Yesterday, August 9, saw the 166th edition of the Islay Show, organised by the Islay, Jura and Colonsay Agricultural Association. Unlike many previous editions the weather was great, a "first time without wellies" according to an email I received from someone this morning. It was a fabulous day, hot & sunny, Islay looking at its best. As it is an Agricultural show it had Cattle, Horses, Sheep, Ponies, Dogs and Flowers as well as a large variety of trade stands. Also present was the Islay Pipe Band, Ella Edgar's Highland Dancers, Islay & Jura Dog Management Team Display, Classic Cars and Tractors and many others. Below are a few pictures, courtesy Ileach Newspaper of the best visited event of the year on Islay.

Bring in the Cattle

Ella Edgar's Highland Dancers

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Flickr has a huge amount of Islay pictures and a quick search on keyword Islay learns that there are currently around 53,613 pictures somehow related to Islay alone. Perhaps when I search for other Islay related keywords there are likely even more images available.

Today I've found a nice collection of Islay and Jura images taken by Dutchmen Ted van den Bergh. His collection contains 89 images so far and what I understand from his tweets he is currently on Islay and Jura and uploading images he takes on a regular basis.

Ted has a nice variety of images in his collection which includes some really good wildlife shots. My favourite is the one he took this morning of a Cuckoo. Ted said: "I heard a Cuckoo this morning after breakfast, I tracked him down and took his picture after the Cuckoo found a Caterpillar. Not bad for breakfast." Indeed! You can follow Ted's updates on Twitter.

Tag: photography cuckoo flickr

April the first already today, it's amazing how time flies. Our local weather forecaster predicted minus fifteen and snow for later this week... Right, April fools! But it is chilly and quite different compared to the glorious weather of a week ago. Speaking of weather, James Deane already mentioned the increase in blog posts due to the nice spell of weather. He also sent me a few very special pictures of a midnight walk to Bholsa on Islay's north coast for which I'm very grateful. Bholsa can be found roughly between Rhuvaal Lighthouse and Killinallan Point at Loch Gruinart. This remote area has a particularly wild and beautiful coastline with some very nice features such as natural arches, remote beaches and coves. James compared some of the pictures with "Star Trek Sets" at night and I understand why. Before I show you the pictures James sent me I want to let you know that we are still, or actually again, very busy with our home redecorations which means that there will likely be only a few blog posts this week, if any. I will do my best! For now enjoy the pictures James sent me and don't forget to visit the link at the bottom to his Facebook page where you will find lots more!

Star Trek set on Islay

Looking west to Killinallan Point

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The weather has brought sunshine and clear spells to Islay during the weekend which was a good reason for James Deane to go out on one of his Islay Night Sky missions, this time James was at Saligo Bay, at night to be precise. This is probably one of the first times someone went out there at night to take pictures and the result is quite amazing, even more so with the current conjunction of Venus and Jupiter on the westerly horizon. James sent me a few images for you to enjoy and I can recommend a look at the other pictures he took that night, they are available via his Facebook page

Saligo Bay looking west

Looking south-west with an orange glow on the horizon. (Portnahaven? Ireland? )

Tag: james deane photography pictures