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Yonge Street, Toronto
The definitive New Order tune!! - Mike
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3XW6NLILqo
*****
"'The Perfect Kiss' is a song by the English rock band New Order. It is the first New Order song to be included on a studio album at the same time as its release as a single. The vinyl version has Factory catalogue number FAC 123 and the video has the opposite number, FAC 321.
The song has a complex arrangement which includes a number of instruments and methods not normally used by New Order. For example, a bridge features frogs croaking melodically. The band reportedly included them because Morris loved the effect and was looking for any excuse to use it. At the end of a track, the faint bleating of a (synthesized) sheep can be heard. Sheep samples would reappear in later New Order singles 'Fine Time' and 'Ruined in a Day'. Despite being a fan favourite, the song was not performed live between 1993 and 2006 due to the complexity of converting the programs from the E-mu Emulator to the new Roland synthesizer. However, it returned to the live set at a performance in Athens on 3 June 2006.
'The Perfect Kiss' reached only #46 in the UK charts, most likely due to a lack of marketing by Factory Records and the obscure Peter Saville sleeve: uniform grey with the word 'perfect' embossed on the front side and 'kiss The' on the back, like a wraparound band. It was about this time that the photographer Geoff Power [see 'Shellshock'] was introduced to Peter Saville. So enamoured was Peter by Geoff's work that he originally offered the photographer the cover to Low-Life. Then when that fell through, they worked on a cover for 'The Perfect Kiss' using one of Geoff's photographs, which can be seen later in New Order's songbook, 'X'. With time running out and Peter's decision not to run with this image - it didn't fit in Peter's subsequent portraits of the band on Low-Life - Geoff was offered an OMD album cover instead. Suffice to say Geoff decided to hang on until a subsequent New Order release came up a year later ['Shellshock'].
It has been suspected, and the lyrics strongly suggest that the song is about Ian Curtis's suicide. The lyrics seem to describe the subject of the song knowing that the 'friend' (possibly Ian) was suffering psychologically ('often thought he was deranged') and then the act of suicide ('you throw away your only chance to be here today', 'my friend he took his final breath, now I know the perfect kiss is the kiss of death').
The video also has a picture of Ian in the doorway at the end.
Lasting nearly 9 minutes, the full 12' single version of the song is longer than even "Blue Monday", New Order's 1983 dance epic. This version also appears on the vinyl edition of Substance, with the CD pressings deleting 44 seconds of the climatic finale, due to time limitations of the CD format in 1987 (future remasterings of Substance did not restore the missing 44 seconds, even though newer CDs would allow for it). The full version was eventually released unedited on the 2-disc deluxe edition of Low-Life, marking its first appearance on CD.
The version on the original Low-Life and all post-Substance compilations is a 4:48 edit that omits the third verse (the one that mentions the song's title) and fades out before the climax. This version is present on the A-side of the 7' single from the Philippines; most 7' issues from other countries have on the A-side a version that is further edited to 4:24 (in some or all cases without the percussion introduction). The UK 7' promo release on Factory Records is a rarely-heard edit which compresses most of the elements of the full, 8:46 version (including the ending but not the third verse) into 3:50.
There is also a live studio recording which corresponds to the music video; it is available on the bonus disc included with some editions of Retro and on various promotional vinyl releases.
The song has been remixed by third parties like Razormaid and Hot Tracks and has been covered by bands including Capsule Giants, Nude, International, Paradoxx, Razed in a New Division of Agony, and Amoeba Crunch.
'The Kiss of Death' is a typical New Order dub version: it is a mostly instrumental remix of the A-side with added effects; it notably features the opening of the album version. 'Perfect Pit' is a short recording of synthesized bass and drum parts that sounds like Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris practicing." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Perfect_Kiss
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Ever since that definitive Americana cover art on ‘Born to Die’ I was unable to distance Lana Del Rey from David Lynch, or Tom Waits, or Lou Reed even. A sort of American Nightmare only fully experienced by understanding their great ‘American Dream’ had become self-aware at some point, stumbled over its own desires on the shores of Lake Success and been horrified by the reflection therein. I felt so confused by Lana’s schizophrenic personality and voice on ‘Born to Die’ that I considered the albums still-considerable merits to be a fluke, the improbable artistic realisation of too many focus-groups and market centric surveys - in short an album by committee.
I was both thrilled and disappointed with her follow-up, 2014’s ‘Ultraviolence’, a darker, more perilous undertaking that seemed to have little or nothing to do with A Clockwork Orange or Anthony Burgess, but still wasn’t nearly dark or perilous enough for the strength of its hyperbolic title. It must be admitted that Lana’s musical stylings lie somewhere between those absurd perfume adverts and perhaps the most astute female songstress of her generation whose influence is far in excess of her apparent success. The appeal of Lana, to me at least, has always been her seductive and unashamed sinfulness; no spiky haired tattooed rebel this girl, but a beautiful paragon of seeming-virtue that smelt of Sunday School and Church, who’d have you smoking cigarettes, stealing collection plate dollar and ‘borrowing’ your uncles Gran Torino all because she breezed past you in a musky swirl of linen and pearls and in that breathy, small, hard voice so laden with promise said ‘Wouldn’t it be fun!’ You know she’s trouble, but when those smoky eyes glance your way it’s like everything else is vague fog and you, and only you can rescue this good-girl-gone-bad from herself.
I was seduced, entranced, enthralled just as I was with 2012’s major-label-debut ‘Born to Die’. I was sucked into her world and after a whirlwind romance discarded with nothing but some gauzy linen still fragrant with something like bittersweet memory and muddled innocence; all freshly cut lawn and tears on prom night. Lana broke my heart twice. A preachers’ girl, a butter-wouldn’t-melt Christian Camp swamp of lusts, charm and urgent movements in deep softness that suck your heart and soul into her almost pornographic reverence of fatalist loss and fly-blown dreams.
Ultraviolence is at times an outstanding record; its good moments are superior to her contemporaries with excellent song-writing and lush, dreamy, always fragrant sonic textures that centre around themes of unlovable love, unquenchable yearnings and the link between sex and violence, forged perhaps in the extremity of her desires and wants. It’s genuinely engaging and some of the observations are pin-sharp. However, the flip side is occasional lapses where the album loses constancy, the idea slips away like smoke on a summer breeze and Lana’s identity with it. Unfortunately this exactly what I said about her debut and to be repeating myself is intensely disappointing, all the more so because her standouts are just that, genuinely compelling, beautifully evocative and well observed. Ultraviolence leaves you just as Lana left, hurtling into the sun-drenched horizon in your uncles Torino, your last dollar bill in her vintage pocket and your heart a collection of splintered things in her palm.
