No Wind and Bright Sunshine: Perthshire’s Lochs Go Perfectly Still, and a Kenmore Swan Sees Its Reflection and Asks for a Moment

By our Scenic Correspondent

With winds of barely 2mph and bright spells forecast across Perthshire today, the county’s lochs are expected to go almost completely flat. Photographers say it’s the best light of the year.

“When it’s this still, Loch Tay is like a mirror,” said a photographer from Pitlochry, setting up his tripod at Kenmore at dawn. “You get the hills, the trees, the autumn colours, and then you get them all again upside down. It’s two views for the price of one. That’s Perthshire value.”

At Loch Faskally, a coach party from Fife were seen trying to photograph the reflection of the Pitlochry dam. “I’ve taken 47 pictures,” said one of them. “I can’t tell which way up any of them go.”

A Kenmore woman said she had seen a swan on the loch “looking at itself for about ten minutes”. “I think it had never seen itself so clearly,” she said. “It looked a bit surprised. I’ve had mornings like that myself.”

Tourism chiefs recommend visiting early, before the mist lifts. Locals recommend visiting early, before the coach from Fife arrives.

The Perthetic reminds visitors that the calm will not last, and that by Thursday, the lochs will be back to their usual state, which is grey and slightly choppy, like a man who has just been told the price of a pint.

The real story: Perth forecast (Met Office)