Completed in 1830, the Tarbat Ness Lighthouse, was built in response to a terrible maritime tragedy, that struck this coastline in 1826. When a great storm surged into the Moray Firth, causing the loss of 16 boats and their crews and which led to an immediate call for a lighthouse to be built, at the tip of the Wilkhaven Point.

The Tarbat Ness and the Wilkhaven Point lighthouse area, is an absolutely stunning location and which has now been designated, as an area of special interest for wildlife and for the observation of migratory birds. It is also a popular area for spotting the large pods of dolphins, that feed all along this part of the coastline, throughout the year.

Setting The Scene - It is known by historians and archeologists, that the site where the Wilkhaven Point lighthouse has been built, is over the top of the ruins of an ancient Roman fort, which the Romans had abandoned in the early part of the the 5th century. But where it is now said according to local legend, that the abandoned fort, was then taken over by a coven of witches, who had all pledged their souls to Satan. And where it is also written, that the leader of this evil coven, was known locally as the "Stein Bheag". Which translates from Scottish Gaelic to English, as the "Witch o' Tarbat". Who is described in texts from the period, as being "An old hag with a humped backed and red-hair, who carried in her left hand, a staff with a tail of a fish at one end and the wings of a raven at the other". And who had the power to cast spells, that could change the weather in an instant and whip up a storm. Which she would then use to sink boats heading out to sea, if she hadn't receive payment and given her consent, prior to them casting off.

Which given the fact that this was a fishing community, gave her complete control over the area. That is until a local hard drinking laird, discovered that large amounts of his wine stock, had begun to mysteriously disappear during the night. Yet when he checked the lock on his cellar door, for which only he had a key. He could see it had not been broken or tampered with.

The laird was determined to find out who was stealing his wine. So a few nights later, he crept down to his cellar in the middle of the night, at a time when he thought it might be 'watering time', for whoever was consuming his wine. Then under cover of darkness, he sprang into the pitch black room, swinging his broadsword in every direction, until he connected with something soft and heard a scream. But when he lit a candle to see who was there, he found himself alone, except for a fresh pool of blood on the floor.

The laird immediately came to the conclusion, that it must have been the Stein Bheag, who had somehow been able to transport herself into his cellar, through the locked cellar door. So keeping hold of his broadsword, he set off to where he knew she was living, at the tip of Wilkhaven Point. Then when he got there, he kicked down the font door intending to confront her and accuse her of what she had done. Only to find her laid on her bed moaning and bleeding profusely, with one of her legs, being completely severed and sticking out from under her bed.

That evening the Stein Bheag bled to death and so the laird, now feeling some regret for what he had done, ordered that she be buried the following morning, within the local parish churchyard. Which came as a relief to all of the locals, who thought they had finally got rid of her. But then the very next morning after her burial, she shocked them all, by having risen up out of her grave, to sit mocking them from the top of her own freshly laid tombstone.

So after the villages pronged her several times with a pitchfork, in an attempt to finish her off once and for all, they buried her again. But the following morning she had risen yet again, to sit on top of her own tombstone laughing at them. So with renewed vigour, they set about her once again and then entombed her, in a casket made of thick stone. Before lowering the casket into her grave and sealing it with more heavy stones. But again she reappeared the following morning, to sit there mocking them.

It was then suggested by a stranger, who had never been seen in the village before. That the Stein Bheag should be buried, outside of the church grounds in unconsecrated soil. But also that her head be pointing straight down into the earth and where he would then perform, a mystical incantation over her still laughing corpse, as it was being pushed deeper into the hole. Thereby ensuring she would never be able to rise up out of her grave again. And much to the relief of everybody, this time it worked.

How to get there:

Wilkhaven Point (Tarbat Ness Lighthouse) - From Inverness, take the A9 heading north over the Kessock Bridge and then continue driving North on the A9 for another 33 miles, until you reach a turn off for the B9165 on your right, signposted for the seaside village of Portmahomack (9 miles) and take this turn, Street View, Map View.

Then continue on the B9165 all the way to Portmahomack, where you will see a right hand turn heading towards Tarbet Ness (3 miles) along an unnamed, single track road. Take this right hand turn, Street View, Map View.

Where you will then arrive at a large official car park for the Tarbat Ness Lighthouse, a view from which, is shown above in SHOT 2, Street View , Map View.

Then drive to the far end of the car park, where you will see an information board (as shown here on the left), at the side of a metal gate, that leads to a short path through some bushes. Park next to the information board, grab your gear and take the path through the gate and then walk out, to an amazing panoramic view of the Tarbat Ness Lighthouse, as shown in SHOT 1 above.

