Swallows – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
Swallows seem unearthly. Their flight is so elegant, so fast and so controlled they seem as if they inhabit a different world. …
Giving me the sly eye
A seal at Pierowall is wary of me and watches out of the corner of its eye.
The Twa Corbies
The Twa Corbies is a favourite ballad of mine, so I’m delighted to see two Ravens on the cobble and pebble beach …
Somewhere between mild irritation and death
Washed up on the shore at the Bay of Skaill is this beautiful jellyfish.
Einar and the Northern Lights
There’s a fluorescent green ring encircling the Earth tonight made by charged particles from a solar wind. As if the milky way …
Starfish
She wishes she could find a starfish here; I go looking for one and find one. She thinks it’s because she wished for it; I think it’s because I looked for it.
Sea Urchin
Spotted a Green Sea Urchin Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis at the Bay of Skaill.
Pincer movement
A Hermit Crab emerges from its shell, pincers first; it’s just like me getting out of bed in the morning.
The plane arrives at Westray airfield
We’re sitting in the waiting room at Westray Airfield. I was tempted to say Airport rather than Airfield, but I’m not sure …
Fulmar sunset flypast
A ragged-tailed Fulmar is alive to every variation in the breeze as the sun sets at Noup Head.
Lighthouse in the rain
Noup Head lighthouse on Westray reflected in a puddle of rain.
Letting go of your own shadow
When the plane from Westray takes off I’m just over the wheels and I see us let go of our own shadow, …
Gannets fly past while the sun sets at Noup Head
The evening is idyllic. Sunshine, hail, rain and a double rainbow in just five minutes. The gusty wind means the Gannets are …
Rain Bows
I shout into the wind that I can see rain heading over the sea towards us. I’m wrong; it’s hailstones.
“Write an essay on colour in animals,” they said.
At school I chose to take Geography A Level and due to the intricacies of the timetable, which only one man was …
Finally, the truth about Orkney Skies
There’s a wonderful Orkney Sky Facebook Group which I joined a little while ago. It’s got over 2,500 members and some really …
Roadmire
Running past I see that Roadmire is for sale. It looks amazing in this weather, especially overlooking the Bay of Tuquoy. Roadmire …
For the love of Limpets
All Limpets start life as neuters and develop into males at about a year old. When they get to between 4 to …
Raven over Einar
There’s a Raven perched at the back of Einar. By the time I get my camera it is already in flight. I …
A box of finds
Bones picked clean, floats, driftwood branches and strange objects all collected in a box; I love beachcombing.
Wet bench
Wednesday night is fish and chips night at Jacks Chippy at Pierowall Fish. That’s a source of great excitement to me. I’ve …
Sanderling in the seaweed
There’s a juvenile Sanderling on the rocks. It pitter-patters busily among the seaweed. Suddenly I realise there are a flock of them …
Hedgehog – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
Cars are a danger to wildlife. On the road back from Pierowall there is a Hedgehog corpse. Forty years ago I spotted …
Underwater photography Take 2
Beadlet Anemones are vicious territorial monsters. There are both male and female anemones and each of them can become pregnant on their …
Westray Industrial Show 2016
I love the Westray Industrial Show with a strange and rather bizarre passion. There’s something deeply appealing about the vegetable competition, the …
On a clear day
On a clear day in Westray you can see the Mainland. No, not the mainland of Scotland, but Orkney Mainland.
Dropping my phone in a rock pool
It takes a lot of courage or stupidity (at least what counts as that in the so called First World) to put …