Whitelee wind farm – Knightshoots Landscape Photography

Whitelee Wind Farm and Lochgoin Monument

South West Scotland 2021: Part Eight

11 September 2021

Wind farm day… Only when I woke up early hoping for the sunrise shot I dreamed of, the cloud was SO thick you couldn’t see out of the window!!

I went back to sleep.

I eventually woke up to rain a couple of hours later. With the view still quite restricted, I simply took things easy and waited the weather out. The predictions were looking a little more promising as the day went so on I felt there was no rush today. The cloud lifted a little eventually, and it made for some nice shots from the camper window… Was that cheating?

Grim view from the window as the last downpour finally headed off

Eventually the rain stopped down to a light drizzle, and the clouds were above the turbines, so I decided to go on a long walk with River to guage some nice moody compositional spots. I headed in the opposite direction to yesterday, walking past turbines 40, 24, 9, 8, 78 and down towards the Lochgoin Monument (see yesterdays map). This monument commemorates John Howie the author of The Scots Worthies, a book from 1775 that documented notable Covenanters and ministers. (Covenanters were a group of people in Scotland who had signed a petition against the interference of the Stuart kings in the Presbyterian church affairs, back in 1638. What followed was over 50 years of horrific persecution, violence, torture and murder)

I took some photos there, but I was sure that I could get nicer pictures in better weather and/or light. For now however, at least this documented my visit. After I had taken photos from a few different positions I realised that this exact spot was no longer in East Renfrew, but actually in East Ayrshire instead. This meant that, after all that walking, I couldn’t mark this spot off the East Renfrew leg of my county challenge … Oh well. One in advance…

As I took the pictures, I noticed a couple of breaks in the clouds, dancing small pockets of light across the Eaglesham Moor. While the light danced, it hit the occasional turbine. This looked SO pretty that I hoped to maybe capture one lit up against the grim grey sky as I turned to continue my walk around. For now, the walk ahead had no breaks in the cloud, so I aimed instead to get to a good viewpoint as soon as I could.

I started towards the Lochgoin Reservoir, only to realise several minutes later, that I was heading down to the farm by mistake. I walked back as quickly as I could and continued the hike round past the water and towards a marked lookout spot near turbine 43. My destination was Blackwood Hill.

I confess to feeling a little tired by the time I got there, and realised that it was pretty close to where I had ended at last night. Here River and I finally stopped for a good long sit down, some fluids and a lunchtime snack. It was a wonderful position. I could see for miles, and the distant hills and towns were bathed in glorious sunshine. Above us, the heavy skies remained. I saw more and more patches of sunlight come across the fields right over to me now however, so I positioned myself looking at a group of turbines, hoping that 3 of them might catch the light at once. I took loads of pictures of them all individually catching the sun, but for one patch to hit my complete grouping in one go, proved annoyingly elusive – then suddenly, after what seemd an age of trying and waiting – it happened!! I was over the moon, but realising the composition wasn’t quite right, tried to re adjust the shot. I was too slow though – the light had already gone off two of them. I waited, but it didn’t happen again, so I re-evaluated the shot I had captured and decided that I might be able to crop it to help it work better.

Light breaking through to hit some of the turbines

After this I wandered back and as I did, I spotted the Lochgoin monument in the far distance. I realised that from near where I stood, it would be perfectly positioned to sit in the middle of the silhouette of Ailsa Crag even further away, so I walked a few paces over to my left get the best view. I put my long lens on, zoomed to the max, and rattled off a few shots, moving an inch this way, half a foot that way until the position was perfect. The image on the back of the camera was really pleasing to my eye. I chuckled to myself…was this technically a 3 in one county shot? I was standing in East Renfrew, shooting the monument in East Ayrshire, against Ailsa Crag that was in South Ayrshire. How do I mark this one off?! Satisfied I’d gotten the best shot that I could, we finally headed back to the camper for a much needed rest. I’d ponder that question later if I really needed to.