A young woman poses, part of the costume judging event at Saboten-Con in Mesa, Arizona. I believe she portrays an anime character.
If anyone knows who she is or her persona, please tag or leave a comment.
Definitive look chosen is 2018 Luxe Life IT Convention Luxuriously Gifted Natalia outfit with The Love of Luxe Veronique jewels and a final touch, bag especially made for the convention by Culte de Paris on Etsy ...
... The golden metal with green gems are perfect for her green eyes ... does it show that I am in love with that doll ? She's just perfect that way ! ;)
In addition to the regular definitive stamps which the Royal Mail issue they also issue regional variations, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. These stamps are from England and Scotland. From the middle out they are Scottish, Scottish, English and English. These are not particularly valuable and as such I decided to make a montage as I liked the colour and design of these particular stamps.
37 of 121 pictures in 2021 - Flat lay
A definitive if not striking image of an adult Black-legged Kittiwake; nicely showing the all-yellow bill, "wings dipped in ink" and slightly notched tail. The kittiwakes at Cape St. Mary's made repeated short sorties out and back from their nesting ledges. Aiming down I would track them on the outward leg of their foray, lock on at the apex then fire away as they disappeared back under the lip of the cliff.
All pictures in may photostream are Copyright © 2012 Lélia Valduga, all rights reserved.
The problem is that many want
simple things,
seem so demanding. (Fernanda Young)
Meaning of definitively in Hindi
SYNONYMS AND OTHER WORDS FOR definitively
निर्णायात्मक ढंग से→definitively पक्के तौर पर→definitively,indissolubly,indissoluby,indubitably अंतिम रूप से→finally,definitively,once for all,for good
Definition of definitively
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Example Sentence...
Meaning of definitively matlab, meaning definitively hindi, synonyms definitively hindi
#DefinitivelyMatlab, #MeaningDefinitivelyHindi, #SynonymsDefinitivelyHindi
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Well as the title states this was taken just before the sun rose to after it set on Dec. 31st 2011. I needed something to do while waiting for the fireworks at midnight so I decided to take a timelapse of sorts and merge them all into one frame. For 17 hours I sat at the Partner's hub directly in front of the castle clicking my camera away every so often all the while guarding my tripod from the other tourist walking by. Unfortunately for me my biggest enemy was myself as I think I tapped my tripod more times than the other people. Normally I would assume there wouldn't be as many people in the shot but for New Year's Eve they really packed in all the shows they could. I think I saw every show they had in front of the castle at least 4 times not to mention the other parades at least 2 times each. It was cool the first time, than the second time was for capturing pictures I missed the first time and after that I just sat and waited.
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Looks even better when you hit "L" | HDR tutorial
Spookslot 29/08/2022 11h39
As part of the definitive closure of Spookslot on September 4, 2022, Efteling has published a special book (edition of 2,500 copies) and a special pin (of which 5,000 were made). The sale would take place on Monday 29 August. Long before opening time, there was already a long line at the entrance. I myself was in the park at 11h15 and had to line up for about 300 meters that started on the Pardoes Promenade, past the Spookslot, under the gallery to the sales point "De Witte Walvis".
I had to have the book so I stood still and it was my turn within an hour. I have the book and the pin. Not long after, the book was sold out, but books are being printed and they can be ordered online until the hour that Spookslot really closes.
After the 2022 Summer period, on 4 September 2022 to be exact, the attraction from 1978 will be permanently closed and demolished. The Efteling will announce this on January 24. According to general manager Fons Jurgens, the haunted castle is due for replacement after 44 years.
"The Spookslot was, if we are very honest, perhaps ten years ago no longer of this time," he says in conversation with the Brabants Dagblad. That is why a new attraction will take its place, which will cost 25 million euros.
Efteling does not want to say anything about the attraction type yet, except that it will be a covered addition with a theoretical capacity of 1250 people per hour.
The Spookslot was the first major Efteling attraction designed by the late creative director Ton van de Ven. Later he was also at the helm of, for example, Fata Morgana (1986), het Volk van Laaf (1990), Droomvlucht (1993), Villa Volta (1996) and Vogel Rok (1998).
Spookslot
The Haunted Castle (Dutch: Spookslot) is a haunted attraction in the Efteling in the Netherlands. It was designed by Ton van de Ven and was the first attraction built outside the Fairy Tale Forest.
On July 24, 1976 the announcement on the making of the world's biggest haunted castle appeared in Brabant's daily newspaper, Het Brabants Dagblad. The article mentions that the castle would be built between the Fairy Tale Forest and the rowing and canoeing pond. This was a strategic choice, because the location of the attraction would attract visitors to the normally ‘forgotten’ southern part of the park.
The main reason for this mega-attraction was declining numbers of visitors at Efteling. Aiming for a more general public, with an attraction that didn’t depend on the weather conditions, Efteling authorized their young designer Van de Ven to start designing the ride.
Van de Ven designed the castle as a walk-through attraction and, in the style of Anton Pieck, the castle was designed to look old and decayed. It is meant to look as though it was once beautiful and majestic, but is now hahttps://www.flickr.com/photos/meteorry/unted and in ruins and somewhat romantic.
The construction took about 18 months and the castle was officially opened May 10, 1978.
On May 12 a television special was broadcast with Kate Bush singing in and around the castle. She had a big hit around the globe with "Wuthering Heights" at the time.
The waiting hall is a dimly-lit area, with several spooky items, of which an oriental ghost with a crystal looking glass is the most notable. The glass uses the pepper's ghost technique to show a beautiful woman turning into a skull. In the tower area a hairy arm stretches from the roof, holding a big chandelier. Once in a while one might have a glimpse of three horrible batlike creatures, leering down at the visitors.
Upon entering the main attraction hall, a number of scary statues and scenes prepare the audience for the main course: a look into the inner court, graveyard, and the ruins of a monastery at night. When the clock strikes twelve, a violin (also a pepper's ghost effect) starts playing the Danse Macabre of Saint-Saëns and the graveyard comes to life and a number of skeletons and ghosts are visible. One tombstone is labeled in Latin "Puella Innocenta" (innocent girl). The years on her stone (in Roman numbering) reveal that she has been living backwards in time, however it is possible that it is merely a mistake of the artist who made the stone. There is also a tombstone inside the mansion with the name "Den Hegarty", an Irish rock singer who happened to be on the radio when the stone was made. Also, it is said that the main show's appearance was influenced by the 1971 horror film "Tombs of the Blind Dead".
