Mermaid’s fishing line – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
I always thought that it was odd that so much seaweed washes up on beaches. If seaweed has evolved over millions of …
Hermit Crabs – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
40 years ago I was on holiday and writing my nature notebooks with a full account of every species that I identified. …
A Wren in the garden – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
Forty years ago I was 12 years old and had just started my nature notebooks. I drew what I saw on holiday …
Small periwinkles – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
Small Periwinkles are beautiful. Forty years ago today on 15 August 1976 I was on holiday and I was describing them in …
Green Veined White – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
Butterflies are very noticeable insects. They have large bright wings and fly during the day. How they escape being eaten by birds …
Heron overhead – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
Sometimes there’s just too much wildlife going on here in Westray. We’re sitting on the beach in Pierowall Bay watching the seals …
Dandy Lions – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
Forty years ago I was twelve years old and had been using a Single Lens Reflex camera for a couple of years. …
Brittlestar – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
Forty years ago I was scouring the beaches at Tenby looking for any interesting living creatures. As is so common, I only …
Dog Whelk – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
One of the greatest things you can have as a child is a love of the natural world. To have the capacity …
Beadlet Anemone – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
Forty years ago today, on 11 August 1976, I was 12 years old, my family were on holiday in South Wales, and …
A Tystie with something tasty
Black Guillemots seem to be called Tysties on Orkney. This one has caught something tasty. It looks to me like a Butterfish. …
Peeled paint litters the floor
Peeled paint litters the floor at Einar. There’ so much on the floor that I have to sweep it up. There’s more …
The crack in the wall
There’s such a crack in the wall at Einar I could be in an episode of Dr Who.
Restoration of The Italian Chapel
Antonella Papa spent a month last year as restorer of Orkney’s Italian Chapel Antonella says: “The Italian Chapel now is part of …
The view from St Magnus Cathedral
St Magnus Cathedral dominates Kirkwall just as the Vikings who built it originally intended. If you ever get the chance to go …
Tree-ring cobbles
On Westray the traces of Lake Orcadie are everywhere. 380 million years ago this land we now call Westray was in the …
A fine day on Westray
A fine day on Westray is better than being anywhere else on earth.
Sunset over Einar
If I’m being pedantic, it’s actually sunset next to Einar, rather than sunset over Einar, but I’m hoping you’ll forgive me.
Ritual and Tradition
Food is a subject of much ritual and tradition, no more so than when I’m on Westray. There’s coffee and cake at …
Daisies on the walk to Grobust
I love Grobust beach. The walk down to it from the car park is covered in daisies.
A miniature rock stack
There’s a miniature rock stack on the east coast of Westray. It’s slippery as I make my way across the rocks to photograph it at dawn.
Do you ever dream?
Do you ever dream of having a different life? Do you ever dream of moving somewhere where you can savour each day? …
The Castle o’ Burrian
The Castle o’ Burrian on Westray is famous for its Puffins.
60,000 tonnes
The statistics say we catch 60,000 tonnes of edible crab around the British Isles each year. Imagine if we talked about humans …