A RACE AGAINST TIME

I have a feeling I am going to lose this race, but right now I am striving to complete shooting for the Last Ferries of Ballachulish film. It's a race because autumn is upon us, and though I am a huge fan of this time of year, I need to have at least some greenery in the landscape so that my shots over the past few months match.

But in real terms, time is not the limiting factor, the weather is. The west coast has had one of its wettest and windiest summers on record, ruining some harvests, and trying to capture the impressive landscapes of Scotland with a drone in the rain is pointless. There are some shots that will be easy to pick up on any bright day, given that they are "pieces-to-camera" inside a car, but I need those landscape shots. It is my hope that I'll be able to capture everything on the weekend of the 14th. Here's hoping for dry weather.

I'd also like a bit of dry weather this weekend, as we are off on a three-day cycle trip to Speyside. Originally we had planned this to be on the west coast too, but with the aforementioned rain forecast a change was called for.

Changes are happening in my garden as well. This year Pauline planted a Boston Ivy in a corner of the garden, and it has now started to change into its autumn scarlet red. The potted apple tree has already lost all of its leaves and the Rowan, though covered in bright red berries, now has yellowy leaves. Last to go, and in dramatic gold, will be the Birch tree. My second favourite for colour change has to be the hawthorn, mainly because this goes through almost every colour palette of autumn. A professional gardener once told me that plant and tree leaves have all the colours we see at this time of year, throughout the whole year, it's just that green is the most abundant. The hawthorn puts on a show  in what seems a slow peeling back of the colours. But it is in no hurry, as its colourful performance is spread out over a number of weeks to enjoy. It's only me in the race against time.