The maintheme of the show is a shortened version of the Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns. The movements of the animatronics are synchronized with the music; the violin that opens and closes the main part of the show demonstrates this. The show itself has been adapted four times. During the opening season in 1978 the show lasted about 12 minutes. Three months later it was cut back to 8 minutes. In 1987 the show was renewed and in 1989 the final version was completed.
FACTS & FIGURES:
Opening: 10/05/1978
Design: Ton van de Ven
Costs: 3.5 milion Dutch guilders (€1,588,823)
Capacity: 800 - 1000 per hour
Show time: 6.27 minutes
Source and more information:
Thank you for visiting (the process of creating) the definitive list of all Mid-South Kroger stores in the Memphis metro! For the actual complete listing, and also a much better layout, please click on over to the Mid-South Retail Blog: midsouthretail.blogspot.com/2015/03/o-kroger-where-art-th...
With all the Kroger locations and their respective remodels around the area covered extensively by l_dawg2000, kingskip1, and Bradley_Memphis, with lots of background knowledge provided by, among others, rkthomas26, I, only the new guy on flickr, was having trouble keeping up with it all! As such I became determined to create the all-encompassing list of stores and their décors.
But as I'm doing so I'm having some trouble. As I've said, I'm the new guy, so I don't know much about these stores - what info I have I've mainly gotten from flickr or other internet pictures. Plus I'm aware this is nowhere near the full amount of all Mid-South Krogers - I went on Kroger.com, put in my local store (Hernando), and from there went through the list Kroger gave me of locations within the nearby spectrum. 13 pages and I still don't have a complete listing!!
I've left out or altered some info - for example, I left off Exeter Road since it will be closing soon (see comments for info on closed stores), and I wrote that the Cordova Kroger has 2012 décor already when in reality it is only remodeling. As for the rest of the info, I sure hope you guys could help supply your insight so this could become a resource for all of us!
Thanks!
Retail Retell
(c) 2015
Thanks Albertsons Florida Blog for suggesting I start my own blog to house this list, and thanks everyone else for the support. As I said above, any further updates to this list will occur at midsouthretail.blogspot.com/. :)
Definitively Monica Bellucci decided to find a truffle based on Mark Twain's information.
He was joking...
Have a wonderful Sunday, my dear Flickr Friends.
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www.magazinetoday.org/your-definitive-guide-to-cleaning-y... Scrubbing up in the shower is a pretty intuitive process…until you get to your most sensitive areas. What kind of soap should you use? Are you doing too much—or maybe too little? Misguided information on how to clean your vagina could leave you anywhere between itchy skin and a full-on y...
The Fader
August 2004
Contributed by Friis
Text of the article:
"Definitive Jokes"
By Eric Ducker
Photography by Dorothy Hong
It was around 1979 or 1980, and it happened like this: Michael Diamond was in the student lounge of St Ann's, his hippie-ish New York high school, when his friend Raymond Rozado threw in a Harlem World battle tape. During lunch period at Edward R Murrow in Brooklyn, Adam Yauch snuck out to get a slice and heard "Rapper's Delight" for the first time, playing on the radio in a pizzeria.
Adam Horowitz had already heard the Sugarhill Gang and "The Breaks" by Kurtis Blow, but then his brother came home with a 12-inch of jimmy Spicer's "Adventures Of Super Rhymes". That's how the Beastie Boys —Mike D, MCA and Ad-Rock—got into rap music. "It was more real," says Horowitz 25 years later. "I just related to it a lot more. I don't know what specifically set it apart, but it wasn't like... love ballads. My head wasn't at where Cat Stevens was. It just hit me at the right time."
Actually, it happened like this. It was 1986, and I heard the Beastie Boys during recess on my elementary school's concrete baseball diamond. Three big kids stood in a circle just off of third base reciting "Paul Revere" line for line. When they got to the Ad-Rock line about doing it "with a Wiffleball bat" it was so raw and confusing to the seven year-old me that during lunch I found my older brother to ask him whose song it was. It wasn't the first time I'd heard hip-hop; I'd already memorized the Treacherous Three's "Xmas Rap" from Beat Street because I watched it on VHS every morning before school.
Other vivid memories: hearing "Roxanne Roxanne" and "jam On It" on jesse Edmunds's boombox at his dad's house. Fast-forwarding my friend jono's copy of Bigger And Defferto get to "The Bristol Hotel". Seeing the video for "Night Of The Living Baseheads" on Yo! MTV Raps. And of course, the Beastie Boys—clandestinely listening to License To Ill's "Girls" over and over on my Walkman during a field trip to the Pacific Film Archives.
But the group wasn't important to me until 1992.1 was 13 the year their third album Check Your Head came out, and not knowing better—or much of anything at all—at first I dismissed the Beastie Boys' return. I mean, in the video for "Pass The Mic" Mike D wore black overalls with only one strap, just like the clueless seventh graders we clowned. I bought it (on a lark, I told myself) the day after classes ended and ended up keeping it in my boombox for the duration of my first summer with a job.
In between that summer before my freshman year and the release of Ill Communication two years later (that Tuesday I got to the record store as soon as my brother would drive me) I rediscovered the Beasties' second album Paul's Boutique. I bought the tape when it was released in 1989, but at the time I thought it wasn't nearly as good as Appetite For Destruction— I was only ten.
But on this go around Paul's Boutique hit me at the right time. It was fun, strange, clever, complicated, braggadocious, kind of retarded, smoked-out, funky and everything else I imagined myself to be. It also sounded like nothing else my classmates—wrapped up in the misogynistic thrill of Dr Dre or the three-decade-long allure of the Grateful Dead-listened to. Even the kids who were just playing "Sabotage" in the school van before basketball games or still worshipping the hydraulic phallus of License To Ill wouldn't—couldn't—appreciate it. Paul's Boutique was a secret handshake, and the music was a key to a combination of juvenile energy and hip knowledge that sounded right as I spent my weekends making mixtapes, hotboxing in Oakland Hills cul-de-sacs, generally dorking out and imagining the person that I might become but usually drawing a blank.