Then once through the gate and after walking a little further out, towards the edge of the cliffs to your left. You will see a wooden bench and a relatively flat area next to the side of it and where you can setup your tripod. For this amazing view out to sea, with the Tarbet Ness Lighthouse on your middle distance to the left and the waves crashing over rocks to your middle distance right, Street View.

This scene is wide and dramatic and is a really good subject for shooting multi shot panos. So with this in mind, I setup my kit using my wide angle zoom, with a 10 stop ND filter mounted and using long exposures (30 seconds). I fired off about half a dozen shots of the scene, as I panned my camera from left to right, with my camera mounted onto the tripod, in the horizontal (landscape) orientation.

Tip: I was also using my large golfing umbrella when I took this SHOT 1, to shield my camera from any vibrations, created by the constantly gusting winds. Which having now visited and photographed this location five times, seems to be a constant thing that happens here. So assume you are going to get the same windy conditions and bring your brolly with you. As you are probably going to need it, if you want sharp images.

The Falls of Shin and the wild Atlantic Salmon leap - Now make your way back onto the main A9 road heading North and continue driving along the A9 for another 17 miles. Until you see a sign on your left signposted for the A949 and Bonar Bridge and take this turn off, Street View, Map View.

Continue driving up the A949 for another 10 miles or so, until you reach the Bonar Bridge junction with the Lairg Road (A836) and take this road heading towards the villages of Lairg and Tongue, Street View, Map View.

Carry on driving up the A836, until you reach a left turn, signposted for the A837 and Lonchinver and take this left turn, Street View, Map View. Where you will then drive over a bridge crossing the River Shin, before coming to a right turn for Lairg and the B864 on your right, take this right hand turn, Street View, Map View.

Then drive up this single track road for another couple of miles or so, until you finally reach the The Falls of Shin Community project and its large official parking area, Street View, Map View and park wherever you can. Then grab your camera, with your remote and your 70/200mm lens mounted on the camera and tripod. Then head off down to the Falls of Shin and the viewing platform you will find there, Street View.

Where (if you time it right), you can set up and photograph, quite an impressive display of leaping wild Atlantic Atlantic Salmon, as shown in this eight shot collage above in SHOT 3. As they endeavour to swim their way up the falls, to get to their spawning grounds, further up and along the River Shin.

Tip - It only took me about an hour, to grab all of these shots of leaping salmon, I am showing you above and in fact, I have several dozen more I could show you as well. Which means this 8 shot collage, is only a small sample of the images I managed to grab, in the relatively short time we were there. So here is how I did it and what I suggest you do when you are here, if you want to get the same results.

First of all, it gets very busy at the Falls of Shin viewpoint, with lots of people crowding onto the viewing platform all day long and cheering and clapping each time a salmon leaps up the falls. So to avoid the crowds and get the best spot for photographing the leaping salmon. We decided that, as it was within a few days of the summer equinox, we knew it wouldn't get too dark for photography, until around 10pm at night. So we chose to go there at 7pm, expecting the crowds to be less and to spend a few hours grabbing shots of the occasional salmon, as it leaped up the falls.

Yet when we arrived, there was absolutely nobody there and the fish were jumping up the falls like crazy - now I don't know if they prefer to leap in the evening, or if they were doing this all day long and which is normal for this time of year. But whatever the reason, it really was something to behold and quite a spectacle to watch. Although there was a moment, when a crowd of midges started to attack us. But thankfully, a nice steady breeze, started to blow through the glen and as the dreaded Scottish midges, can't fly in anything above a 6mph breeze, they soon left us alone again.

So I set up my tripod at the furthest point, on the little bowed out section of the platform, that was nearest to the falls. Set my camera to f/4.0, ISO 800 and with a 1/1000th of a second exposure speed, in high continuous shooting mode. I then set the camera to autofocus, plugged in my remote and framed up just the main part of the front of the falls. It was then just a matter, of standing at the side of the tripod looking at the falls, with my remote in hand. Then as soon as a salmon leapt out of the water, I simply held down my remote shutter release, until it disappeared again. Then all I had to do later on the computer, was to select out the best "action" shots, from the hundreds I had taken.

