Category: Nature

Haiku: Lichen Light

lichen and moss on branches in a winter forest

lichen and moss
a small forest grows
along the branches

© Xenia Tran

macro shot of lichen and reindeer moss

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/4 – 1/160 s – ISO 160, f/2.8 – 1/80 s – ISO 100 and f/4 – 1/640 s – ISO 160.

Sunshine’s Macro Monday #25

Dutch Goes the Photo Tuesday Photo Challenge: Trees

Silent Sunday: Lines at Dusk

sunset along the Moray Firth with the tide rolling out
sunset along the Moray Firth with the tide rolling out

The above images feature the final sunset over the Moray Firth in 2019 seen from Nairn beach. The last image in this sequence was first published in the Nairnshire Telegraph on Tuesday 7th January 2020 to accompany an article by the editor titled Farewell to an Old Year – and Welcome to the New. A very big thank you to Iain Bain for putting this edition together.

Wishing you a peaceful Sunday and a wonderful week ahead,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/2.8 – 1/60 s – ISO 400, f/2.8 – 1/80 s – ISO 800 and f/2.8 – 1/50 s – ISO 400.

Silent Sunday

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #80: Leading Lines

Wordless Wednesday: Frosty Mint Macros

macro shot of frost and ice crystals on mint leaves
macro shot of frost and ice crystals on mint leaves

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/4 – 1/160 s – ISO 100, f/4 – 1/250 s – ISO 100 and f/4 – 1/200 s – ISO 100.

Wordless Wednesday

Sunshine’s Macro Monday #24

Word of the Day Challenge: Complete

Haiku: Heavenly Portal

Lochan Mor

a male mallard duck pecking at the ice on a frozen loch

iced-up loch
so many rainbows
resting here

© Xenia Tran

a male mallard duck standing on a frozen loch

Wishing you all a blessed Sunday,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/4 – 1/160 s – ISO 160, f/2.8 – 1/100 s – ISO 160 and f/2.8 – 1/100 s – ISO 200.

Dutch Goes the Photo Tuesday Photo Challenge: Portal

Carpe Diem #1795: New Beginnings – Rainbow

Wordless Wednesday: Dawn of a New Decade

sunrise over Findhorn Bay, a few rowing boats in the foreground
sunrise over Findhorn Bay, a few rowing boats in the foreground

Wishing you all a blessed New Year!

With love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/8 – 1/1600 s – ISO 100, f/8 – 1/1000 s – ISO 200 and f/5 – 1/1000 s – ISO 200.

Wordless Wednesday

Jez Braithwaite’s Water Water Everywhere #8

Word of the Day Challenge: Renewal

Looking Back at 2019 – Thank you for the Magic

Looking back at our tenth year in the Scottish Highlands we are once more so humbled by the beauty of nature and grateful to share a few favourite moments from the places we love.

  • close up shot of three fully grown cygnets by a snow-covered river bank
  • a pair of greylag geese bonding in shallow water beside reeds
  • a pair of greylag geese in the shallows of a loch
  • a pen feeding six of her cygnets with underwater plants in a pond
  • two three week old cygnets beside their mother, water splashing between them
  • a swan couple with their cygnet in the pond
  • close up shot of a mature raven high up on a tree branch
  • a male merganser standing proudly at the edge of the river after preening
  • five one-week-old ducklings in wet grass
  • two ducklings feeding in the shallows of the river
  • a flock of greenshank flying in formation above the sea and sandbar
  • close up shot of a flock of greenshank wading towards the shore
  • side-on close-up shot of an oystercatcher wading through the shallows
  • four snoozing harbour seals on a sandbar

We have enjoyed our walks along the river, the pond and the shores along the Moray Coast. It was early January, when the last grown up cygnets flew the river nest and began the next stage of their journey. The pond swans were fortunate to have cygnets again this year, with one them surviving into adulthood. The river has been abundant with wildlife, with merganser, heron, redshank, goosander, and a record number of ducks. The mild Autumn brought a second wave of ducklings, who are still thriving today. We’ve seen many migrating birds pass our shores, especially geese, greenshank and dunlin. In the forests, we enjoyed peaceful encounters with raven, each of them inspiring a poem.

Raven’s Call became our most popular wildlife post of the year. A few other popular posts featuring wildlife were Summer Cygnets and Autumn Equinox featuring the pond swans, Two Herons and Mountain Frog.