As the hours passed, the heavy clouds cleared quickly so I made the call to head back out for either a clear sky sunset shot, or even a colourful one if I was lucky. Either one would do! River was exhausted (well we had just done 6.5 miles) so I left her behind to rest up while I trotted back to the spots I wanted to try for sunset…

As I walked, I spotted a lone tree on the horizon some distance away. With a lovely evening light bathing it, the blue of the sky behind, and a pink tinge to the cloud above, it looked lovely to my eye, so I hastily set up and tried to take a few photos. I needed to zoom in to the max, but even with an extender trying to help, it still looked small in the frame. (see Header) I felt it was still worth stopping for though, even if it did cut the time to sunset considerably closer than I was comfortable with.

Since I hadn’t picked a nice spot yet – and I only had a rough idea at that – I quickly headed on my way but soon found myself stopping a second time. This time it was to photograph the sun dipping below the hill, with a delightful starburst in the making. This spot proved rushing any further would be a waste of time, since I now realised I was in the wrong place to actually see the sun dip below the horizon itself. As I positioned myself for this shot, I saw the one I would have loved to have taken… but sadly the water level in the reservoir was far too low. I think that maybe a reflection in the water would make a strong image and that this would be much better after a period of rainfall. For now, I concentrated on trying to get the best angle for the sunburst.

Once I’d managed this one, I saw that I still had 5 mins to the actual sunset. I suspected it might be worth re-trying the monument shot I’d taken earlier, but I realised chances were going to be slim once I spotted that the sun was now behind a cloud. Any colour there a few minutes ago was already fading to a dull blue and quickly at that. I tried the shot however – gotta be in it, to win it, right?! Unfortunately the lens extender (which slightly restricts the amount of light that can get to the shutter) and the rapidly fading daylight, made it very hard to focus. Eventually I had to admit to myself, that I wasn’t going to get this one. Maybe I could just cheat the earlier shot, and put the colour that I was now looking at, into the image when I edited it…

Matching the bit of colour I saw in the sky later on, this was taken earlier in the day.

I walked back towards the wind turbine I had photographed and used my phone to take a quick snap of the severely depleated reservoir. This was to remind me that when full, it might be worth coming back to try a good reflection shot. Finally, completely exhausted, I plodded back to the camper for a well earned rest tonight!

My Adventures

Pollok Country Park, Linn Falls and Whitelee Wind Farm

South West Scotland 2021: Part Seven

10 September 2021

After a good nights rest, a reset, and a gentle morning, I left Emily at mid day with a clearer plan of action.

I was hoping to finish Glasgow, but rather than take shots of the city proper, I turned to two country parks just on the city outskirts – still technically in the Glasgow City ‘county’ so these can be counted as valid locations in my county challenge! My first port of call was Pollok country park, recommended by Emily’s flatmate. Parking was easy to find, and free, so I got there quickly, and walked towards the river, gauging a couple of extra shots as I walked along. It was as lovely as I hoped here. The most surprising discovery of all though, was the fact that THIS was the exact spot that I had actually tried to find two days ago!! The river I followed along here was White Cart Water (this river was clearly longer than I checked!), and the spot I had seen in the photo was the weir and old saw mill along the river right here! Clearly the original photo I used for reference had been slightly mis labelled as Renfrew when it wasn’t, or the poster thought that this spot was within the Renfrew boarder. Either way, I was overjoyed, and took no time at all setting up and taking multiple images of this beautiful location. It was still very cloudy, but it didn’t rain so I was really happy. I am determined to come back here at some point, and capture this image in prettier weather. I bet it will look really lovely with a bit of sun to bring this scene alive!

The old Sawmill by White Cart Water at Pollok country park

River entertained herself around me, and decided to rub herself in … muuuddd???. It could have been anything actually, so I didn’t take any chances and took her down to the water to wash it all back off again (much to her annoyance – she’d worked hard at getting that all in there!!) As I did this, I saw a chap taking photos of some bottles with the weir as a backdrop. I had a brief chat with him, and he explained that he was trying to take some advertising shots with his mobile. I asked how they were coming out and he said he was just an amateur and that the photographer he had hired couldn’t do it until October, adding softly ‘are you interested?’ Now, somehow I missed this question, only hearing it later, but I continued the chat, mentioning that I had seen shots like these before, that I bet the box was heavy, and further random conversations. It was only when I walked away a few minutes later, that I heard the question and I wondered if he had been serious, and whether I had missed a chance to earn a few pennies, and try my hand at still life and promo photography. Ahh, when you hear things back in your head after the event right?!

