Looking across the fields south of Culloden Battlefield to the Moray Firth. March 2018 at sunset. A heavy lift ship can be seen moving an oil rig out of the Cromarty Firth.
Sheep at sunset. March 2018.
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.
Black Isle.
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.
Dalmore Pier