Scenes from the sea

It’s all about perspective. Looking at familiar scenes from a different place always makes you think more deeply about them. Similarly, seeing places from another angle makes you reappraise them as photographic subjects. We’re on a boat off Westray and I have my camera handy. It’s lovely to see these Shags on a skerries:

And here is a haul of Grey Seals on rocks off Noup Head, with a fishing boat beyond:

Here we’re heading into what looks like Ramni Geo:

I suspect this is the same place with a view from the land, from my Westray Coast 50 walk:

There’s an energetic Puffin attempting to take off:

And I think this may be the sheep on the Holm of Papay. Hardy, aren’t they?

It’s a place I’ve seen from the air before:

A small island with a smaller island and a smallest island

It’s odd to look up at Noup Head Lighthouse from the sea below it:

There’s also a Great Northern Diver close by. They’re such handsome birds in the summer but this one’s not in all its finery:

Their eyes are so black they look eerie and slightly expressionless:

There’s a good view of my house, Einar, from the sea:

I’ve never seen it from this perspective before.

I’m much more used to seeing it like this:

Waiting for the bus in the sunshine

Although not normally with a blue sky.

We also have the opportunity to sneak into Gentlemen’s Ha, or Gentlemen’s Hole as it appears on old maps. It’s locally famous for being the place of refuge for four North Isles Jacobite lairds for several months during 1746.

It’s an odd place to hide if you believe monarchs were appointed by God and that there’s such a thing as the divine right of kings. Hiding in a sea cave and being surreptitiously fed by a single supporter doesn’t seem very divine to me. It’s all about perspective.