My trip to Scotland is wrapping up. Most of the time was spent on the Isle of Lewis and Harris, a rugged, windswept land far north in the Atlantic. The landscape is dominated by moors, mountains, rugged coasts and bogs. Few trees grow there. Leaving the island, we spent a few days inland in the forested, mountainous area in and around Glencoe.
Mountain sun and shade
Trees were a welcome sight following the stay on the island. Like in the image above, some scenes were filled with sharp, clear light. However, one morning began with a lingering fog.
Beech silhoutte
A small island floated on the loch with cool pastels surrounding the trees.
Later, the sun got above the nearby hills and warm light now enveloped the trees. As a Scottish King says, “Stones have been known to move and trees to speak.” Macbeth, Act III, scene 4.
In the afternoon, the sky cleared and the sun slid down through the mountains surrounding a lochan. A line of trees beckoned the line of sunlight to follow them as it disappeared.
The only native pine in Scotland, and the national tree, is the Scots Pine. After the last ice age, the pine covered much of Scotland. But like the prairie in Illinois, humans eliminated most of the Scots Pine until only one percent of the vast forest remained. Legend says a pine would be buried on top of the grave of a Scottish hero. So who knows what may lie beneath this pine.
A Scots Pine