Carlowrie Castle - November 2017

In the mid 19th century the Hutchison family commissioned David Rhind to design the castle. He was a prominent Scottish architect, mainly remembered for his public buildings, banks, churches and schools, most of which are now listed buildings.

The Castle was first home to Thomas Hutchison, a wine merchant and his wife Jean Wylie and their 5 children. Their daughter, Isobel Wylie Hutchison took over Carlowrie Castle and became one of Scotland’s most pioneering Arctic travellers, searching for rare plants on her trips. Many of the plants she collected are still in the grounds today and can also be seen at Kew Gardens in London. A polyglot by the time she was an adult she could speak Italian, Gaelic, Greek, Hebrew, Danish, Icelandic, Greenlandic and knew most Inuit words. She kept diaries assiduously throughout her adult life, was an expert sportswoman and in her spare time wrote poetry and painted.

Only two families have owned the castle in its entire history and today the current owners, the Marshalls, have lovingly renovated the Castle to be a modern, luxury venue that is a real hidden gem on Edinburgh’s doorstep.

ROAVR | UAS were on site for Leopard TV as US based production company with full permission from Edinburgh Airport ATC.

Culloden Run, Inverness - October 2017

The Culloden run is two exciting road runs based at the historic NTS Culloden Battlefield Centre near Inverness.

The Culloden Run 17.46k’ is a testing challenge over a 10.83 mile route which passes through stunning scenery and by historic landmarks; Culloden Battlefield, Clava Cairns, River Nairn and the awesome River Nairn Viaduct.

The Culloden 10K’ is an exciting, fast, mostly flat route which passes around the quiet perimeter roads of Culloden Battlefield.

All event proceeds go to Scottish charity Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland.

Liberty Aluminium - Fort William, August 2017.

Liberty’s Aluminium division owns and operates the only remaining aluminium smelter in the UK – Liberty British Aluminium.

Based at Fort William in the Scottish Highlands, the smelting facilities are powered by two neighbouring hydro-electric stations and a complex of on-site bio-diesel units, owned and managed by Liberty’s sister company SIMEC. This combination of renewable energy sources makes the site one of the greenest metal production plants in the country.

ROAVR | UAS were commissioned by Tigershark TV to capture aerials for a forthcoming corporate video.

Tantallon Castle - September 2017

Climb to the battlements of the last of the grand medieval castles and marvel at its scale. Set high on a cliff edge and featuring a massive red sandstone curtain wall, Tantallon Castle was home to the Red Douglas dynasty.

Tantallon Castle is a popular filming location and appears in the critically acclaimed film Under the Skin, starring Scarlett Johansson.

We were here with full permissions for CBBC.

Cromarty Firth - 'Deep Energy', October 2017

Constructed in 2013, the Deep Energy is one of the largest pipelay vessels ever built.

She has the capacity to install rigid pipe, flexible pipe and umbilicals in water depths up to 3,000 m via the reel-lay method.

With a fast transit speed of 19.5 knots, high product storage capacity and an abandonment and recovery system rated to 500 Te, she can operate on North Sea and on Intercontinental projects.

Here she is spooling on pipe at Technip's Evanston Spool Base. The Cromarty road crossing can clearly be seen in the background.

First snow - November 2017

On the 5th November we have awoken to a dusting of snow on the mountains. Ben Wyvis is a mountain located in Easter Ross, Ross and Cromarty, Highland, in northern Scotland, north-west of Dingwall. It forms an undulating ridge running roughly north-south for about 5 km, the highest summit of which is Glas Leathad Mòr.

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Shoreton - Dingwall, October 2017.

The Black Isle is a peninsula in the Highlands of Scotland, located north of Inverness.

Contrary to its name, the Black Isle is not an island. It is in fact a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by expanses of water, with the Cromarty Firth to the north, the Beauly Firth to the south and the Moray Firth to the east. From Inverness, it’s reachable by crossing the Kessock Bridge.

One of the region’s great draws is its pod of resident bottlenose dolphins. At Chanonry Point, in between Fortrose and Rosemarkie, they can often be seen frolicking in the Moray Firth.

http://www.black-isle.info

Muir burning, Scottish Borders - November 2017

As opportunistic as ever one of our teams spied some muir burning in Northumbria at sunset whilst returning to base and stopped to capture it.

To keep the heather moor in a good state of health, it is deliberately burned in a controlled fashion. In the same way that healthy biodiversity depends upon having a healthy diversity of habitats (such as woodland, beaches, moors, marshes etc), a healthy diversity is also needed within each of those habitats themselves.

Yankee Pier - Dalmore, October 2017

During WW1 the American Navy took over Dalmore Distillery and used it as a mine base.

The so-called ‘Yankee Pier’ still juts out into the firth. In the 1930s the RAF’s presence grew.

Alness became a training base for flying boats. In 1938 228 Squadron with Saro Londons and Stranraers came to the firth from Pembroke Dock and this was followed in October 1939 by 210 Squadron of Sunderlands and Catalina Flying boats.

By 1941 4C OUT was fully established at Alness with the officers based at Dalmore House and the ’tech site’ and repair and maintenance area at Alness Point becoming a very busy strategic point for training and North Sea surveillance. Short Sunderlands had a crew of 13 and by 1942 the OUT was producing 22 trained crews a month.

Yankee Pier looking toward Nigg Energy Port.

BW Catcher - October 2017

In mid-October the brand new FPSO vessel BW Catcher entered Cromarty Firth to dock at Nigg Energy Port with the assistance of Global Group before deployment to the North Sea.

Upon arrival in the North Sea, BW Catcher will start a seven-year fixed term contract, with extension options of up to 18 years, with Premier Oil.

Based on a field life of 10 years, the contract value is USD 2.3 billion including FPSO charter rate and opex, the company said.

“The BW Catcher has been completed on time and within budget, and we are especially pleased with the good HSE performance during the construction project. We have worked over 11 million man hours without a lost time injury and in total around 19 million man hours. The FPSO is now underway to the North Sea for hook-up at the Catcher field, and with first oil scheduled later this year,” said Carl K. Arnet, the CEO of BW Offshore.

BW Catcher has an oil storage capacity of 650,000 barrels and a processing capacity of 60,000 barrels per day. The FPSO has a design life of 20 years of uninterrupted operations, and will be moored using a submerged turret production system.

Nigg Energy Port is owned and operated by the Global Energy Group.

CATCHER is 241m length overall and has a beam of 50m. Her gross tonnage is 91586 tons

Autumn Colours, Strathnairn - October 2016

Strathnairn lies 8 miles South West of Inverness and borders the Monadhliath Mountains.

The Strath's borders reach to the south by Dunmaglass, following the River Nairn through Croachy, Brin, Farr and Daviot, finally ending near where the Clava Cairns and Culloden Battlefield lie.

Autumn came early this year and the colour has not lasted due to the periods of high winds. Only the larch are retaining colour into November.

Oil rigs of the Cromarty Firth - October 2017

Looking over the Cromarty Firth which has in the past had 17 rigs stacked.

These rigs need periodic surveys and they come in and get work done – major maintenance or to install client-specific equipment top-side – before going back out to drill.

There are six ‘hot-stacked’ which are on ‘warm standby’, ready to go with 60 onboard, and another six ‘cold-stacked’, empty.

According to the BBC in August 2017 two men boarded a cold stacked rig:

'The pair, who describe themselves as "urban explorers", took a dinghy to the Ocean Princess, one of several offshore structures in the Cromarty Firth.

Police Scotland said it was aware of the incident and has begun an investigation.

The platform's owner, Diamond Offshore, confirmed an incident took place.

The Cromarty Firth Port Authority has declined to comment.

The incident is understood to have happened at the weekend and the men were thought to have spent a night onboard.'

Blair Castle - September 2017

Blair Atholl's most famous feature is Blair Castle one of Scotland's premier stately homes, and the last castle in the British Isles to be besieged, in 1746 during the last Jacobite Rebellion.

The Castle was the traditional home of the Earls (later Marquesses, now Dukes) of Atholl. The Duke of Atholl is the only person in the United Kingdom allowed to raise a private army. This army, known as the Atholl Highlanders, conducts largely social and ceremonial activities, and primarily consists of workers on the extensive Atholl Estates.

Loch Ness - October 2017

The magnificent Loch Ness. Known across the world but actually one of the least impressive Scottish freshwater Lochs in our opinion. And we have seen a fair few now!

Loch Ness is a large, deep, freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately 23 miles southwest of Inverness. Its surface is 16 metres (52 feet) above sea level. Loch Ness is best known for alleged sightings of the cryptozoological Loch Ness Monster, also known affectionately as "Nessie".

It is connected at the southern end by the River Oich and a section of the Caledonian Canal to Loch Oich. At the northern end there is the Bona Narrows which opens out into Loch Dochfour, which feeds the River Ness and a further section of canal to Inverness. It is one of a series of interconnected, murky bodies of water in Scotland; its water visibility is exceptionally low due to a high peat content in the surrounding soil.

