Collapsing roof
With the weight of flagstones on the roof timbers, a Westray roof needs love and attention to keep it keeping the rain …
Drips
Drips of water run down the cliffs on Westray.
Green pool
Walking along Westray’s rocky shores through a rock arch and into and out of caves we come across this dripping waterfall with …
Westray sea cave
Wandering along the coast of Westray it’s sometimes hard to tell what’s in the cliffs below. Only when there’s a promontory can …
Evening Puffin
A Puffin at the Castle o’ Burrian as the low evening sunlight streams through the grey clouds.
Reading the runes
I love the Orkney Museum. Every time I go there I see something else that I’d bypassed on all previous visits. Here’s …
Family picnic on the grass
Editing a photograph from last summer makes me want to be on those cliffs again with these picnickers.
Wrinkled and cracked
The exposed rocks of Westray are endlessly fascinating even if you’re not a geologist.
Puffin watchers
Looking back at my photographs from the summer I found this one. I’m a keen photographer of the Puffins on Westray: I …
Fish scales at Snaky Noust
‘Scattered fish scales of Osteolepis are common at Snaky Noust.’ From the wonderful Westray Heritage Centre.
Wet pebbles
The pebbles are beautiful and wet inside the mouth of this sea cave on Westray.
Frozen Moment
The sea on Westray is so clean and clear when the waves crash and it bubbles and foams in the air.
Saint Olaf in St Magnus Cathedral
In life Saint Olaf was a violent and brutal warlord; a killer Viking who lived 1,000 years ago. Yet he’s a Christian …
Telegraph insulator
I recognised this piece of pottery on a Westray beach instantly. It’s that bit attached to a telegraph pole which insulates it. …
Diamonds under your feet
I love the way Westray’s flagstones break naturally into diamond shapes over their surface.
Colourful seaweed
I always had a sneaking suspicion that seaweed was all that strange brown colour. Not so. Just look:
Lapwings – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
As a child I remember seeing upwards of 500 Lapwings in a field on many occasions. I remember the ‘pee-wit’ sound they …
It’s getting late at the Bay of Tafts
I love sunsets at the Bay of Tafts. The sun is getting lower and there’s a warm glow in the sky.
Once the roof goes…
Once the roof goes, the walls are sure to follow.
Seaweed on the shore
All it needs is a little rough weather and the beach at Grobust is filled with beautiful seaweed.
Turnstone procession
This seal is having a snooze in Pierowall as Turnstones parade across the wet rocky shore. It doesn’t look as interested as …
The Brough of Birsay from the air
One end of the Brough of Birsay in Orkney is very different from the other.
The eyes have it
Visiting Westray as a tourist, one thing must strike you; You’re on holiday on someone’s farm. There are beautiful beef steers everywhere. …
Frankie Howerd Calls
Hearing an Eider Duck call is something you won’t forget. It’s hard to describe to someone without the same cultural references. It’s …
Rock rings like tree rings
Orkney used to be a lake. Most of its rocks are from the mud at the bottom of that lake or from …
Camouflage
I found a shore crab on a Westray beach and then I lost it again.
Thistle
I love the thistles on Westray; just not on my ankles.