The Colours and Hidden Gems of Scotland

Here in Scotland our driech and dreary weather is world famous. But actually, the copious amounts of rain we often moan about is responsible for a cacophony of colours across our beautiful country.

The one place we might not always be as renowned for being vibrant and colourful is our seas and lochs. Of course there are always exceptions – our beaches on the north west coast are covered in golden white sand and with turquoise that might be mistaken for the Maldives… albeit a wee bit nippier… and we’ve even got a few lochs (called Lochans) with some pretty green shades to them, but for a good percentage of our coast and lochs it’s a steely grey mass that greet us. So you’d be forgiven for thinking that Scotland’s underwater world mirrors the water it lies beneath.

Now, I’m not going to pretend you’re going to be met with a rainbow of colours found somewhere like the Great Barrier Reef, but actually the vibrancy found under the waves definitely took me by surprise. Disclaimer! I’m no expert in marine biology or underwater photography! I’m pretty much a guy with “all the gear and no idea”! I started out with a wee GoPro and built my camera “rig” up to something that’s now resembling an octopus. But I’ll be completely honest, I have no real clue what I’m doing in terms of settings, etc. It gets put on “Auto”, I turn the lights on, try not to disturb the marine life and press the button hoping for the best. Quite simply, I’ve fallen in love with our underwater world and do my best to try do it some justice through my photos.

One of the most beautiful marine species to photograph (and to be honest probably one of the easiest), is the anemones. We have such an abundance of these, from deadmens fingers, to fireworks anemones, and the colours that can be found are just breath-taking. The patterns and shapes they make as they glint in the light of the torches and with the movement of the water is magical.

They might not be the most exciting sea creatures but the humble crab is also a fantastic specimen to capture, and again we have a wide variety. I’m not quite sure what it is but you can almost see and feel the attitude oozing out of them when you catch them in the beam of the lights. And cucumbers are most definitely not my favourite vegetable… but sea cucumbers… those I do love! I genuinely can’t get over how cool they look. They remind me of wee trees and I’m totally mesmerised watching them bring the food to their mouths with their tentacles.

I say this to almost anyone who’ll listen, but I always said I would absolutely love to get sweeping wide angle photo of a wreck. Those are by far my favourite photos to look at. Seeing these hulking feats of human engineer being reclaimed by nature and appreciating the scale of them in one scene is awe-inspiring. Sadly in Scotland with our visibility (well certainly in the areas I frequently dive) it’s not really possible and when it is, it really doesn’t do it justice. However on the flip side macro photography here is definitely rewarding!

Last summer I had one “photographic goal”… get a nudi! I was desperate to capture a wee sea slug, but no matter how hard I looked I could only find one all year and when I did my GoPro just didn’t do it justice. This year though, well it seems to be a completely different story! Every dive we seem to come across at least one… it also helps when you’ve an eagle eyed dive buddy! With the new camera and macro lens the quality in photos has improved as well. It’s not just the number we’ve seen but the variety we’ve spotted as well! There are so many different kinds, different colours and shapes. It can be a wee bit frustrating trying to hold myself still in the water and getting the camera to focus in on this tiny wee creature, but it’s so worth it!

The dogfish/catshark isn’t particularly uncommon in the UK and it’s no different up here in Scotland, if you know where and when to look. They are absolutely stunning to photograph and although not overly colourful the texture of their “skin” and their eyes are absolutely incredible.

Jellyfish! The scourge of beach goers everywhere! The dread of someone shouting “JELLYFISH” and hoping beyond hope you aren’t caught in a tentacle brings back childhood memories. So until I started diving the “evil” jellyfish was much feared. However, since I started exploring the underwater world and seeing them in all their glory I have come to appreciate them for they unbelievable beauty and grace. I love watching them float past (from a distance!) and seeing the shapes they take in the water. They are so full of grace!

So I’ve been writing this “piece” over a few days and left it over the weekend to complete… and I am so glad I did! Even the most dived sites can throw up a wee surprise every now and again. This weekend we headed to one our usual haunts with the main goal of logging a couple of deeper dives just to build up to Scapa later in the year. We headed down to around 38m where we planned to swim along for a wee bit before ascending again. There were a few rocks, but generally not much life but I took the camera anyway, you know, just in case.

Now these guys aren’t completely uncommon here on the west coast, but they’re mainly found at night and until now I’d never spied one, let alone photographed one! Bobtail Squid/Little Cuttlefish! I’m not going to lie, I was so excited! I actually thought I was slightly narked as it appeared out of the sand. This wee fella was so cool! The colours were absolutely breath-taking and getting the opportunity to photograph them was just amazing.

Scotland isn’t the diving capital of the world, we’re not going to suddenly become a top dive destination on many divers bucket lists, BUT we do have some incredible marine life, with such unbelievable colours! Although it’s not the easiest diving you’ll ever do, when you do get that moment, it makes it feel all the more special!