Monday 21 April 2008

Monday 21 April

Another brilliantly sunny day, with a light easterly breeze and temperatures of 11C / 52F. Quite nice. The moon made a fantastic display, setting like an orange globe just before sunrise. Yesterday morning, it looked like this.



At 7.30 am, the first cruiseliner of the season, MV Quest, pulled into Stornoway. The ship had arrived off the east coast of the island just after midnight, but the pilot was not available at that hour. This marks the start of the real summer tourism season. Cruiseliners will keep coming until September.

Some very good news reached me in the last half-an-hour: the planning application for the North Lewis Windfarm, which comprised 181 turbines, each standing 450 feet tall, stretching from Port of Ness in the north to Bragar in the west and Stornoway in the south has been turned down by Scottish minsiters. The reason is that it is in violaiton of European directives on wildlife habitats. The developers are deeply disappointed, as is the local council, because this means an opportunity for 680 jobs across Lewis and mainland Scotland has been lost.

7 comments:

  1. Wonderful news on the windfarm issue!  Is this issue now formally put to rest or can they try again?  Are the cruise ships you speak of the commercial type ships...they are huge!  I would love to see the ships sitting in harbor.  When we cruised to Bermuda the ship looked so beautiful from the shore.
    Lisa

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  2. That is the best news.The wind farms are a blight on our lovely countryside.The moon looks lovely.
    love and hugs.
    katie

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  3. that was a great picture!! I bet the local people look at the tourists with mixed blessings; glad for the business, but an invasion on their town

    enjoy the day

    betty

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  4. nice pic. Glad to hear the turbines were turned down.

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  5. I quote enjoyed the full moon over the past couple nights myself, between thunderstorms:)  I, however, didn't capture it other than in my mind's memory.

    Glad to hear that the natural habitat will win.  Oh, I'm all for jobs, I'm all for alternative energy solutions, but.

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  6. great shot of the full moon.  i went to my spare bedroom window and took some shots of the almost full moon the two nights before it was full.  i am glad i did.  the sky was too cloudy here to see the moon on the night it was full.

    i enjoy reading about your part of the world.  it seems quite different than here in georgia, the united states.

    be blessed,

    regina

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  7. The moon is just gorgeous tonight in my neck of the woods too...

    Orange and big...

    be well,
    Dawn
    http://journals.aol.com/princesssaurora/CarpeDiem/

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