is leaping towards the left of this wave... Kittiwakes with sand-eels in their mouths.

...which the Kittiwakes are following. Several of them have mouthfuls of sand-eels Three Oystercatchers on rocks.

Oystercatchers, strangely silent in the medium of pictures, their constant... Two Oystercatchers.

...piping, normally a little irritating A line of Oystercatchers.

Oystercatchers - a random display of beak pointing Oystercatchers taking off

Having had enough of being photographed standing, these oystercatchers take off, giving the photographer a fine chance to catch the wing position in flight Common tern hovering.

Common tern - although this is not such an easy identification on the coast of Scotland Northern Diver and Heron.

Great Northern Diver Go to another site.

with a Heron flying over Great Northern Diver.

Great Northern Diver taken from my breakfast table Machers.

Machairs

in May

Buttercups on the machairs with oystercatcher. Sometimes written machers, but anyway as opposed to the area of Wigtownshire known as the Machars in Souther Scotland Ewe and lamb.

Ewe and lamb Highland cattle.

Highland cattle Cow on beach.

...cattle strolling Rabbit.

Rabbit dining... Snails.

...snails engaging...

Rock pools. The ripples of the water's surface are just visible, the colours produced by the algae and plants in the pools are not too disimilar from the originals The next page goes to a very different island: to the city state of Singapore; to its diversity, and in the following weeks its engaging combination of greenery and modernity in architecture.

Barra - Life in the Landscape