I was a fan of the Beastie Boys, not unlike the kind of fans the Beastie Boys acknowledged themselves to be—curious, open-minded and believers in the transformative powers of learning about the dope shit. The clues in the samples they chose grew my record collection (thanks for Eugene McDaniels and the Commodores, I could have done without Sweet), but their name-dropping lyrics, album art direction, Grand Royal magazine—in short, the industry of personal style they produced—opened passageways into worlds beyond my immediate grasp. I saw The Taking Of The Pelham 123 because Ad-Rock mentioned it in "Sure Shot", I knew who Haze was because of the booklet for Check Your Head, and like they said in "Sounds Of Science", I rocked myAdidas and never rocked Fila. I had a Bruce Lee poster on my bedroom wall and Hunter S Thompson books on my floor. I had an ill-conceived flirtation with visors.
The Beastie Boys' new album To The 5 Boroughs is the group's first entirely rap record in 15 years. The seed for the decision to return to their roots (as it were) came shortly after 9/11, when they organized a two- night benefit show at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom for the families of those without insurance killed in the World Trade Center. Because the show had to be put together quickly, the group didn't have time to rehearse as a full band, so they decided to just perform a hip-hop set.
In the initial planning for 5 Boroughs playing instruments was still a possibility. "When we set up the studio we set up some drums and amps and eventually got together and jammed a little," says Yauch. "At first we had a plan where we would work on hip-hop a couple days a week and play a couple days a week. Then we started working on hip-hop more and going in that direction, and at some point along the way we said, 'Fuck it, let's make a hip-hop album.'"
This choice was as natural as the one they made when they picked up instruments over a decade ago for Check Your Head. "The decision to play was inspired by listening to a lot of the music we had been sampling," Diamond explains of those sessions. "Once we started doing it, it was like, 'That felt right, that's the shit we're going to do.' This was true in reverse this time around. We all started bringing in beats and working on beats together. As soon as that collaboration started, it was like, 'That's what we're doing now.'"
The Beastie Boys also say they were influenced by the ease (and the novelty)—of unassisted production on home computers or laptops—a process so automatic that Horowitz says it's "like making records at Kinko's."
As Matteo Pericoli's cover art of the twin towers suggests, the album's vibe is definitely Manhattan pre-millennial. Last year the word was that To The 5 Boroughs would be the Beastie Boys' "political" album; this hasty statement was mainly based on "In A World Gone Mad", the free mp3 they released at the start of the war in Iraq. But while there are mentions of "unilateral disarm" and "SUVs strung out on OPEC," these brief references are the only lyrics that reveal 5 Boroughs was written this decade. "In A World Gone Mad" isn't even on 5 Boroughs.
"This is probably the most immature record we've made," Diamond says. "I'd come home from the studio and my wife [director Tamra Davis] would ask how things were going. I'd have to explain to her that we're making some juvenile shit."
Though the album isn't immature in that they've brought back the violence and misogyny of their early rap records, it's immature in terms of its basic rhyme schemes, word play and punchlines. "Some of what's in there is just trying to have a good time and crack each other up," explains Yauch. "Some of it is trying to get across what we might be feeling politically living through the last few years with this administration going and attacking other parts of the world. It's a couple years of us hanging out."
In some senses, the Beastie Boys doing an all hip-hop album is like Eric Clapton doing a blues record: it's a complete embrace and return to the musical mainline of their career. It's also somehow brave; releasing a nostalgic rap record is a risk because most hip-hop artists still making music—aside from maybe De La Soul and Jay-Z—don't acknowledge their age, or the process of aging itself. "Rap music is one of the very few types of music where what's happening now is what you listen to and you rarely go back," says Horowitz. "It's not like with rock records where you have to listen to the first Led Zeppelin album and obviously if you're making a mixtape you have to throw on an old James Brown record. But as much as you love old school rap records, you probably don't listen to them that much. They're more in the compartment in your heart and head somewhere as opposed to actually on your turntables." When the last Beasties album Hello Nasty came out in the summer of 1998 it was the only record Rasputin's on Telegraph Ave in Berkeley played during store hours for about a week. At the smoothie shop where I worked, after we closed the doors we'd pump it over the stereo while mopping the floors and wiping down the blenders. And when I got back to college for fall semester, pretty much all my friends had bought a copy.
That was six years ago. These days cool sneakers are pretty low on my list of
concerns, and not simply because I mainly wear flip-flops. I'm trying to figure out where the Beastie Boys belong for me now, in my heart or on my turntable. While I still find the video for "Body Movin'" endearingly goofy, I was embarrassed when I saw the sophomoric antics on the video for their new single "Ch-Check It Out". But maybe To The 5 Boroughs isn't a record meant for me. Perhaps it's for kids whose first show was a parent drop-off at a late '90S concert in-the-round, or even their younger siblings.
I've long maintained that hip-hop won't get better—whatever "better" means—until someone figures out a better rhyme for "party" than "Bacardi." For the better part of the last two decades, the Beastie Boys have been some of the most likely rappers to stumble upon that holy grail. To me they've always been like older, distant cousins: guys I didn't see that often, but when I did I could learn about cool records, bite a little of their style, and get a sense of how my life should be going in ten or 15 years. Maybe that's why Check Your Head has been sounding so good lately as I settle down in LA, get a dog and figure out which of my immaturities I want to keep.
Two years ago I was at the Museum of Natural History on a Sunday in New York when I saw Adam Yauch with his preschool-aged daughter. He was wearing an orange and yellow camouflage sweatshirt with baggy pants. He was about to turn 40, but his outfit didn't look strange on him. He just looked like how more dads are going to start looking. Well, at least how I probably will.
Definitive look chosen is 2018 Luxe Life IT Convention Luxuriously Gifted Natalia outfit with The Love of Luxe Veronique jewels and a final touch, bag especially made for the convention by Culte de Paris on Etsy
Narrowboat 'Definitive' approaches Braunston turn on this stretch which is shared with the Oxford Canal and the Grand Union Canal. The outhouse with the unwelcoming message is part of a canalside ciottage. 8th September 2014.
Definitively answers the question: Do they have yellow hardware stores in Ireland? Yes, they do!
Sony ILCE ⍺6500 | Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN
The Isle of Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the country. Although Sgitheanach has been suggested to describe a winged shape, no definitive agreement exists as to the name's origins.
