Scarba is held by a sunlit headland of sheer rock above swirling blue water, giving this Argyll island a forceful, sea-facing character beneath broad cream clouds.

At Scarba, a blocky summit rises behind steep ochre faces cut by deep blue shadows. White water curls around low black rocks at the base, while a nearer cliff drops sharply from grass-covered ground into the channel. Long cloud bands cross the pale sky and leave the sea in alternating turquoise and navy passages.

People crossing from Jura or watching this coast from a boat may recognise how abruptly land and tide meet here. Scarba keeps the eye on the exposed channel, then follows the cliffs upwards to the flat-topped mass that makes the island feel close yet unreachable.