I went on my way, stopping to photograph the weir and old buildings from under the bridge (see header) then looked at Pollok House from the path. It was closed for the day due to covid restrictions, but the view from here was really nice and super symetrical which appealed to my sense of order… well apart from the gate being slightly oddly opened. I darted up the steps and evened the opening out before running back down to grab a quick shot with my phone. The lands here were the family seat of the Stirling-Maxwell family, and they lived here for 700 years in various castles before this house was built in 1752 (with a few extensions since then) In 1931 it was here that the first discussions were had to form a new National Trust for Scotland with the then owner, Sir John Stirling Maxwell 10th Baron of Pollok. He died in 1957, and the property was handed to the City of Glasgow by his daughter Dame Anne Maxwell MacDonald in 1966, and then to the National Trust for Scotland to care for in 1998. The family have retained the rights to still reside in parts of the house when they visit Glasgow, which I was really pleased to hear -it means that its still a living residence for this long line of lords and barons.

Satisfied with what I could get with my limited light for now, I marked Pollok Park as one to come back to at another time of the year or when I am next up here, and I then left and went to Linn Park, not terribly far from here. This was recommended by Emily herself, ‘its gorgeous there Mum, we went last summer, and you’ll love the waterfall…’ I duly listed this, and headed over with some hope that perhaps this waterfall might be as impressive as she suggested… but no, the water here was a fraction of the flow as I had secretly assumed. I sent her a jokey text with a photo, asking if there was more water when she was here (knowing full well there was) and she replied with a shocked face at seeing the levels. I wasn’t put off however. I did what I could, and actually really liked just focusing on one part only. The water that was falling here, had gathered to one side and formed a smaller section of falls that was in its own right, still fairly pretty. I really enjoyed this shoot. The low river levels allowed me to step a little further out into the water so I could get a better view. Photos online I have seen since, suggest that this isnt normally possible! Once this was done, I was pleased to be able to mark yet another county off my list.

From here I decided to go to East Renfrew. I wasn’t sure about doing another park, a waterfall, nor long walk, so decided to go to Whitelee windfarm instead. This was going to be an unusual one to do, and I was very uncertain as to what I could expect here – but as the prediction was for 24% cloud at sunset, I considered that maybe a turbine silhouetted and reflected in some water would look nice…? That was the thinking anyway. I arrived, saw a few spots to park up and then went for a brief walk to guage the place. I totally surprised myself by really enjoying it here. It truly was far more fascinating than I was banking on. Where I was expecting a bit of an eyesore location, with some interesting/different features to possibly photograph, I found myself in a very well thought out location, designed to be practical, preserving of nature, AND a pleasant place to spend some time walking or learning about these rather awesome structures. This place genuinely had it all worked out really well! I only did a short walk to begin with, just to guage the lay of the land… wandering around past turbines 40, 41, 54, 55 and around to turbine 43 (see map below) I spotted a possible sunset spot, and headed back to the van for some supper to wait the cloud’s departure before I aimed to go out a little later.

map of part of the huge Whitelee Wind Farm

The sky however, hadn’t read the same forecast as me, and I watched as the cloud got heavier and heavier until it was clear there wasn’t going to be any sunset, and that instead heavy mizzle would be the order for tonight! I moved the van to a safer spot, after seeing another motorhome move, and spotting a sign mentioning gates being locked. With miserable weather here now, I decided that I would stop for the night , and have a full and proper look at this site tomorrow… this was WAY more interesting than I initially expected it to be, and you never know, perhaps the sunset sky was slightly off by a few hours and the sunRISE would be the glorious chance I hoped for.