The island has been occupied since the Mesolithic period, and over its history has been occupied at various times by Celtic tribes including the Picts and the Gaels, Scandinavian Vikings, and most notably the powerful integrated Norse-Gaels clans of MacLeod and MacDonald. The island was considered to be under Norwegian suzerainty until the 1266 Treaty of Perth, which transferred control over to Scotland. The 18th-century Jacobite risings led to the breaking-up of the clan system and later clearances that replaced entire communities with sheep farms, some of which involved forced emigrations to distant lands. Resident numbers declined from over 20,000 in the early 19th century to just under 9,000 by the closing decade of the 20th century. Skye's population increased by 4% between 1991 and 2001. About a third of the residents were Gaelic speakers in 2001, and although their numbers are in decline, this aspect of island culture remains important.
The main industries are tourism, agriculture, fishing, and forestry. Skye is part of the Highland Council local government area. The island's largest settlement is Portree, which is also its capital, known for its picturesque harbour. Links to various nearby islands by ferry are available, and since 1995, to the mainland by a road bridge. The climate is mild, wet, and windy. The abundant wildlife includes the golden eagle, red deer, and Atlantic salmon. The local flora is dominated by heather moor, and nationally important invertebrate populations live on the surrounding sea bed. Skye has provided the locations for various novels and feature films, and is celebrated in poetry and song.
A Mesolithic hunter-gatherer site dating to the seventh millennium BC at An Corran in Staffin is one of the oldest archaeological sites in Scotland. Its occupation is probably linked to that of the rock shelter at Sand, Applecross, on the mainland coast of Wester Ross, where tools made of a mudstone from An Corran have been found. Surveys of the area between the two shores of the Inner Sound and Sound of Raasay have revealed 33 sites with potentially Mesolithic deposits. Finds of bloodstone microliths on the foreshore at Orbost on the west coast of the island near Dunvegan also suggest Mesolithic occupation. These tools probably originated from the nearby island of Rùm. Similarly, bloodstone from Rum, and baked mudstone, from the Staffin area, were found at the Mesolithic site of Camas Daraich, also from the seventh millennium BC, on the Point of Sleat, which has led archaeologists to believe that Mesolithic people on Skye would travel fairly significant distances, at least 70 km, both by land and sea.
Rubha an Dùnain, an uninhabited peninsula to the south of the Cuillin, has a variety of archaeological sites dating from the Neolithic onwards. A second- or third-millennium BC chambered cairn, an Iron Age promontory fort, and the remains of another prehistoric settlement dating from the Bronze Age are nearby. Loch na h-Airde on the peninsula is linked to the sea by an artificial "Viking" canal that may date from the later period of Norse settlement. Dun Ringill is a ruined Iron Age hill fort on the Strathaird Peninsula, which was further fortified in the Middle Ages and may have become the seat of Clan MacKinnon.
The late Iron Age inhabitants of the northern and western Hebrides were probably Pictish, although the historical record is sparse. Three Pictish symbol stones have been found on Skye and a fourth on Raasay. More is known of the kingdom of Dál Riata to the south; Adomnán's life of Columba, written shortly before 697, portrays the saint visiting Skye (where he baptised a pagan leader using an interpreter) and Adomnán himself is thought to have been familiar with the island. The Irish annals record a number of events on Skye in the later seventh and early eighth centuries – mainly concerning the struggles between rival dynasties that formed the background to the Old Irish language romance Scéla Cano meic Gartnáin.
Legendary hero Cú Chulainn is said to have trained on the Isle of Skye with warrior woman Scáthach.
The Norse held sway throughout the Hebrides from the 9th century until after the Treaty of Perth in 1266. However, apart from placenames, little remains of their presence on Skye in the written or archaeological record. Apart from the name "Skye" itself, all pre-Norse placenames seem to have been obliterated by the Scandinavian settlers. Viking heritage, with Celtic heritage is claimed by Clan MacLeod. Norse tradition is celebrated in the winter fire festival at Dunvegan, during which a replica Viking long boat is set alight.
The most powerful clans on Skye in the post–Norse period were Clan MacLeod, originally based in Trotternish, and Clan Macdonald of Sleat. The isle was held by Donald Macdonald, Lord of the Isles’ half-brother, Godfrey, from 1389 until 1401, at which time Skye was declared part of Ross. When the Donald Macdonald, Lord of the Isles, re-gained Ross after the battle of Harlaw in 1411, they added "Earl of Ross" to their lords' titles. Skye came with Ross.
Following the disintegration of the Lordship of the Isles, Clan Mackinnon also emerged as an independent clan, whose substantial landholdings in Skye were centred on Strathaird. Clan MacNeacail also have a long association with Trotternish, and in the 16th century many of the MacInnes clan moved to Sleat. The MacDonalds of South Uist were bitter rivals of the MacLeods, and an attempt by the former to murder church-goers at Trumpan in retaliation for a previous massacre on Eigg, resulted in the Battle of the Spoiling Dyke of 1578.
After the failure of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, Flora MacDonald became famous for rescuing Prince Charles Edward Stuart from the Hanoverian troops. Although she was born on South Uist, her story is strongly associated with their escape via Skye, and she is buried at Kilmuir in Trotternish. Samuel Johnson and James Boswell's visit to Skye in 1773 and their meeting with Flora MacDonald in Kilmuir is recorded in Boswell's The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. Boswell wrote, "To see Dr Samuel Johnson, the great champion of the English Tories, salute Miss Flora MacDonald in the isle of Sky, was a striking sight; for though somewhat congenial in their notions, it was very improbable they should meet here". Johnson's words that Flora MacDonald was "A name that will be mentioned in history, and if courage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with honour" are written on her gravestone. After this rebellion, the clan system was broken up and Skye became a series of landed estates.
Of the island in general, Johnson observed:
I never was in any house of the islands, where I did not find books in more languages than one, if I staid long enough to want them, except one from which the family was removed. Literature is not neglected by the higher rank of the Hebrideans. It need not, I suppose, be mentioned, that in countries so little frequented as the islands, there are no houses where travellers are entertained for money. He that wanders about these wilds, either procures recommendations to those whose habitations lie near his way, or, when night and weariness come upon him, takes the chance of general hospitality. If he finds only a cottage he can expect little more than shelter; for the cottagers have little more for themselves but if his good fortune brings him to the residence of a gentleman, he will be glad of a storm to prolong his stay. There is, however, one inn by the sea-side at Sconsor, in Sky, where the post-office is kept.
— Samuel Johnson, A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland.
