Shetland Storm Force Photography

Rain, rain rain - and this is supposed to be Summer.

This years seems to be a wash out in many places, blamed on the Jet stream which has moved south over the past couple of years. Floods in many places cannot be good for wildlife, especially when occurring in spring and summer when birds are breeding and adults finding it difficult to catch insects or when nests are washed out, eggs are cold.

                                          Looking south from Sandwick towards Sumburgh head

                                          Is this coming down in sheets, buckets or cats&dogs?

However, the rain does benefit certain birds which rely on boggy habitats, such as marshland and wetlands. Shetland has its fair share off wet weather, you can see this as you come across many lochs(over 1500), numerous small burns and wet meadows which are good for Snipe, Redshank, Lapwing, Curlew and Dunlin as well as special birds such as Red throated diver and Red necked Phalarope.

When drought conditions prevail and habitats dry out the birds have to move on. This apparently has happened in the flow country in Sutherland where it has been tinder dry, with very few birds about.

You have to feel sorry for the wildlife living in the water, especially those like the pond skater which moves about on the water surface. Just check out the photos below to see the effect that one droplet of water has never mind millions of drops causing a trampoline effect- I feeling sick already!

Individual water droplets are beautiful, coming in many different shapes, it all depends what moment you press the shutter and how much it has bounced off the water surface.

The one below looks more like a diamond than a water droplet