Sitting pretty
A little further along the coast of Papa Westray I see an Arctic Skua sitting on a wall. It’s really not what …
Stumbling across a Great Skua
Great Skuas are one of my favourite birds. They are a constant delight as they patrol the shoreline, flying low and surprising …
Scootie Allan
On our walk around Papa Westray we are excited to see Arctic Skuas. At least we are until they attack us. There’s …
Dunters on the waves
There are Common Eider ducks on the growing waves here on Papa Westray. Their colours are very understated. As soon as they …
The flight feathers of the Tappie Whaesie
How amazing is flight? These young Shags are just getting their new flight feathers. Some feathers are still emerging and unfurling. One …
A bit of singing and dancing
Black Guillemots are the connoisseur’s auk. If you find Puffins too gaudy, or Guillemots too dowdy, then Black Guillemots are for you. …
The gift of two summers
There are Arctic Terns fishing in uneven seas off Papa Westray. Their concentration skills are immense: Arctic Terns spend the northern summer …
Nasal drift
“Dolphin!” I yell. “Dolphin!!!” I yell again, pointing as if my life depends upon it. The Puffin Whisperer looks at me from …
“I’m shy!”
Not everyone wants their photograph taken. Especially when you’re just getting ready to go out.
Don’t try that old broken wing trick on me, Sandy Laverock
We’re walking around the north coast of Papa Westray. It’s one of the smaller inhabited islands of the Orkney archipelago. It’s full …
In salutem omnium
Noup Head lighthouse is a major feature of the coast of Westray. Planned in 1895, it was announced in Parliament because, “Her …
Blood-footed Oyster-pickers
There are Oystercatchers on Papa Westray and they intend to let us know that. As soon as we arrive, and walk into …
720 Auks make a mattress
Papa Westray is one of the few places in which the amazing, and sadly extinct, Great Auk bred. People often think that …
A floating circus
I’ve heard of a travelling circus. I’ve heard of a flying circus. But a floating circus? That’s a new one on me. …
Biting Stonecrop
There’s a tiny patch of Biting Stonecrop on the stone wall outside my window. I wonder if it was planted there? It’s …
The Kray Twins
There’s a young Great Skua ahead. That spells danger. There must be an adult or two around somewhere and I feel my …
Skua Patrol
Great Skuas eat fish, carrion or other birds. I’ve seen them pluck another bird clean out of the air and head down …
Dull Dunlin day
It’s a dull day today. There’s a sea haar which is muting every colour to an Orkney pallet and reducing shadows to …
Island of contrasts
Walking to the north coast of Westray I’m struck by how diverse the views are. Here are Curlews on the bay with …
Arctic Terns and the desolate north
To the north of Westray the Island becomes more and more desolate. Grass becomes shorter and bare rocks peek out from behind …
Great Black Backed Gull
Great Black Backed Gulls are properly massive. And I mean massive. And their beaks? Massive too. Seeing one call overhead on Westray …
Goodbye Puffins
Here are some of my favourite Puffin outtakes of 2019: Westray has said goodbye to its Puffins for another year. Farewell our …
Great Skuas
Great Skuas are called great, not because they are wonderful, which they are, but because they are large. They’re really Greater Skuas. …
Puffins this way, no that way, no this way…
Puffins this way. That’s what the sign says. Except the Puffins are going this way and that way in a dizzyingly busy …
Mallimack
Along the Westray coast are hundreds of Fulmars’ nests. Their fluffy chicks are a constant surprise while scrambling among the rocks. They …
Watch the baby
There’s a Rock Pipit on the rocks. They occasionally go in the meadows here too, which is confusing, since the Meadow Pipits …
All fingers and thumbs
Did you know birds have an arm-wing and a hand-wing? You can see it well on Puffins when they fold their wings …
Respiratory choreography
Air pollution because of road traffic is something which affects us all. Some people suffer particularly badly. Air pollution kills 7 million …
The North our home, the sea our friend #1
In Latin, that’s ‘Boreas domus, mare amicus’. It’s the motto of Orkney. Isn’t the sea amazing? It’s the power and the fragility, …
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 …