Skye has a rich heritage of ancient monuments from this period. Dunvegan Castle has been the seat of Clan MacLeod since the 13th century. It contains the Fairy Flag and is reputed to have been inhabited by a single family for longer than any other house in Scotland. The 18th-century Armadale Castle, once home of Clan Donald of Sleat, was abandoned as a residence in 1925, but now hosts the Clan Donald Centre. Nearby are the ruins of two more MacDonald strongholds, Knock Castle, and Dunscaith Castle (called "Fortress of Shadows"), the legendary home of warrior woman, martial arts instructor (and, according to some sources, Queen) Scáthach. Caisteal Maol, a fortress built in the late 15th century near Kyleakin and once a seat of Clan MacKinnon, is another ruin.
In the late 18th century the harvesting of kelp became a significant activity, but from 1822 onward cheap imports led to a collapse of this industry throughout the Hebrides. During the 19th century, the inhabitants of Skye were also devastated by famine and Clearances. Thirty thousand people were evicted between 1840 and 1880 alone, many of them forced to emigrate to the New World. The "Battle of the Braes" involved a demonstration against a lack of access to land and the serving of eviction notices. The incident involved numerous crofters and about 50 police officers. This event was instrumental in the creation of the Napier Commission, which reported in 1884 on the situation in the Highlands. Disturbances continued until the passing of the 1886 Crofters' Act and on one occasion 400 marines were deployed on Skye to maintain order. The ruins of cleared villages can still be seen at Lorgill, Boreraig and Suisnish in Strath Swordale, and Tusdale on Minginish.
As with many Scottish islands, Skye's population peaked in the 19th century and then declined under the impact of the Clearances and the military losses in the First World War. From the 19th century until 1975 Skye was part of the county of Inverness-shire, but the crofting economy languished and according to Slesser, "Generations of UK governments have treated the island people contemptuously" --a charge that has been levelled at both Labour and Conservative administrations' policies in the Highlands and Islands. By 1971 the population was less than a third of its peak recorded figure in 1841. However, the number of residents then grew by over 28 percent in the thirty years to 2001. The changing relationship between the residents and the land is evidenced by Robert Carruthers's remark c. 1852, "There is now a village in Portree containing three hundred inhabitants." Even if this estimate is inexact the population of the island's largest settlement has probably increased sixfold or more since then. During the period the total number of island residents has declined by 50 percent or more. The island-wide population increase of 4 percent between 1991 and 2001 occurred against the background of an overall reduction in Scottish island populations of 3 percent for the same period. By 2011 the population had risen a further 8.4% to 10,008 with Scottish island populations as a whole growing by 4% to 103,702.
Historically, Skye was overwhelmingly Gaelic-speaking, but this changed between 1921 and 2001. In both the 1901 and 1921 censuses, all Skye parishes were more than 75 percent Gaelic-speaking. By 1971, only Kilmuir parish had more than three-quarters of Gaelic speakers while the rest of Skye ranged between 50 and 74 percent. At that time, Kilmuir was the only area outside the Western Isles that had such a high proportion of Gaelic speakers. In the 2001 census Kilmuir had just under half Gaelic speakers, and overall, Skye had 31 percent, distributed unevenly. The strongest Gaelic areas were in the north and southwest of the island, including Staffin at 61 percent. The weakest areas were in the west and east (e.g. Luib 23 percent and Kylerhea 19 percent). Other areas on Skye ranged between 48 percent and 25 percent.
In terms of local government, from 1975 to 1996, Skye, along with the neighbouring mainland area of Lochalsh, constituted a local government district within the Highland administrative area. In 1996 the district was included in the unitary Highland Council, (Comhairle na Gàidhealtachd) based in Inverness and formed one of the new council's area committees. Following the 2007 elections, Skye now forms a four-member ward called Eilean a' Cheò; it is currently represented by two independents, one Scottish National Party, and one Liberal Democrat councillor.
Skye is in the Highlands and Islands electoral region and comprises a part of the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency of the Scottish Parliament, which elects one member under the first past the post basis to represent it. Kate Forbes is the current MSP for the SNP. In addition, Skye forms part of the wider Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency, which elects one member to the House of Commons in Westminster. The present MP Member of Parliament is Ian Blackford of the Scottish National Party, who took office after the SNP's sweep in the General Election of 2015. Before this, Charles Kennedy, a Liberal Democrat, had represented the area since the 1983 general election.
The ruins of an old building sit on top of a prominent hillock that overlooks a pier attended by fishing boats.
Caisteal Maol and fishing boats in Kyleakin harbour
The largest employer on the island and its environs is the public sector, which accounts for about a third of the total workforce, principally in administration, education, and health. The second-largest employer in the area is the distribution, hotels, and restaurants sector, highlighting the importance of tourism. Key attractions include Dunvegan Castle, the Clan Donald Visitor Centre, and The Aros Experience arts and exhibition centre in Portree. There are about a dozen large landowners on Skye, the largest being the public sector, with the Scottish Government owning most of the northern part of the island. Glendale is a community-owned estate in Duirinish, and the Sleat Community Trust, the local development trust, is active in various regeneration projects.
Small firms dominate employment in the private sector. The Talisker Distillery, which produces a single malt whisky, is beside Loch Harport on the west coast of the island. Torabhaig distillery located in Teangue opened in 2017 and also produces whisky. Three other whiskies—Mac na Mara ("son of the sea"), Tè Bheag nan Eilean ("wee dram of the isles") and Poit Dhubh ("black pot")—are produced by blender Pràban na Linne ("smugglers den by the Sound of Sleat"), based at Eilean Iarmain. These are marketed using predominantly Gaelic-language labels. The blended whisky branded as "Isle of Skye" is produced not on the island but by the Glengoyne Distillery at Killearn north of Glasgow, though the website of the owners, Ian Macleod Distillers Ltd., boasts a "high proportion of Island malts" and contains advertisements for tourist businesses in the island. There is also an established software presence on Skye, with Portree-based Sitekit having expanded in recent years.
Some of the places important to the economy of Skye
Crofting is still important, but although there are about 2,000 crofts on Skye only 100 or so are large enough to enable a crofter to earn a livelihood entirely from the land. In recent years, families have complained about the increasing prices for land that make it difficult for young people to start their own crofts.
