Tag Archives: island

Mar 12 2023
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Urban scene, Transport

Hugh Town, Isles of Scilly

Friday 10th March 2023, 10.45am (day 4,215)

Hugh Town, 10/3/23

A trip out to the furthest south-western extremity of the British Isles (assuming we treat Ireland as separate) — namely the Isles of Scilly, a hundred or so lumps of granite stuck thirty miles off Land’s End, of which five are inhabited. The ‘capital’, Hugh Town, is located on St Mary’s island, and built on a narrow isthmus, which is apparent here thanks to the houses having blue sea behind them as well as in front, which is why I chose this picture — that, and the profusion of coloured things (buoys?) in the sea.

That’s one of the harder-to-reach County Tops bagged as well. There were lots of photos from the day I could have chosen to give an impression of this distant part of my country, but see the other blog for more.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
Jan 29 2023
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Waxbills

Saturday 28th January 2023, 12.55pm (day 4,174)

Waxbills, 28/1/23

I’m fairly certain these are juvenile common waxbills (Estrilda astrild), a member of the finch family. They don’t yet have the bright red bill that gives the species its name (as it looks like it has been dipped in sealing wax) but everything else about them matches the description, particularly the red stripe through the eye. The one on the lower branch flew off the instant I pressed the shutter, and is fluffing himself up ready to make the jump. Taken on my walk to the summit of the island, Diana’s Peak — more photos from the day can be seen on my other blog.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
Aug 16 2022
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Landscape, Transport

The ferry to Árrain Mhór

Monday 15th August 2022, 3.25pm (day 4,008)

Árrain Mhór ferry, 15/8/22

We spent the day on the island of Árrain Mhór, which in Gaelic just means ‘Big Island’. And it is fairly big, maintaining a permanent population of a few hundred, enough to justify a regular ferry service from the mainland, anyway. And here is the 3.30pm boat back to Ireland, coming in reasonably on schedule.

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Nov 17 2021
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Landscape

The bigger picture

Tuesday 16th November 2021, 1.15pm (day 3,736)

Hillside Villa view, 16/11/21

OK, it’s time to do the main panorama from my place of incarceration. The movie director in my head would still prefer to wait for the lighting to be just so, but to be honest, breaks in the cloud have been rare this last week — indeed, as I type this on Wednesday morning, it’s raining heavily and none of this can be seen at all.

To the left, Ladder Hill, depicted in close up a few days ago. Below it, tucked in its valley, Jamestown, the capital and one of the few places on the island where one can actually land a boat. To the right, Rupert’s Valley, more industrial (i think those are fuel pipelines visible) — between them, Munden’s Hill. All to be more intimately explored at a later date. In the direction shown, the next land is, I calculate, the Ivory Coast, or perhaps Ghana, at least 1,800 miles away.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
Mar 09 2021
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Interior

Legitimate dreams of faraway places

Monday 8th March 2021, 4.20pm (day 3,483)

St Helena on globe, 8/3/21

Nothing happened today at all, except for the news — still unofficial, but it’s looking most promising — that I will be heading off to this rather remote spot at some point in the next few months, for a research project. We got the ‘yeah, OK, we’ll fund that’ email today. And very good news that is too, for all sorts of reasons.

Tagged , , , , , , ,
Sep 19 2017
1 Comment
Daily Post, Landscape

Saints Bay, Guernsey

Monday 18th September 2017, 9.35am (day 2,216)

Saints Bay, 16/9/17

Thanks to the problems depicted yesterday, my connection in Guernsey could not be made, so I was here for the night and the morning after. But there are worse places to be stranded for a night I suppose.

Other small islands featured so far on the blog (that is, islands like Guernsey, and not islands like Great Britain, or Honshu): Kangaroo Island, Stradbroke Island (Australia); Stewart Island (New Zealand); Wayasewa and Wayalailai (Fiji); Kvaløy, Snilstveitøy, Tromsøya, Sotra (Norway); Æbelø, Fyn, Sjælland (Denmark).

Tagged , , , , , , , ,
Jun 05 2013
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Landscape

Æbelø island, Denmark

Wednesday 5th June 2013, 12.35pm (day 650)

Æbelø, 5/6/13

Denmark sneaks itself onto the blog again, courtesy of overflying it then changing planes in Copenhagen, on my way to Norway for a week and a half’s work. I love this, proof that nature can create beauty at so many different scales. It looks like a flower, don’t you think? I also think the single little cloud in the bay is a nice touch.

A couple of minutes’ searching on Google Maps suggests this is the ‘island’ of Æbelø, just north of the city of Odense on the north coast of Fyn (and on that island is also located Nyborg, which has also featured on the blog if you recall). It must be low tide here — I would bet this area looked quite different a few hours later.

Oh yeah, it’s day 650: and every 50 days I update the ‘Best of the Rest’ page. Only two new ones this time — I must be getting pickier. (Or less good at photography.)

Tagged , , , , , ,
May 16 2013
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Landscape, Portrait, Stranger

Approaching the Yasawas

Thursday 16th May 2013, 10.00am (day 630)

Approaching the Yasawas, 16/5/13

The Yasawa islands stretch in a more-or-less straight line into the Pacific ocean from a point somewhere to the north-west of the main Fijian islands, and are probably former volcanoes. They are also to be my home (and the home of this Californian girl, and everyone else who was on the Yasawa Flyer catamaran out of Port Denarau marina early this morning) for the next few days. The word ‘Paradise’ is often overused, but in this case I think it’s entirely appropriate. This is a good time.

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
%d bloggers like this: