A shimmering at Scarasta

After visiting the beach at Luskentyre, we headed south towards Leverburgh. Along the way we came to a broad inlet near Northton bounded by salt marsh which is an uncommon habitat in Harris. 

The tide had receded and across the partially flooded flats the hill of Ceapabhal near to Toe Head seemed to float on the water.  More remarkable was the view back towards Traigh Sgarasta (Scarasta beach).....

Bordered by saltmarsh turf, a broad sweep of white sand led the eye out to the dunes, visible as a line on the horizon shimmering in the heat haze.  Beyond, and not picked up by the camera, was a subtle optical effect with the surf rollers appearing to be above the dunes.

Whichever way we tried to capture this view, we failed to match the image we could see in front of us.

A line of wet sand reflecting the blue of the sky added another element, emphasising the refraction of the dunes into the air and the mirage effect.

The sense of space here was really remarkable, the view so broad that the eye had difficulty resolving the horizontal elements - we even thought we could detect a slight curvature to the horizon line - or was that an optical illusion too?