Cod and herring stocks have declined but commercial fishing remains important, especially fish farming of salmon and crustaceans such as scampi. The west coast of Scotland has a considerable renewable energy potential and the Isle of Skye Renewables Co-op has recently bought a stake in the Ben Aketil wind farm near Dunvegan. There is a thriving arts and crafts sector.
The unemployment rate in the area tends to be higher than in the Highlands as a whole, and is seasonal, in part due to the impact of tourism. The population is growing and in common with many other scenic rural areas in Scotland, significant increases are expected in the percentage of the population aged 45 to 64 years.
The restrictions required by the worldwide pandemic increased unemployment in the Highlands and Islands in the summer of 2020 to 5.7%; which was significantly higher than the 2.4 percent in 2019. The rates were said to be highest in "Lochaber, Skye and Wester Ross and Argyll and the Islands". A December 2020 report stated that between March (just before the effects of pandemic were noted) and December, the unemployment rate in the region increased by "more than 97%" and suggested that the outlook was even worse for spring 2021.
A report published in mid-2020 indicated that visitors to Skye added £211 million in 2019 to the island's economy before travel restrictions were imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report added that "Skye and Raasay attracted 650,000 visitors [in 2018] and supported 2,850 jobs". The government estimated that tourism in Scotland would decline by over 50% as a result of the pandemic. "Skye is highly vulnerable to the downturn in international visitors that will continue for much of 2020 and beyond", Professor John Lennon of Glasgow Caledonian University told a reporter in July 2020.
Tourism in the Highlands and Islands was negatively impacted by the pandemic, the effects of which continued into 2021. A September 2020 report stated that the region "has been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic to date when compared to Scotland and the UK as a whole". The industry required short-term support for "business survival and recovery" and that was expected to continue as the sector was "severely impacted for as long as physical distancing and travel restrictions". A scheme called Island Equivalent was introduced by the Scottish government in early 2021 to financially assist hospitality and retail businesses "affected by Level 3 coronavirus restrictions". Previous schemes in 2020 included the Strategic Framework Business Fund and the Coronavirus Business Support Fund.
Before the pandemic, during the summer of 2017, islanders complained about an excessive number of tourists, which was causing overcrowding in popular locations such as Glen Brittle, the Neist Point lighthouse, the Quiraing, and the Old Man of Storr. "Skye is buckling under the weight of increased tourism this year", said the operator of a self-catering cottage; the problem was most significant at "the key iconic destinations, like the Old Man of Storr and the Quiraing", he added. Chris Taylor of VisitScotland sympathised with the concerns and said that the agency was working on a long-term solution. "But the benefits to Skye of bringing in international visitors and increased spending are huge," he added.
An article published in 2020 confirmed that (before the pandemic), the Talisker Distillery and Dunvegan Castle were still overcrowded in peak periods; other areas where parking was a problem due to large crowds included "the Old Man of Storr, Kilt Rock, the Quiraing, the Fairy Pools, and Neist Point. This source also stated that Portree was "the busiest place on the island" during peak periods and suggested that some tourists might prefer accommodations in quieter areas such as "Dunvegan, Kyleakin and the Broadford and Breakish area".
Skye is linked to the mainland by the Skye Bridge, while ferries sail from Armadale on the island to Mallaig, and from Kylerhea to Glenelg, crossing the Kyle Rhea strait on the MV Glenachulish, the last turntable ferry in the world. Turntable ferries had been common on the west coast of Scotland because they do not require much infrastructure to operate, a boat ramp will suffice. Ferries also run from Uig to Tarbert on Harris and Lochmaddy on North Uist, and from Sconser to Raasay.
The Skye Bridge opened in 1995 under a private finance initiative and the high tolls charged (£5.70 each way for summer visitors) met with widespread opposition, spearheaded by the pressure group SKAT (Skye and Kyle Against Tolls). On 21 December 2004, it was announced that the Scottish Executive had purchased the bridge from its owners and the tolls were immediately removed.
Bus services run to Inverness and Glasgow, and there are local services on the island, mainly starting from Portree or Broadford. Train services run from Kyle of Lochalsh at the mainland end of the Skye Bridge to Inverness, as well as from Glasgow to Mallaig from where the ferry can be caught to Armadale.
The island's airfield at Ashaig, near Broadford, is used by private aircraft and occasionally by NHS Highland and the Scottish Ambulance Service for transferring patients to hospitals on the mainland.
The A87 trunk road traverses the island from the Skye Bridge to Uig, linking most of the major settlements. Many of the island's roads have been widened in the past forty years although there are still substantial sections of single-track road.
A modern 3 story building with a prominent frontage of numerous windows and constructed from a white material curves gently away from a green lawn in the foreground. In the background there is a tall white tower of a similar construction.
Students of Scottish Gaelic travel from all over the world to attend Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the Scottish Gaelic college based near Kilmore in Sleat. In addition to members of the Church of Scotland and a smaller number of Roman Catholics, many residents of Skye belong to the Free Church of Scotland, known for its strict observance of the Sabbath.
Skye has a strong folk music tradition, although in recent years dance and rock music have been growing in popularity on the island. Gaelic folk rock band Runrig started in Skye and former singer Donnie Munro still works on the island. Runrig's second single and a concert staple is entitled Skye, the lyrics being partly in English and partly in Gaelic and they have released other songs such as "Nightfall on Marsco" that were inspired by the island. Ex-Runrig member Blair Douglas, a highly regarded accordionist, and composer in his own right was born on the island and is still based there to this day. Celtic fusion band the Peatbog Faeries are based on Skye. Jethro Tull singer Ian Anderson owned an estate at Strathaird on Skye at one time. Several Tull songs are written about Skye, including Dun Ringil, Broadford Bazaar, and Acres Wild (which contains the lines "Come with me to the Winged Isle, / Northern father's western child..." about the island itself). The Isle of Skye Music Festival featured sets from The Fun Lovin' Criminals and Sparks, but collapsed in 2007. Electronic musician Mylo was born on Skye.
The poet Sorley MacLean, a native of the Isle of Raasay, which lies off the island's east coast, lived much of his life on Skye. The island has been immortalised in the traditional song "The Skye Boat Song" and is the notional setting for the novel To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, although the Skye of the novel bears little relation to the real island. John Buchan's descriptions of Skye, as featured in his Richard Hannay novel Mr Standfast, are more true to life. I Diari di Rubha Hunis is a 2004 Italian language work of non-fiction by Davide Sapienza [it]. The international bestseller, The Ice Twins, by S K Tremayne, published around the world in 2015–2016, is set in southern Skye, especially around the settlement and islands of Isleornsay.
