2019 highlights of a wilder Orkney life
The turning of the year is always a great time for reflection. Celebrating the darkest day with the thought that longer days, …
Home Scar
Limpets are incredible organisms. They can withstand the heaviest seas, can live despite being baked by the sun and desiccated on hard …
Have you seen a male Grey Seal?
The Grey Seals around Orkney are a classic combination of curious and wary. They are alternately fascinated by me and worried by …
Wheatear
I’m flushing Wheaters with every walk and drive on Westray. There isn’t a path or a road which doesn’t have a wary …
Sanderling #4
The Sanderlings of summer on Westray were a joy to get close to. Lying on the beach, keeping still, and watching them …
Sunset over the waves
It’s sunset on Westray and I’ve abandoned the car on the grass and marched off to the sea. It’s magnificent in this …
Attacked by Arctic Terns
I’m off for a walk on the Westray coast. Today I’m heading from Mae Sands to the Knowe o’ Skea. It’s not …
Feeding the family
Being a baby bird means knowing when to keep your mouth open. Many have exaggerated gapes, decorated in bright colours to encourage …
Star Starling
When a Starling flies by I always take notice. They are spectacular birds, either on their own or in flocks of thousands …
Why the long face?
I’d like to know why Grey Seals have a long sloping head. What’s the evolutionary advantage? What’s the adaptation for? What does …
Horsetails at Roadmire
The Horsetails at Roadmire are beautiful. Their stalks and leaves are covered in harsh mineral silica. They’re a bit scratchy and hard …
Something’s moving
There’s something moving in the field next to Einar. I can see flower stalks trembling. It’s moving along behind the wall. All …
Sea Rocket
There’s Sea Rocket, Cakile maritima, on the beach at the Bay of Swartmill. It’s a member of the mustard family. This is …
When technology meets Westray
Westray; where technology goes to die. On Westray things that you don’t expect to rust, to rot and to weather, do. Just …
Neighbours
Not everyone can get on. Conflict is inevitable. When we are all packed in too close to one another then tempers are …
Splash!
The seas are magical here. There are exhilarating waves at the Knowe o’ Skea. Out on the skerries, the wary Shags gather, …
Buoys Keep Swinging
Ever since I saw this latch and photographed it, I’ve been wondering. Why?
Uncommon Common Gulls
There’s a young Common Gull, Larus canus, flying past. They are very elegant fliers: Just as we have done for much of …
Patterns
The Starlings at Einar make incredible abstract patterns on the wires.
Sanderling #3
Westray has a certain palette of colours. It’s a world of muted blues, greens and purples; of greys and more greys. The …
Pot boiler in the midden
Westray has more archaeology than archaeologists. That means we are losing the most incredible evidence of previous civilisations with every tide and …
Dock
Stumbling across the thick grass behind the bay I see these tall flower spikes. I’m struck by their contrasting colours. And, as …
Sanderling #1
There are Sanderling on Mae Sands. They are energetic beyond imagination. They work the tideline as if their lives depend upon it, …
Ruddy Turnstone
There’s a Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres on the beach at Mae Sands. It’s just turned this stone over. They are very smart in …
Colourful smile
Buoy oh buoy, what a colourful smile.
Small, dumpy and short-legged
The RSPB says, “The ringed plover is a small, dumpy, short-legged wading bird.” Read more. That’s not very complimentary, is it? I …
Coiled rope
It would be tempting to think that this coiled rope on Westray is a metaphor. It’s a call-back to the very first …
A life of contrasts
In late summer I checked the outbuildings at Einar for Swallows. Many of the nests were empty. This one wasn’t. It must …
Hook-nosed Seapigs
The scientific name of the Grey Seal is Halichoerus grypus. It means Hook-nosed Seapig. Everyone needs a rest after eating. I was …
I’m a laughing gnome
“Ha, ha, ha, hee, hee, heeI’m a laughing gnome and you can’t catch me.”