The Brough of Birsay from the air
One end of the Brough of Birsay in Orkney is very different from the other.
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 …
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. …
Good Year
Yellow wheel on Lamb Holm.
Walking down the aisle
A view down the aisle at St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall.
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 …
The Late Swallow – a poem by Edwin Muir
Orcadian poet Edwin Muir is a favourite of mine. As I watched the Swallows at Einar I remembered his wonderful poem The …
‘The refugees born for a land unknown’ – a poem by Edwin Muir
‘I have fled through land and sea, blank land and sea,
Because my house is besieged by murderers
And I was wrecked in the ocean, crushed and swept,
Spilling salt angry tears on the salt waves,
The Horses – a poem by Edwin Muir
One of the first times I heard of Orkney was when I read Edwin Muir’s poetry. It was so strong, so vivid …
A petrosphere at the Orkney Museum
I’m fascinated by this neolithic petrosphere, or stone-age stone ball, at the Orkney Museum. I lean forward and suddenly bump my nose on the glass looking at it. What is it? What was it used for?
Sigurd the Stout and his Raven banner
Earl Sigurd the Stout was an Earl of Orkney. The Orkneyinga Saga says he fought with a Raven banner made by his …
Beguiling
A calm day flying over the coastline of Orkney is beguiling. Looking below at the beautiful fresh blue water there’s little hint …
18 inches of pew
St Peter’s Kirk in Sandwick on Orkney looks so beautiful in the low sunshine, standing quietly alone in its graveyard. It’s now …
Serpentine egg
A trip through the Orkney Museum in Tankerness House in Kirkwall is an essential part of any visit to Orkney. There are …
Timothy – the patron saint of stomach disorders
In St Magnus Cathedral there is a wonderful stained glass window of Saint Timothy, the patron saint of intestinal and stomach disorders. …
Practical help for Orkney seals
Orkney Seal Rescue works to protect seals: they rescue sick, injured and abandoned animals. Here’s one: Orkney Seal Rescue founded their registered …
Cross-bones and a cross-looking skull
The graves in St Magnus Cathedral are fascinating. What caught my eye with this carving is the anatomically correct cross-bones, with perfect …
Let there be light
The stained glass windows in St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall are beautifully done. This is one of them, Fiat lux, or ‘Let …
“The North our home, the sea our friend”
The Coat of Arms of the Orkney Islands Council is displayed in the Orkney Museum. The gold ship on a blue background …
The Chart of the Seas – Orkney on the Carta Marina from 1539
Orkney Museum has a fabulous reproduction of a beautiful and seriously unscientific map of Scandinavia showing the islands of Orkney, which was …
Ezekiel in St Magnus Cathedral
In St Magnus Cathedral they have a beautiful stained glass window dedicated to Ezekiel. Nowadays he would probably have a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a psychiatric nurse and a social worker on his team and be treated with antipsychotic medication to control his symptoms.
The whites of their eyes
Humans have evolved as social animals and we pick up on incredibly subtle non-verbal cues from each other. Unlike most other primates …
Yesnaby Castle
Yesnaby Castle is a proper sea stack. Many people seem to think that Yesnaby Castle is a smaller version of the Old …
Old and new
St Magnus Cathedral is slowly weathering away. Beautiful new carvings have been inserted to replace some of the most weathered parts. Their …
A world in miniature
If you’re ever struggling to think of a present for a young child, buy them a bug pot and a magnifying glass. …
The view from inside St Magnus Cathedral’s clock face
The inside of St Magnus Cathedral is just as fascinating as the outside, especially if you book yourself on one of the …
One of my favourite objects
One of my favourite objects in the Orkney Museum is this neolithic pestle mace head. It makes me wonder just how fabulous …
An early map of Orkney
I’ve been looking at too many early and unscientific maps of Orkney because as soon as I see this moss on a …