The Fairy Glen, Isle of Skye, Scotland

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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).