Found a rather nice Islay and Jura drone video this evening. It was filmed and edited by Phil Curry, you can find quite a few drone videos on his channel, from Scotland and many other places. But as this blog is about Islay (and Islay’s neighbours) we of course focus on this video:
Islay & Jura 2023
Beaches, dolphins, a walking excursion to the Corryvreckan whirlpool north of Jura, lighthouse, hills, many great views of Islay. I hope you enjoyed the video.
And they’ve done it again. I’ve shared videos by the BadLads Diving before (eg their tribute to the Otranto), now I’ve come across their 2024 video. Some fantastic views from above and below the water in a variety of locations around Islay, also some wildlife thrown into the mix:
Seaweed & Seals 24
Thanks for sharing these videos, gives us non-divers some great views we would never otherwise experience.
Not strictly speaking an Islay link, but when I read the headline I immediately had to think of Islay. The rare bird is the elusive (as far as actually seeing one) Corncrake. I’ve heard its iconic call many times, in particular around Kilchoman, but only seen one once. A great memory of the late Ian Brooke, who excitedly knocked on the door of the cottage I was staying in to alert me to it sitting on a wall in plain view not far away. A great and unexpected sight. This bird currently only survives in the western and northern isles of Scotland in the UK, but the BBC reports about it being reintroduced in Norfolk in England with this headline:
To move on from the AI nonsense I started the year 2024 with let us change to something more wholesome and real. How about a video by Purple Heather Scottish Tours of driving around Islay and spotting various wildlife and farm life? Here you go:
WILDLIFE AND ROADS ON ISLAY #video #scottishwildlife #driving
And the bird at the end according to a Google Lens search is probably a Helmeted Guineafowl or something related. Not native to Islay….
Happy New Year 2024! Time for resolutions (including blogging here more again) and those kind of things. For various reasons I’m deviating from my usual New Year’s Day schedule today. Went for my morning walk (which I extended to a total of just over 7.5 miles) fairly late and so listened to the New Year’s Concert from Vienna using headphones while I was walking. So now over a late brunch I’m playing with some AI image generator (one of the resolutions, learn more about AI…) trying to generate some Islay themed New Year’s pictures. The text is written by me still, not an AI. Click on the pictures to view them in a full size gallery:
Plenty of Eagles (although not the right ones and a bay that reminds me a little of Port Ellen.Some generic whisky bottles, can we let them pass as Islay whisky? The geese look more like Canada, not the Barnacle I asked for. And some more non-Golden Eagles.Lots of fireworks, some Eagles (the one on the ground could even be a Golden Eagle), something that could just pass as a whisky distillery and even a generic bottle of Islay whiskyThe distillery looks a bit weird, but acceptable, just. The Barnacle Geese look like Canada Geese again. But the weird Swan and Geese (?) hybrid on the left is baffling me.The whiskies look a bit weird and I’m not sure of the glass second from the left. The Barnacle Geese look a bit weird and I’m not sure about the Eagle either. Cottages could actually be on Islay somewhere, even the pier.More Canada Geese pretending to be Barnacle Geese and I have no idea what the bird in flight is supposed to be (certainly not the Golden Eagle I asked for). The village looks a little bit Islay-ish, although the lighthouse is in the wrong placeNice looking village with the lighthouse in a plausible place for Islay. The bird in the air seems to be some weird cross between an Eagle and some gull? Not sure what the birds on the beach are. Or what the bird on the right is supposed to be. Some weird whiskies and a strange carafe (?)Some more Canada Geese pretending to be Barnacle Geese. Some shady generic Islay whisky. The village could fit in on Islay.Not sure why the fireworks are with bright sunshine. Lighthouse looks slightly wrong, doesn’t make me think of a Stevenson lighthouse. Not sure what the flags are supposed to be? Plenty of wrong Eagles and wrong Geese (Canada instead of Barnacle)The village again reminds me a bit of Port Ellen, the building at the end on the left could just pass as a distillery (or a church?). Not sure what the birds around the Islay whisky bottle are supposed to be, not the Golden Eagles and Barnacle Geese I asked for. Nice fireworks in a good place though.
