The Summer Solstice on 21 June 2026 marks the longest day and shortest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. In the UK, it happens at 9:24 am BST, when the Sun reaches its highest point in the sky. For thousands of years, people have celebrated this special day, with ancient sites such as Stonehenge drawing visitors to welcome the sunrise. In Scotland, midsummer traditions have long included hilltop gatherings, bonfires, music, and celebrations linked to the Sun’s power and the changing seasons. Some communities also associated the solstice period with good fortune, protection, and a strong connection to the natural world. After the solstice, daylight hours gradually begin to shorten, leading towards the Winter Solstice on 21 December 2026, which is 183 days later and marks the shortest day of the year. Today, the Summer Solstice signals the start of astronomical summer and brings the long, bright days that make this time of year so special.
Fly Boy
Note the extremely winter jacket….
Spring seemed to be very cold and rainy and today it finally feels like summer is at least on its way, or has certainly sent a note with it’s arrival date.
Thankfully I can finally get out with the drone again and finally pass the GVC test and be licenced and insured for it, for project as well as fun.
Anyway, here is something from last summer and hopefully some good stuff from this summer later!
Summer Solstice
It’s hard to believe that we are at the Summer Solstice. So little and so much has happened since the winter solstice. The summer solstice is one of my favourite days of the year, the sun does go down at this latittude but the light never disappears. I can see the sun go down over the western horizon and rise again on the eastern horizon, living on the top floor of a block of apartments has it’s advantages.
As I sit writing this at 3 am I can see that the sky to the west is already a deep orange colour that changes into a light blue above me. When I lived south of the border this was one of the things I missed most about Scotland in the summer, the first light of morning and the long summer days.
June/July
As my Instagram followers and posts can attest to, I haven't had much time to go out photographing in the last month. In what was probably the best month of weather that Scotland has ever seen, with included spectacular sunsets, I have been busy moving to a new apartment.
As much as I enjoy building furniture from IKEA after hauling it up three flights of stairs and then having to spend over a week building it, my body decided that it was not much fun. Never before has a bowl of Swedish meatballs cost so much.
Now that I have been in the apartment for over a week I am starting to get myself into a routine where I can balance working with some web design and some photography. After the world cup has finished I'll start appreciating this summer weather before it disappears again.