These boots were made for walking
A rock arch on Westray, at Backarass.
A rock arch on Westray, at Backarass.
Beware of Bull? That’s strange. I didn’t see any politicians on the way here.
Westray is full of wonderful rock pools. There are over 1,000 species of Sea Anemone on Earth. This looks like Actinia equina. …
We are in Moena in northern Italy at the book launch for La Chiesetta Della Pace – Orkney’s Italian Chapel by Philip …
Coriolano ‘Gino’ Caprara and Roberto Pendini were Italian prisoners of war in Orkney. They helped build the Churchill Barriers which created causeways …
Roberto Pendini was held prisoner on the Orkney island of Lamb Holm during the Second World War and worked as part of …
I’m spending time with Coriolano ‘Gino’ Caparara. He’s now 96 and as smart and as funny as he ever was. He talks about his experiences as a prisoner of war held by the British in Orkney as if they were yesterday when “I learned English 70 years ago,” he says “And I never get chance use it.”
Bistort in flower in the garden at Einar.
It’s a thrill to fly over Westray and see everything from a completely new perspective. I recognise the Wheeling Steen gallery below.
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I think the rain may have been getting in, don’t you?
The scientific name of the beautiful Groatie Buckie is Trivia arctica. Its name comes from the Latin trivia, the plural of trivium …
These three limpets are living on the edge. Their shells have been buffeted and battered so much by stones carried by the …
I’ve always loved the Westray beach with “The really big pebbles.” I recently discovered that a pebble can’t be any bigger than 64 mm. I think this one must count as a cobble.
Fulmars historically bred on the isolated island of St. Kilda. They spread into northern Scotland in the 19th century, and to the …
If you ever feel as if what you do makes no difference, as if you’re up against overwhelming odds or pushing against …
I’m standing at the base of the Kitchener Memorial in Birsay on the mainland of Orkney. It’s a beautiful crenelated stone tower …
This limpet has the best hair colour – a green fringe of seaweed. Beautiful.
I can also see a ghostly space among the barnacles where a companion limpet used to be. Limpets live 10 to 20 years. That one has gone to its watery grave.
The sea spray at Grobust has an abstract expressionist moment, frozen at 1/1,600th of a second.
There’s just time to say goodbye to Grobust on our tour round the Island.
The original inscription of the Kitchener Memorial at Birsay on the Mainland of Orkney was: “This tower was raised by the people …
The Health and Safety Executive says it’s good practice to display a warning sign telling the public that a bull is in …
Scapa flow is at the very heart of Orkney. It is a beautiful shallow harbour of 125 square miles surrounded by islands. …
Westray is a small island. Just off Westray is a smaller island; Papa Westray. Just off Papa Westray is an even smaller …
An island three miles wide by six long with a population of 300 people which has a huge exclusive-use castle on a …
What a thrill to see my house from the air.
Scaffolding follows me wherever I go. I spent months with scaffolding on both the front and the back of my house. Every …