Some interesting results in the AI generated pictures (using Microsoft’s Copilot / DALL·E 3 from OpenAI). I asked for an Islay New Year’s day with Islay whisky, beaches, white cottages, lighthouse, Golden Eagles, whisky distillery, lighthouse and Barnacle Geese (in a few combinations). None of it really looks like Islay. The Golden Eagles look mostly like Bald Eagles. The Barnacle Geese look mostly like Canada Geese. The distillery looks weird. The whisky is generic, but that’s OK. In other words, not that much improvement to my earlier attempt.
On that note I hope you had and are having a good New Year and will be having a great 2024. Time for a New Year’s Day dram soon, I think.
The attribute “stunning” I often feel is overused and through that sadly devalued. But when I watched Donny Wilcox’s videos from Islay, Jura and Colonsay this evening I couldn’t think of anything else but “stunning” several times. Some really amazing views and different perspectives, views I’ve never seen that way before. Let’s start with Islay and Colonsay:
The Gurnard at Sea in 2023 Part Four ..Islay and Colonsay
Now let’s rewind to Donny’s arrival on Jura, his base for his time in the area:
The Gurnard at Sea in 2023 Part Three ..The Jura Area
And to close some more of Donny’s time on Jura, exploring Loch Tarbert:
The Gurnard at Sea in 2023 Part Five ..Loch Tarbert, Jura
I hope you enjoyed Donny’s videos as much as I did, the great views from the air, the sea and the land. Many thanks to Donny for sharing your adventures!
Over the last week or so I had a look through a large number of Islay related links which had accumulated in my newsreader. Many of them weren’t of much use, like many dozens of whiskies offers on shop pages or people and businesses named after Islay. But a few were more interesting, so here’s a collection of 12 of them:
This one might need a follow up and listen, but in an article about an upcoming album release show by Tim Monger it says “He said it ties together a list of niche themes — from cranberry bogs and distilleries on the Scottish island of Islay to the flightless woodhens of New Zealand.” Oh, and his dog is named, you guessed it, Islay
Any Leice photographers among my readers (I’m more of a Nikon person)? You might like Isle of Islay – A Wild Goose Chase! on the Leica Nature Blog
It’s quite far away, but I found the combination of the two neighbouring islands in an address in Canada quite interesting. If you’re looking for a house in Saskatchewan then 205 Islay STREET. Colonsay, SK might be of interest?
I pretty confident I’ve mentioned the mobile cinema (aka Screen Machine) on this blog at some point. What I didn’t know was that its first visit to Islay 25 years ago wasn’t a success as an article From the Northern Times 25, 50 and 100 years ago mentions
I would expect it is well out of the price range of almost all if not all of my readers, but as some of you might know Islay is the birth place of the Land Rover and they have just release an Islay inspired special edition: This £230k+ Defender Works V8 is inspired by a Scottish island
Haven’t posted much here this year and the last post so far this year was the traditional April Fools joke. Time to change that and get going again a bit more. How about a nice Islay video with some nice wildlife shots? Some good views in this one, especially towards the end, so make sure you watch it all:
Islay | 5 Minute Road Trips EPISODE 5
Billy Heaney visits Cornabus Farm and a variety of other places on Islay’s south coast as well as on the Rhinns of Islay, spotting a good mix of wildlife, in particular birds. And as I said, the best of his spots is at the end of the video.
Time for a short visit to Islay’s neighbour Gigha. Most people (well, at least those who have travelled to Islay by ferry) will have seen the Twin Beaches near the northern end of the island, this drone video filmed on a beautiful bright sunny day gives you some brilliant aerial view of it. Not to mention other nice views of Gigha:
Isle of Gigha in stunning 4K
I hope you enjoyed the video and the Dolphins showing up in the second half.
Found two beautiful videos tonight which I’d like to share with you. They are both from the YouTube channel DiveClyde which mainly focuses on narrated scuba dive videos. At least two of their videos (I haven’t gone through all of their videos yet) feature Islay, Jura and Gigha, the topic of this blog. The first one covers a trip from Campbeltown to the Southern Skerries of Islay with some of the wildlife including Seals and Otters:
Sailing Scotland – Campbeltown to Islay
For the second video we cross over to Gigha and then to Jura for some fascinating scuba diving views and more, including a bonus view of a Sea Eagle:
Sailing Diving Scotland – Sound of Jura
I hope you’ve enjoyed the videos, I loved the views of the Otters and the various fish under water.