Lochbuie, Torboll Falls, (Abhainn an r-Sratha Charnaig) and the old Crofters Cottage - Retrace your steps from the Falls of Shin, back down to the main A9 road and then continue heading North for another 10 miles. Until you reach a single track road turn off to your left, signposted for the road to Lochbuie, Street View, Map View. Take this left hand turn and then continue driving up this single track road for another 4 miles, until you reach a small two vehicle parking area on your left, with a waist high stone wall on the right side of the road and park here.

This is a parking space that can easily accommodate two vehicles and even though it looks like passing place, the fact that it does not have a passing place sign next to it, means it can be used to park your vehicle, Street view, Map View.

Then once you have parked, if you get out of your vehicle and walk across the single track road over to the wall on the other side.

Where you will then see, the top part of the Torboll Falls through the trees. As it makes its way through a sort of stone gully, before falling down into the river below, as shown in SHOT 4 above. You will also see as you look over the wall to the Torboll Falls below, there is a very steep unofficial path, that leads down to the falls and a wooden bridge, that you can walk across, to get right into the front of the falls to shoot it.

But you will also see, how this muddy little ankle breaking path, has all the potential to break every bone in your body. So what I did (as I am too old for a path as steep as this), was to walk a few hundred yards further up the road, where you will see a farm track heading off to your right, that goes through a metal gate and where there is a much easier path back down to the falls, on the right just through the gate.

So take this route instead and save yourself a visit to the hospital. Although I must say, this second route I am now describing to you, was obviously a more organised and less dangerous route down to the falls in the past. But which seems to have been forgotten over time, as it has now become very overgrown. Which meant I had to do a bit of bushwhacking to push through the fallen trees and branches etc, to get to the falls.

So if you do decide not to take my advice and go down the ankle breaking path instead, then you can't blame me, as I am advising you NOT to go down to the falls, using this obviously dangerous route - OK?

OK!

Then once you are down at the falls, you will see a slatted wooden bridge, that crosses over an old, stone, manmade salmon ladder. With a small, flat grassy area on the other side of the bridge, that is just big enough to allow you to setup your tripod, for a good view of the scene, as shown here to the right in SHOT 5.

Then, having taken your shots the Torboll Falls, go back to your vehicle and continue driving up this single track road for a few more miles, until you reach an old crofters cottage on your right. Then once you arrive at this idyllic view of the Old Crofters Cottage, you will see there is a gravelled covered area on the right of the road, that has just enough space to park a couple of vehicles, Street View, Map View. So park here.

I have visited and photographed this view, of the old (and still unoccupied as of 2024) crofters cottage several times now and we have never seen anyone else here, or even driving past. Which I think is amazing, just because it looks so perfectly photogenic and idyllic.

So I can only assume, that few people know about it and it hasn't been photographed very much before, or at least not to my knowledge. But as you can see from SHOTS 6 to the left and 7 and 8 below, this tiny two roomed, stone built and many hundreds of year old cottage, sits in the perfect surroundings and looks just so photographically inviting. In fact I think it looks very much, like the type of scene you would make up, if you were asked to draw an old Scottish cottage or croft house, from a couple of hundred years ago.

But alas on our last visit to this viewpoint in 2024, there was a newly erected sale board for this cottage, at the side of the road. So who knows what will happen to it in the future. But for now at least and as I write this photo guide to the area, it still looks exactly the same as the images I am showing here to the left and below.

So, assuming the old crofters cottage is still unoccupied, as it has been for at least the last three years. Then you should have no problem walking around the scene and shooting it from wherever you think is the best view of it. Which if I had to choose between the two shots I am showing you here? The best one for me, is SHOT 6 , shown here to the left. Which I actually shot while standing at the side of the car, right next to the road. Which means, that even if this idyllically placed cottage is now occupied and you can't walk around it (which you really shouldn't if someone is living there, so please respect their privacy), it is still a shot that works and is available to you from the road - but NO TRESPASSING PLEASE, if it is now occupied!!

I then worked the scene as I moved around with my camera, until I found a view of the old cottage, from the centre of a large patch of cotton grass, a little further down the hill. As shown in SHOT 7 below left.

But I had to be mindful when I took this SHOT 7 below , of the two chimney pots not following along, or touching the line of the horizon. So I setup my tripod close to the ground, to make the chimney pots break through the horizon, just enough to give them some separation from the background.

Tip - Always look for elements in your compositions, that have "Touching Edges" and try to avoid them wherever you can, as it just looks wrong and composed badly, if you ignore them. So I knew that both of the chimneys on the old croft house, would not look comfortable within the composition, if I let them run directly along with the edge of the horizon. So I chose to get down much lower to the ground to shoot it, to make both of the chimney pots break through the horizon line.