Loch Ness is the second largest Scottish loch by surface area at 22 sq miles after Loch Lomond, but due to its great depth, it is the largest by volume in the British Isles. Its deepest point is 230 m; 755 ft making it the second deepest loch in Scotland after Loch Morar. A 2016 survey claimed to have discovered a crevice that pushed the depth to 271 m (889 ft) but further research determined it to be a sonar anomaly. It contains more fresh water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined and is the largest body of water in the Great Glen, which runs from Inverness in the north to Fort William in the south.

Steven's Croft Power Station - October 2017

Steven's Croft is a wood fired (biomass) power station near Lockerbie in Scotland. It started energy production in 2008. It is operated by EON and is the largest biomass power station in the UK. It produces 44 MW of electricity, and burns 60% waste from timber production, 20% coppiced wood, and 20% recycled fibre.

A.W. Jenkinson acquired land at the Steven’s Croft Development Area just off the M74 at Lockerbie in the year 2000. At the time the adjacent site was occupied by James Jones Sawmills and Forest Garden. These two large sawmilling businesses were already associated with A.W. Jenkinson, making the location an ideal choice for development in support of the Scottish timber industry.

In 2005 Powergen (now E.ON) took control of a section of the Lockerbie site for the construction by Siemens of a revolutionary 44 Megawatt CO2-neutral biomass power station. Alongside the power station there is now a large-scale log yard and round wood chipping building, where new material is combined with pre-chipped biomass to achieve a final blend that meets the ideal specification to feed the station. The chipping building feeds directly into the power plant via an overhead conveyor.

A.W. Jenkinson, which is responsible for supplying fuel to the site, has built a close working relationship with E.ON; a key factor in achieving maximum efficiency from the new facility. Steven’s Croft has become a lynch pin in A.W. Jenkinson’s Scottish operations, collecting material from most of the sawmills in Scotland, as well as servicing other major biomass and panelboard customers. The transport department makes extensive use of local drivers, providing a good source of employment for the Dumfries and Galloway area.

Steven's Croft Power Station - October 2017

Lockerbie Biomass Power Station - October 2017

Aviemore - October 2017

The A9 'road to the Highlands' with Aviemore and the Cairngorms beyond. The rising mists coming of the Lochs around the Rothiemurchus Estate can be seen clearly in this shot.

Aviemore is situated within the Cairngorm National Park. The town is popular for skiing and other winter sports. There are excellent views of the Cairngorms from various places within the town, especially from the railway station.

Ben Nevis - October 2017

Corpach is a large village north of Fort William, in the Scottish Highlands. The canal lock at Corpach Basin on Loch Linnhe, east of the narrows leading to Loch Eil, is the western sea entrance of the Caledonian Canal.

Dominating the scene is the highest mountain in Scotland, Ben Nevis at 4411 feet above sea level with Fort William to the right of the shot.

Cromarty - October 2017

Cromarty is a seaport on the southern shore of the mouth of Cromarty Firth, 5 miles seaward from Invergordon on the opposite coast. Until 1890 it was the county town of the former county of Cromartyshire.

The town grew around its port, formerly used by ferries, to export locally-grown hemp fibre, and by trawlers trawling for herrings. The port was a British naval base during the First World War and HMS Natal blew up close by on 30 December 1915 with heavy loss of life.

The port was home to Britain's smallest vehicle ferry, the Cromarty Rose, running across the Firth to Nigg. The entrance to the Cromarty Firth is guarded by the Souters, two large cliffs that can be seen for many miles away and were previously fortified.

Muirtown Basin, Inverness - October 2017

Muirtown Basin is a large port area on the Caledonian Canal just above the first (sea) Lock where the Caledonian Canal meets the Beauly Firth.

This area houses a small marina and is popular for waterspouts with local sea scouts being based nearby.

The Caledonian Canal begins at Clachnaharry, connecting to the Beauly Firth via a sea lock. The Far North Railway Line also passes through, crossing the canal on a swing bridge. Clachnaharry used to have a railway station. This station opened in 1869 on the Inverness and Ross-shire Railway, and was the first stop after leaving Inverness, but closed in 1913.

Muirton Locks - Inverness, September 2017

An expansion of the Caledonian Canal close to its northeastern termination, the Muirtown Basin lies between Clachnaharry and Muirtown a mile northwest of Inverness city centre.

Planned in the early 19th century as a second harbour for the city by the canal's engineer Thomas Telford, it could not cope with the size of ships which were soon in use and thus never fulfilled its potential. It now serves as a marina. Immediately to the south of the basin are the Muirtown Locks, a flight of four locks on the Caledonian Canal at Muirton. The Muirtown Swing Bridge crosses the canal immediately to the north.