December night skies

This panorama was taken on December 1st, with an almost full moon.  The activity was strong enough to beat the brightness of the moon. 

All the above taken the same night.  The moon light alters the cloud colours, I wasn't sure how to edit out the purple! 

There has been quite a bit of Aurora activity this autumn and winter.  We are entering a peak in the 12 year cycle.  Just need the clear skies now!

 

A memorable experience

Aurora activity goes in a 12 year cycle, with activity increasing in strength and frequency as the cycle reaches peak activity.  We have been in a trough for a few years now, but it would seem that we are heading upwards again.  Last weekend was testament to that, and luckily for us, we had clear skies!

Aurora season, no 14

We were very lucky to have clear skies the other night, which coincided with some strong solar activity!   It seems like a long time since we had a good display. The arc was very strong and I could see the pillars dancing like net curtains against the dark sky though I couldn't see the colours.  So, so many stars and a bright Milky Way.  Just magical. 

This aurora was the 14th I have recorded since late August when the new aurora season began, and by far the strongest. Some nights a faint colour is recorded on camera but nothing visible to the naked eye. 

When I first started looking for the Northern lights we were at the peak of the 12 year solar cycle, so there was lots of activity and one or two exceptional displays.  For example this one in October 2013, which was very memorable or another in October 2015. The last couple of winters have been fairly quiet.  

This last image is 5 files stitched together to make a panorama.  

 

White Ramping-fumitory

This is White Ramping-fumitory.  The only records of this wild flower on Mull are here at Treshnish.

Prasad has nurtured and protected the tender plants since he first recorded it in May 2014. I think it is perfectly safe now!   Seen here growing rampantly where it has self-seeded - safely away from sheep and rabbits - in our veg garden.

The Aurora season has started.  Farmer alerted me to a bright sky on Saturday night, and I set the camera up.  Unfortunately there was a lot of cloud on the horizon so we didn't get the amazing activity they photographed on Orkney and Shetland.  But as the days get shorter, it was good to feel the night skies were active again, and of course overhead the stars were wonderful!

The fortnight in between

Not a drop of rain all week

This is the kind of March I remember when we first arrived at Treshnish, when you lost track of when it last rained.  We have been really appreciating it, as have our guests!

Usually we consider the Easter weekend as being the start of the season but we are fully booked this weekend, so I guess it has crept up and started already.   A few things still to catch up on, like clearing out the Phone Room which I dumped lots of books in, without putting away.. oops.  A job for tomorrow.

One last look at Walter before he had his hair cut.  Farmer took the hand shears to him, and he looks quite different but he can see again, and it must be cooler in the sunshine.  Photograph to follow..

I had a meeting in Craignure in the middle of the week, and the weather was glorious, and the colour of the sunset on the way home was so beautiful.  It has not been a very good few weeks for wind generation, but it is good for the soul, to have the stillness.

Then after dark, very late, I headed to Croig.   The folk who live in the house had gone to bed so their outside light was not lighting up the shed, this was just with the moonlight.  It was a very strong forecast but the moon was really bleaching the colours. 

After another day of sunshine, another aurora.  Again the moon was really strong so I decided to walk below the house to what we call the boathouse where Matt Baker's sculpture is.  It was so quiet down there.   My head torch beam alerted the ewes whose eyes caught in the light, as they looked and then slowly and silently walked away in the darkness.  The landscape looks so amazing in the moonlight.

The aurora started to show even as the after glow of the sunset was still showing. 

Then at 2 or 3 in the morning, the moon began to set.

The sun lost its battle with the clouds eventually, and we had two days of overcast skies, but still very calm and dry.

That is the bank of cloud coming in behind the Point. 

Farmer has been busy as usual. The morning feeding trip round with the quad bike and the snacker.  He and DG put the Cheviots through the fank on Tuesday, and on Thursday he accompanied me to Oban to get lots of chores done.  Friday he was fixing wood burning stoves and chimneys, and today I think it was a normal farming day.   We have feed blocks in various places on the hill, and he has to check that they still have the 'lick' left in them, and take out new ones if they dont.  This was good weather to do it in. 

There will be a bit more farm action next week, as the hill ewes need to be gathered in and checked over pre-lambing.  It is usually quite a sedate gather, as the ewes are heavily pregnant now. 

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