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.
A Viking Longship in St Magnus Cathedral
Here’s a magnificent Viking longship in stained glass in St Magnus Cathedral. Viking longships were ships of war and built for raiding. …
Damp
In Orkney, when it’s damper inside than it is out you have a problem.
This light
The wall at the top of Einar looks beautiful in this light.
Good Year
Yellow wheel on Lamb Holm.
Struggling up the property ladder
Finding a new home is always a struggle. There’s the emotional wrench of leaving your old home behind, the uncertainty of whether you’ll fit into your new place and the difficulty of finding somewhere suitable when there’s so much competition. It’s difficult for people in the same way it’s difficult for Hermit Crabs.
Gannet
The name Gannet comes from the Old English ganot which means strong or masculine. It’s from the same Old Germanic root as …
My eyes popped out on stalks
My eyes metaphorically popped out on stalks when I saw this Hermit Crab in a Westray rock pool. There are well over …
Curlew
Curlews are in serious decline across the UK. It’s probably because so much of the land is used for food production and …
Walking down the aisle
A view down the aisle at St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall.
Boulder clay
These small red cliffs on Westray look just like Boulder Clay to me. I loved studying physical geography as a child, after …
The stranger on the shore
Westray has no sandstone rocks, yet it has occasional sandstone pebbles on its beaches. Here’s one. It was brought from the island …
Stones in deeply etched caves
We’re exploring caves around the coast of Westray when we discover this wonderful depression filled with stones and pebbles inside a deeply …
Early blue light
I usually have no idea what the dawn is like. I’m sure that if you looked at the number of photographs I …
‘When I see blood I will pass over you in the night’
Noltland Castle on Westray is 16th Century. Surrounding it are 17th Century additions, one of which has this fragile arch still remaining. …
Childhood – a poem by Edwin Muir
I find Orcadian poet Edwin Muir’s poetry so rich in symbols, metaphors and similes that it’s a constant joy to discover poems …
Busy building
Someone was busy building with stones on Mae Sands. Clever hands made this beautiful bottle-shaped construction.
Miniature rock stack
There’s a beautiful miniature rock stack on Westray. It’s slippery at dawn as I clamber down to the beach to see it.
“What’s going on?”
“What’s going on?”
Patterns in the sand
There are billions of tiny almost indistinguishable grains of sand yet together they can make the most wonderful patterns. We are all …