  • macro shot of a violet crocus bloom with orange stigma and anthers in the centre
  • macro shot of green budding leaves with a heart-shaped raindrop resting on one leaf
  • macro shot of a yellow Doronicum Little Leo bud with unfurling petals
  • macro shot of a chive blossom newly flowered with a bumble bee feeding
  • close up shot of forget-me-not flowers with a green bokeh
  • macro shot of a painted lady butterfly on top of lilac blossom
  • macro shot of a white feather
  • macro shot of the face of a painted lady butterfly feeding on purple buddleia
  • macro shot of a peacock butterfly feeding on a magenta Duddleia
  • macro shot of apple blossom
  • macro shot of a ripened, red apple
  • macro shot of raindrops on blades of grass
  • macro shot of a wide open empty beech nut husk
  • macro shot of brown leaves covered in melting hoarfrost
  • macro shot of a pink geranium flower with raindrops

With our mild Winter and plenty of rain during the Spring and Summer, 2019 was a good year for flowers, bumblebees and butterflies. The mild Autumn that followed saw many flowers bloom for a second time.

Hoarfrost became our most popular post featuring macro photography, posted late November after our first overnight frost. Flowers in the Detail, Fuzzy Blue and Cuckoo Flower also feature in the top ten posts for this year.

  • a barn and farmhouse beside birch and pine trees reflected in the water
  • a wooden bench made from tree trunks overlooking Findhorn Bay
  • morning mist lifting above the Dornoch Firth, a wooden bench in the foreground
  • snoozing and sleeping harbour seals and grey seals on a sandbar in Loch Fleet
  • a sculpted wooden seat with birch leaves carved in the wood and an otter resting
  • sculpture of a female geologist at Knockan Crag, the loch and hills in the background
  • Views of mountains Canisp and Suilven from the Stoer road with gorse in bloom
  • view of ten colourful beach huts in the dunes overlooking the Moray Firth
  • flowers in the foreground by the ferry terminal in Ullapool
  • Loch Dunmore in Autumn with reflections of the trees
  • close up shot of a a full moon art work suspended in Faskally Wood
  • golden sunrise over the Kyle and mountains
  • a vibrant rainbow coming through the clouds behind a hillfarm with Aberdeen Angus

With the weather so much kinder than in 2018, we were able to travel North and West a few times. The beautiful landscape inspired many poems. In addition to haiku, haibun and tanka I revisited the villanelle and experimented with the lai nouveau and rubaiyat.

Our most popular post on the blog Fragrant Breeze was inspired by the wonderful landscape of Assynt in the Spring. Five other scenic posts feature in the top ten for the year, including Loch Broom, Forest Lake and Where Ducks Fly. We were delighted when our photographic post Castle in the Rain inspired a poem by a fellow blogger in Castle Ardvreck.

We want to say a very big thank you to all of you who take the time to visit and comment on our blog and to those of you who share your experiences through your own posts, photographs and poems. You are all an enormous inspiration and help make this world a better place.

A very big thank you too to all the lovely bloggers who host regular prompts and challenges. With so many photographs and impressions to chose from it’s a great help in finding a focus or different angle from which to approach a subject.

We look forward to what 2020 holds in store and wish you all a great start to the New Year. May this new decade bring new understanding and greater care for our natural world with increased compassion and peace among human beings.

macro shot of a painted lady butterfly on a purple lilac

You can see the 2019 highlights from our sister blog Whippet Wisdom in
2019: Favourite Moments Through the Seasons.

Wishing you all a Happy Hogmanay,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #77: Favorite Photos of 2019

Haiku: Winter Solstice II

the day-moon in a blue sky over Findhorn Bay

snow on the peaks
a few more sleeps before
midwinter

© Xenia Tran

a sailing boat anchored in Findhorn Bay

We wish you all a wonderful Wednesday and a blessed Winter Solstice.

With love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/5.6 – 1/320 s – ISO 100, f/5 – 1/320 s – ISO 100 and f/5 – 1/250 s – ISO 100.

Frank J Tassone’s Weekly Haikai Challenge #117: Midwinter

Your Daily Word Prompt: Duration

Dutch Goes the Photo Tuesday Photo Challenge: Common