The Light Touch
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Touch the Light.....
John MacPherson
Landscape and Environmental Photography from Scotland
I worked during 2000/2001 on contract for Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) recording a year in the life of Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve, in Wester Ross. The reserve celebrated its 50th birthday in 2001, and was the first NNR designated in the UK. Beinn Eighe Reserve is a stunning mountainous area with some of the finest remaining stands of Caledonian pines in Scotland. Located between Glen Torridon and Loch Maree it contains some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in Britain.
Photographer Niall Benvie and I were asked to record the reserve over the year, photographing such things as visitor use: walkers, climbers, birdwatchers, etc.; the wildlife such as deer and pine martens, and various bird species. We were asked also to photograph the various reserve management activities such as tree planting, fencing, brush clearing, and the variety of tasks necessary to maintain a 48 square kilometres reserve, which includes habitats from freshwater lochside through woodland to the sub-arctic tops of several peaks over 900 metres.
The highlight for me was a winter foray into a remote area at the back of the mountain where a small loch nestles in a high and very impressive corrie (cirque). The loch was frozen solid but the wind had kept the front area of the loch free of ice due to the continual movement of the water. The spray whipping off the water had landed on the surrounding grass and rock, encasing them in crystalline ice. The grass stalks were individual nodules of ice, inside which the individual grass stalks were perfectly preserved like flies in amber. It was stunning.
If you have an interest in SNH and their work to protect Scotlands environment and the people who live within it please visit their website here where you will find all the information you will need.
•Beinn Eighe
View SNH photographs here
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