Thursday 14 February 2013

Phenomenon All


Thank you to our participants, who navigated their way through the internet to the islands, but special appreciation to Christina Macaulay who was there in person and presented this phenomenon. This is what she said:

'It was taken from Pabay Mor in Loch Roag, Lewis on the Islands Books Trust trip last August.  When I saw the islands, they did indeed look like a fleet of aircraft carriers with bizarre overhangs.  It was jaw-dropping to see them for real and even odder through our binoculars.  Looking at them it seemed that some aliens must have landed. The only thing they can possibly be is the Flannan Isles - strangely contorted by an optical illusion probably caused by the sun and the sea in some way.  It was a hot day.  You can just about see the lighthouse on the island on the far right?


I have never seen anything like this effect before.  Perhaps one of your readers may have seen this effect before?

Here (above) is a wider shot that shows Pabay Mor in the foreground.  We were at the lagoon at the north end of Pabay.   Very bizarre isn't it?  I've also put another photo below taken from exactly the same spot looking down at the beach below us - with the islands in the distance - my kids are in the foreground.'

Any readers with similar experiences?


Scottish Islands Explorer - not always what it seems

3 comments:

Caroline Gill said...

I am reminded of the fate of these mystery men ..

John Kirk said...

Now that we know where they are, and given that it was a hot day, I am wondering whether a ‘blanket’ of mist or even fog has come down concealing the rest of the islands and giving the impression of flat tops?
We had a similar experience years ago on Arran. Standing on the top of the saddle and looking down Glen Sannox towards the Firth of Clyde at nothing!!! Just surrounded by fog. A very dangerous place to be, you couldn’t see 3 ft in front of you, but we knew there was a sheer drop just aa few feet in front of us!! Suddenly the fog lifted to reveal a tunnel, a perfect ‘U’ shaped valley (Glen Sannox) with absolute flatness on both sides of the glen. It was weird, but a beautiful experience to behold.

Anonymous said...

We had a very similar sighting on a hot day in June 2009 in Mallaig. I will post the photo to the Facebook page if anyone is interested. We surmised that it was a mirage caused by the hot weather.