Nibon Flyby

Nibbon, North Mainland Shetland | Aerial Landscape Film shot on the DJI Mavic 4 Pro

At the very end of a single-track road on the west coast of Northmavine lies Nibbon (Nibon on the Ordnance Survey map), one of the quietest and most beautiful corners of the Shetland Islands. This short film is an unhurried aerial journey across its cliffs, holms, voes and moorland, captured in calm air and soft northern light.

THE PLACE
Northmavine is the north-western peninsula of Shetland's Mainland, almost an island in its own right. It is joined to the rest of the Mainland only at Mavis Grind, a neck of land so narrow that the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean are barely a stone's throw apart. It was once called the wildest and most beautiful parish in Shetland.

Nibbon sits about 30 miles north of Lerwick. You reach it by the road signposted for Gunnister and Nibon, a few miles north of Brae. The final stretch twists and climbs along the hillside above Gunnister Voe. At the road's end the land drops away to the sea, looking out over the Isle of Nibon and the scattered skerries and stacks of St Magnus Bay. On a clear day you can see Papa Stour, Sandness on the West Mainland, Eshaness and Hillswick Ness, and even Foula on the far horizon.

South of Nibon the coast turns wild. Walks along the South Sound lead to Wilson's Noup and Mill Geos, where the cliffs are cut by veins of pink granite and shaped by ice and ocean over thousands of years. Seals haul out on the rocks, otters work the shoreline, and seabirds wheel over the geos. Artists have long been drawn here, and the sunsets over Eshaness are something special.

THE HISTORY
For generations, life in Northmavine revolved around crofting and fishing, with the sea as the main highway. Along the coast at Stenness, the ruined bothies of the 18th and 19th century haaf fishery still stand. They are a reminder of the men who rowed open boats far out into the Atlantic for days at a time.

Close to Nibon, at Gunnister, one of Shetland's most remarkable finds was made in 1951. Two local men cutting peat uncovered the preserved remains of a man who had died in the late 1600s. The peat had kept his clothing intact, along with a purse of foreign coins, a knife, a wooden tub and a walking stick. Gunnister Man has never been identified, and his belongings can be seen today at the Shetland Museum in Lerwick.

Local folklore runs deep here too. Johnnie Mann's Loch, at the junction where the Nibon road leaves the A970, is named after a man said to have drowned when the ice gave way beneath him. The loch is also said to be haunted by a headless horseman. Just over the hill, Sullom took some of the first German bombs of the Second World War. By local legend they killed only a rabbit and inspired the song "Run Rabbit Run".

HOW IT WAS FILMED
Every shot in this film was captured with the DJI Mavic 4 Pro. Its Hasselblad main camera uses a 100MP 4/3 CMOS sensor and records up to 6K at 60fps in 10-bit D-Log, giving maximum latitude in the grade. The 70mm medium telephoto and 168mm telephoto cameras made it possible to compress the layers of cliffs, skerries and distant islands without flying close to wildlife.

The 360-degree Infinity Gimbal, with up to 70 degrees of upward tilt, allowed rotating reveals and unusual angles not possible on earlier Mavics. With up to 51 minutes of flight time, each battery gave room to wait for the light and repeat a move until it was just right.

The film was edited and colour graded in DaVinci Resolve.

All flights were planned and flown in line with UK CAA drone regulations, keeping a respectful distance from homes, livestock, nesting seabirds and seals.

Enjoyed this glimpse of Shetland? Like, subscribe and share, and tell me in the comments if you've visited Northmavine.

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