The One Minute Puffin Cure #5
Puffins are hunted by Great Skuas (known in Orkney as Bonxies). The Bonxies patrol the coast and appear, low and fast, unseen …
the natural history of Westray
Puffins are hunted by Great Skuas (known in Orkney as Bonxies). The Bonxies patrol the coast and appear, low and fast, unseen …
Alfred Schnabel, the incredible digging Puffin, almost throws himself off the cliffs in his Herculean efforts to dig grass roots out of …
Puffins are delightful to watch. The more you watch, the more you notice. The more you notice the less you understand. We …
It takes an extraordinary amount of time to keep in tip-top waterproof condition when you spend your time in the salty ocean. …
I met a German tourist at the Castle o’ Burrian on Westray in Orkney. He’d just been to see the Puffins. His …
And the Puffin that hatches on the Sabbath dayIs bonny and blithe and good and gay.
Saturday’s Puffin has a fight at a party.
Friday’s Puffin laughs loud and hearty.
Thursday’s Puffin has far to go.
Wednesday’s Puffin is full of woe.
Tuesday’s Puffin is full of grace.
Monday’s Puffin is fair of face.
In 2017 I had a wild idea; I was going to walk the entire coast of the Orkney island of Westray in …
There was a Hedgehog in my garden in Orkney. We all ran outside to see it and it curled up in a …
Leafing through my childhood scrapbooks I come across a drawing of a Common Seal. It has all the characteristics of a Common …
Here’s another of my favourite poems by Orcadian poet Edwin Muir. The Bird Adventurous bird walking upon the air,Like a schoolboy running …
Our UK Swallows are known as Barn Swallows in the USA. It’s a good name because they love nesting in barns. Here’s …
When a Hen Harrier came to visit
My adventures on the fifth of five days walking the entire coast of Westray.
My adventures on the four-and-a-half-th of five days walking the entire coast of Westray.
My adventures on the fourth of five days walking the entire coast of Westray.
My adventures on the third of five days walking the entire coast of Westray.
My adventures on the second of five days walking the entire coast of Westray.
My adventures on the first of five days walking the entire coast of Westray.
There’s a type of Goose Barnacle, a Buoy Barnacle, on the shore in Westray. Its full name is Dosima fascicularis. It’s one …
I’m used to seeing Swifts in Devon, high in blue skies, screaming. I spotted some recently in Reading, flying to and from …
There are over 200 species of Hoverfly in the UK. I don’t know any of them and have to rely on support …
There’s a beautiful nursery down below on these precarious cliffs: Adult Gannets are tending to their chicks and grooming themselves and each …
Orkney has its own names for its birds. Many of these are from the Old Norse language and came with the Vikings …
I’ve only had fleeting glances of Puffins with Sandeels as they whizz past at 30 miles per hour. I’m delighted to see …