Heather in Bloom, August 2008

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In August 2005 I was able to capture quite a few colorful photographs of heather in bloom. At that time I used a 2 megapixel camera. By the following summer I had an 8 megapixel camera but have had trouble finding heather as colorful.

A few of the photos captured in August 2008 come close to those of 2005 in colorfulness.

There seem to be many variables associated with capturing colorful heather photos, involving sufficient sunlight, the angle of the sun and other bright colors like green grass and blue sky. There are also the natural variables of rainfall, soil conditions, the age of the heather plants and the days when the blossoms are at their peak color. I certainly haven't figured out all of these factors yet.

Below are some pictures with a narrative beside each one. Click on an image below to see a larger version of the picture. When viewing a larger picture, clicking "Next" allows you to look at the larger pictures one at a time.




This clump of heather was photographed on the 13th of August on Ben Bhreac.



On the east slope of Ben Bhreac there was quite a bit of heather, but it wasn't a real dense growth. And unfortunately, there wasn't much sunshine that day. This view is looking north with a small portion of the north end of Loch Lomond visible in the distance.



This view is looking down at heather lower on the hillside. There are two deer down there that have just noticed me on the ridge above them. My guess is that they were grazing on blueberries, probably the whole plants not just the berries. They turned and ran off a moment after this photo was snapped.



This view is looking eastward, with heather on the near hillside.

The hill on the other side of Loch Lomond is Ben Lomond. Part way up the ridge near the right edge of this picture there is a purple swath of heather. It is around and above that ravine that I went for heather pictures six days later.



On the 19th of August, this view with heather in the foreground is looking west across Loch Lomond at Ben Bhreac. The four previous pictures were snapped along that purple swath above the trees.



This heather was rather colorful.



I liked the small yellow flower that grew up through the middle of a heather.



This clump is about the most colorful I was able to photograph.

The peak in the distance with the notch on top is Ben Arthur, eight miles away to the northwest.



This picture shows that the clouds passing over allowed sunshine on some parts of the hill while other parts were shaded from the sun.

This view is looking uphill toward the top of Ben Lomond near the center. On the left is Ptarmigan Ridge, the route of one of the two walking paths up Ben Lomond. The heather-covered area is between the two paths up Ben Lomond and not very accessible to either path.



The green plants around the heather in the foreground are blueberries. They were ripe and delicious.



This is the first time I have seen white heather in the wild. It was a nice clump, surrounded by conventional heather.



The heather in the foreground is in the sunshine, as is the ridge on the other side of the ravine.

A portion of the south end of Loch Lomond is seen on the upper right.



The foreground heather is fairly colorful.



Five days later, on the 24th of August, we went looking for heather to photograph. Near the western edge of Peebleshire, a mile south of Broughton, we drove up Glen Holms and found this heather close to the road.



Beyond this thick mature heather there were about ten sheep that weren't sure what to make of someone snapping pictures.



The heather was thick on this portion of the hillside.



The symmetry of the heather and the track heading for the trees is appealing.



We then drove about a mile east of the Broughton-to-Moffat road and started walking up the northwest end of Drumelzier Law ridge.

This view is looking up the hill. I like the color contrast of summer green grass with the heather, even though the sky color doesn't add anything.



This view is looking northwest toward the village of Broughton in the valley.



A bit higher on the hill this view is in the same direction, toward the northwest. The River Tweed flows from left to right from just beyond the house seen at the left edge of this picture.



This view is toward the south showing the path we are using to go up the hill.



As we got higher on the ridge the heather faded in color so we began descending the south slope. The heather color became more lush.

This view is looking southwest. The distant green fields are in the upper Tweed Valley, or Upper Tweedsdale.



There was some purple thistle blooming in the grass near the purple heather.



The thick carpet of heather extended up the hill as far as could be seen.



And it extended thickly across the hill.

The distant peak that can barely be seen in the center of this picture is Tinto Hill, 12 miles to the west.



And the thick carpet of heather extends down the hill. In the distant left the heather is nearly as dense on that hillside.



The River Tweed can be more clearly seen at this angle.

Near the left edge of this picture, my favorite walking companion can be seen. She isn't really walking in waist high heather, she is following a path left by the sheep farmer's quad-bike (ATV) while I'm snapping pictures while wading in calf and knee high heather.



I like the contrast of the green grass and the purple heather.

These pictures looking up the Tweed were snapped looking directly toward the afternoon sun, so the distant hills appear washed out.



At this point we've come around the hill and again have visibility toward the north.



But the view to the south still has better color contrast when there is some sun shining on the fields beside the Tweed.



This is the view lower on the hill looking up the Tweed. The purple heather on the distant hills on the left is more clear in this picture, maybe because the sun glare is reduced at this angle.



And this is the final view of the heather on the hillside looking down the Tweed.

We walked down to the river and back to the car. On the way home we stopped for fish and chips at the award-winning cafe in Biggar, a few miles beyond the low hill in the distant left of this picture.

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