Skye has been used as a location for several feature films. The Ashaig aerodrome was used for the opening scenes of the 1980 film Flash Gordon. Stardust, released in 2007 and starring Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer, featured scenes near Uig, Loch Coruisk and the Quiraing. Another 2007 film, Seachd: The Inaccessible Pinnacle, was shot almost entirely in various locations on the island. The Justin Kurzel adaption of Macbeth starring Michael Fassbender was also filmed on the Island. Some of the opening scenes in Ridley Scott's 2012 feature film Prometheus were shot and set at the Old Man of Storr. In 1973 The Highlands and Islands - a Royal Tour, a documentary about Prince Charles's visit to the Highlands and Islands, directed by Oscar Marzaroli, was shot partly on Skye. Scenes from the Scottish Gaelic-language BBC Alba television series Bannan were filmed on the island.
The West Highland Free Press is published at Broadford. This weekly newspaper takes as its motto An Tìr, an Cànan 's na Daoine ("The Land, the Language, and the People"), which reflects its radical, campaigning priorities. The Free Press was founded in 1972 and circulates in Skye, Wester Ross, and the Outer Hebrides. Shinty is a popular sport played throughout the island and Portree-based Skye Camanachd won the Camanachd Cup in 1990. The local radio station Radio Skye is a community based station that broadcast local news and entertainment to the Isle Of Skye and Loch Alsh on 106.2 FM and 102.7 FM.
Whilst Skye had unofficial flags in the past, including the popular "Bratach nan Daoine" (Flag of the People) design which represented the Cuillins in sky blue against a white sky symbolising the Gaelic language, land struggle, and the fairy flag of Dunvegan, the Island received its first official flag "Bratach an Eilein" (The Skye Flag) approved by the Lord Lyon after a public vote in August 2020. The design by Calum Alasdair Munro reflects the Island's Gaelic heritage, the Viking heritage, and the history of Flora MacDonald. The flag has a birlinn in the canton, and there are five oars representing the five areas of Skye, Trotternish, Waternish, Duirinish, Minginish, and Sleat. Yellow represents the MacLeods, and Blue the MacDonalds or the MacKinnons.
The Hebrides generally lack the biodiversity of mainland Britain, but like most of the larger islands, Skye still has a wide variety of species. Observing the abundance of game birds Martin wrote:
There is plenty of land and water fowl in this isle—as hawks, eagles of two kinds (the one grey and of a larger size, the other much less and black, but more destructive to young cattle), black cock, heath-hen, plovers, pigeons, wild geese, ptarmigan, and cranes. Of this latter sort I have seen sixty on the shore in a flock together. The sea fowls are malls of all kinds—coulterneb, guillemot, sea cormorant, &c. The natives observe that the latter, if perfectly black, makes no good broth, nor is its flesh worth eating; but that a cormorant, which hath any white feathers or down, makes good broth, and the flesh of it is good food; and the broth is usually drunk by nurses to increase their milk.
— Martin Martin, A Description of The Western Islands of Scotland.
Similarly, Samuel Johnson noted that:
At the tables where a stranger is received, neither plenty nor delicacy is wanting. A tract of land so thinly inhabited must have much wild-fowl; and I scarcely remember to have seen a dinner without them. The moor-game is every where to be had. That the sea abounds with fish, needs not be told, for it supplies a great part of Europe. The Isle of Sky has stags and roebucks, but no hares. They sell very numerous droves of oxen yearly to England, and therefore cannot be supposed to want beef at home. Sheep and goats are in great numbers, and they have the common domestic fowls."
— Samuel Johnson, A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland.
A black sea bird with a black beak, red feet and a prominent white flash on its wing sits on a shaped stone. The stone is partially covered with moss and grass and there is an indistinct outline of a grey stone wall and water body in the background.
In the modern era avian life includes the corncrake, red-throated diver, kittiwake, tystie, Atlantic puffin, goldeneye and golden eagle. The eggs of the last breeding pair of white-tailed sea eagle in the UK were taken by an egg collector on Skye in 1916 but the species has recently been re-introduced. The chough last bred on the island in 1900. Mountain hare (apparently absent in the 18th century) and rabbit are now abundant and preyed upon by wild cat and pine marten. The rich fresh water streams contain brown trout, Atlantic salmon and water shrew. Offshore the edible crab and edible oyster are also found, the latter especially in the Sound of Scalpay. There are nationally important horse mussel and brittlestar beds in the sea lochs and in 2012 a bed of 100 million flame shells was found during a survey of Loch Alsh. Grey Seals can be seen off the Southern coast.
Heather moor containing ling, bell heather, cross-leaved heath, bog myrtle and fescues is everywhere abundant. The high Black Cuillins weather too slowly to produce soil that sustains a rich plant life, but each of the main peninsulas has an individual flora. The basalt underpinnings of Trotternish produce a diversity of Arctic and alpine plants including alpine pearlwort and mossy cyphal. The low-lying fields of Waternish contain corn marigold and corn spurry. The sea cliffs of Duirinish boast mountain avens and fir clubmoss. Minginish produces fairy flax, cats-ear, and black bog rush. There is a fine example of Brachypodium-rich ash woodland at Tokavaig in Sleat incorporating silver birch, hazel, bird cherry, and hawthorn.
The local Biodiversity Action Plan recommends land management measures to control the spread of ragwort and bracken and identifies four non-native, invasive species as threatening native biodiversity: Japanese knotweed, rhododendron, New Zealand flatworm and mink. It also identifies problems of over-grazing resulting in the impoverishment of moorland and upland habitats and a loss of native woodland, caused by the large numbers of red deer and sheep.
In 2020 Clan MacLeod chief Hugh MacLeod announced a plan to reintroduce 370,000 native trees along with beaver and red squirrel populations to the clan estates on Skye, to restore a "wet desert" landscape which had depleted from years of overgrazing.
Definitively a photo Best Viewed Large On Black.
Lighting: A Speedlite 550 EX placed to the right (outside of photo) was set to 1/4 manual output and pointed at a white wall 30 cm behind the marbles; triggered wirelessly. All indirect backlight, in other words.
Update: Wow, this has in very short time become my most favorited photo ever, and the only one to break top ten of Explore (reached #4). I guess sometimes simplicity is all it takes :-)
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Cheers to the weekend!
Whiskey Day, 08/19/2023, Nashville, TN
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