Since living in Scotland it has been a long time plan to try and get reflections of an aurora in one of the lochs. This was nearly realised recently with the visit to Loch Achilty but missed the main aurora event and was too late. However there had been some major solar activity with predicted high level of aurora activity for this particular Friday evening and so some plans were quickly put in place to visit Loch Glascarnoch about 40-45 minutes north of us.
I left for the loch soon after finishing work, knowing that the Aurora could be at any time. Unfortunately as I was driving north my phone was alerting with the red level of aurora, so I really needed to have left earlier - I continued on anyway.
Arriving at the loch, the conditions were absolutely perfect. Totally still - not a ripple on the loch, totally clear skies … and VERY cold. I took a photo from where I parked the car (100-150m from the loch) to check whether there was any activity - but the skies were clear. It seems like there was no auroral activity at all (after editing the photos, I realised on the second photo below, that there was actually very faint evident of the aurora - but I didn’t notice this in-camera).
I walked down to the loch, ever optimistic, and spent about an hour and twenty minutes patiently waiting in the bitter cold, trying to keep my toes moving in my wellingtons to stop them freezing, thinking the aurora could spark up again any moment - but eventually decided to go back to the car and wait there. I set the phone volume sufficient to wake me and drifted off to sleep only to be woken some time later with a yellow aurora alert! Quickly sorting out the camera geared I rushed back to the loch.
By this time the moon had risen over the mountain on the other side of the loch and was lighting up the landscape.
As I started to take photos in the direction of the expected aurora - it was exciting to actually see some green! The next couple of hours (in the cold) were a real treat. The aurora ebbed and flowed in strength, and the location was absolutely perfect for the reflections I had been waiting so long for. Here’s a gallery of the photos from that occasion.
Time was pressing on and knowing that I had an early rise the next morning for a wild camp outing with my brother and son, I decided to call it a night. With one last photo of the loch in the opposite direction - looking down towards the Ben Wyvis range, the exceptional visit came to an end! It had again, been worth the effort to get out with the camera …