Worm casts at the Sands of Woo.
Aug 202010
A cycle ride to Mae Sands and a picnic of bread, cheese and water with a nice apple. Mae Sands is so close to the Knowe o’ Skea, the Iron Age burial site that a trip round the headland is a must. I sit and look out across the water with the island of Rousay [...]
Aug 192010
It’s late at night and I’m sitting on the wide window ledge in the kitchen. The light is on and the curtains are open. I’m reading. There’s the sound of pitter patter on the window – the perfect sound of large raindrops hitting the glass. It’s a romantic sound to me, speaking volumes of the [...]
Aug 182010
No, not that kind of circus. I mean Circus cyaneus, the Hen Harrier. Sitting in the window seat looking over the fields and out to sea I see a huge brown raptor flying towards Einar. It looks like a chunky owl until I see the characteristic white rump and long tail. With a wingspan of [...]
Aug 172010
Gannets have started breeding on the Noup Head cliffs and are taking over many of the narrow ledges and expanding the number of breeding pairs each year. I sit on the edge of the cliffs and look down.
Aug 162010
A 16 metre-long adult Sperm Whale beaching its carcase on the Bay of Tuquoy in 2007 was a source of much excitement on Westray. An adult male of 60 to 80 years old like this is a wonderful sight. Unfortunately, it took two years of putrefaction of rancid fat giving a stench of smelling-salts proportions [...]
When you move to an abandoned house there are always inhabitants who need to be evicted. Some are simply guests. Some are unwanted relatives and others are fierce squatters. Woodlice in the lamp shades. Spiders in the bath. Mice in the understairs cupboard. Birds in the hall. Wonderful primitive bristletails on the windowsills. In this [...]
Grey seals strike ridiculous poses in Pierowall Bay.
Dunlin are wary birds. As I walk along the Bay of Tafts they jerk in nervous motion and skit further along the beach to keep a watchful distance. As I paddle in the water they are less wary and I manage to approach within a few metres from the seaward side of them as they [...]
Aug 102010
Idyllic weather in Orkney? T-shirt and shorts on the beach? It must be August and it must be a fluke, surely? Westray is only 15km long yet has an 80km coastline with 17 sandy beaches. Today we spend the entire afternoon at the Bay of Tafts. Hermit crabs have taken flat periwinkle shells for protection [...]
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