Yes I know, this touching edge problem, can seem like a bit of a nitpick. But I believe it is tiny little things like this, that can either make, or break, the quality of an image.

I then wandered around closer to the cottage, after making sure that no one was there and snapped a few cheeky shots through a side window. The best of which, I am showing you here in SHOT 8 above right. Which to my mind, seems to encapsulate the loneliness and age of this old building, as well as a feeling of melancholy and loss.

But what really caught my eye for SHOT 8 and made me reach for my camera, was the build up of the many layers of paint, that had been daubed around the edges of the window frames. Which to look like this, must have been accumulating over many, many decades. If not over hundreds of years.

The Mound - The Mound, is a large manmade earthen embankment, that was constructed at the request of the Sutherland Estate, who were the owners of this land and who wanted to create a bridge across this part of the Fleet Estuary, so they could more easily access their lands.

So Sir Thomas Telford - who was a well known bridge and road maker in Scotland and who even earned the nickname, "The Colossus of Roads". Was asked to come in and design, then construct a bridge for the estate, which he did.

But he did so in such a way, it would also act as a tidal barrier, that prevented salt water coming in from the sea and flowing back up into the estuary. Yet still allow fresh water from the river Fleet, to flow out through the barrier into the sea, through a series of one way systems called "Bap Valves". Which at certain times of the year, the Bap Valves could be opened, to allow salmon to swim up river to their spawning pools. Thereby providing not only a bridge for the estate, but their own salmon lochs, as described in more detail, in the info panel shown here on the right.

The Mound and its tidal barrier system, as well as the four arched bridge that were constructed at the sea facing side of it, was finally completed in 1816 at nearly twice the original estimated cost. Although I believe Thomas Telford was no longer involved by that point, so was actually completed by someone called William Young, but still using Thomas Telford's designs. Which when completed, created a large two mile wide area of fresh water wetland, where many birds and different types of wildlife now thrive.

But in particular, look out for the pair of breeding Osprey, that can often be seen here fishing and which I am reliably informed by an expert (my wife). That now live here all year round, as the supply of fish is so good, they no longer feel the need to migrate.

There are quite a few good things about the Mound viewpoint for photographers. With one of them being that this fresh water estuary loch, attract lots of wildlife to it. With birds, salmon and even groups of deer, regularly seen in and around the loch and coming down to the waters edge to drink. But perhaps most of all, even though this is an East coast location, this particular viewpoint still happens to face due West. Meaning it is also a really good location for shooting sunset reflections, as shown in SHOT 10 below.

--Exif information for each of the numbered shots shown throughout this chapter

--1 - Canon EF16-35 f/2.8L USM, 30 Sec with 10 stop ND, f/16, ISO 50, Focal Length 18mm (6 shot horizontal orientated pano), taken on 24th Jun at 12:00

--2 - Canon EF16-35 f/2.8L USM, 1/160 Sec, f/13, ISO 100, Focal Length 105mm, taken on 11th Jun at 12:55

--3 - Canon EF70-200/2.8L IS USM, 1/1000 Sec, f/4.0, ISO 800, Focal Length 113mm (cropped and for all 8 shots used in the collage), taken on 26th Jun at 19:07 onwards

--4 - Canon EF70-200/2.8L IS USM, 1 Sec (with 3 stop ND), f/16, ISO 50, Focal Length 200mm, taken on 24th Jun at 11:15

--5 - Canon EF16-35 f/2.8L USM, 1/4 Sec (-/+ 2 stop bracket, with 3 stop ND), f/13, ISO 100, Focal Length 35mm, taken on 24th Jun at 11:43

--6 - Canon EF24-105 f/4L IS USM, 1/160 Sec, f/16, ISO 100, Focal Length 24mm, taken on 17th Jun at 09:47

--7 - Canon EF24-105 f/4L IS USM, 1/160 Sec, f/16, ISO 100, Focal Length 45mm, taken on 17th Jun at 10:01

--8 - Canon EF24-105 f/4L IS USM, 1/125 Sec, f/11, ISO 320, Focal Length 87mm, taken on 10th Jun at 12:57

- 9 - Canon EF24-105 f/4L IS USM, 1/60 Sec, f/16, ISO 125, Focal Length 28mm (single shot cropped pano), taken on 18th Jun at 18:48

--10 - Canon EF24-105 f/4L IS USM, 1/4 Sec (-/+ 2 stop bracket), f/22, ISO 50, Focal Length 24mm, taken on 21st Jun at 21:16