October 03, 2022

The Fairy Glen, Isle of Skye, Scotland

The Fairy Glen, Scotland

This lush landscape in the hills above the village of Uig, on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, has a name to match its fantastical appearance. With its stepped, conical hills, buttes, lochans (ponds) and copses of gnarled trees, the Fairy Glen is an otherworldly valley created by a series of small landslides. Here on Trotternish, the most northerly peninsula on Skye, the whole landscape is a labyrinth of steep slopes, plateaus and dramatic rock formations, thanks to an ancient landslip which runs for more than 30 kilometres.

The Fairy Glen is like a miniature version of the much larger Quiraing landslip further up the peninsula and is a popular spot with photographers. These days, the concentric circles and spirals of stones you see here are a bit controversial. They are considered a nuisance created by tourists, and locals will remove them, preferring to keep the glen as nature intended. The flat basalt-topped hill in the middle of our image is known as Castle Ewan, for reasons unknown. It is not a ruined castle, but does offer great all-round views of this magical place, sculpted by landslides, glacial movement and erosion (or as a bridge between our world and the fairy world, depending on what you believe).