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 …
Pierowall Poppy
There’s a single red poppy down by the bay. It’s so fragile. As fragile as life itself.
Let me sleep in a bed of clover
The white clover is beautiful. In many places in the world people are discouraged from growing it because it attracts bees which may sting people. Personally I’d rather have bees than lawyers.
Raiders of the lost Aak
Guillemots are known as Aaks in Orkney. This Aak egg has been raided from the cliffs at Noup Head and eaten.
A different view of a Puffin
I’m on the cliffs at Westray’s Castle o’ Burrian with the Puffin Whisperer. They are such curious birds that when she calls, …
Magnificent battlements, gunloops and ravens
Noltland Castle is a ruin that was never finished built by a paranoid man who placed defensive positions everywhere; it has walls 7 feet thick and 71 gunloops to shoot at attackers.
Nousts
The outrageous thing about several of these nousts, designed to provide protection to boats pulled up onto the shore, is that they …
5,000 quills
A strange beast of 5,000 quills has decided to pay us a visit.
Handsome chap
Red Bull. All I need now is the vodka.
The more you can see the horizon…
The more you can see the horizon, the more you can see the arc of your whole life and think about what’s …
Black William
The name Guillemot doesn’t sound English at all, and it isn’t. It’s French, from Guillaume, or William. Here then, are a few …
A glorious day
When you have a beach to yourself.
Blown away by a windmill
I was completely blown away by Sangar Mill. It’s incredible that’s it’s survived so intact, with the windmill mechanism still visible and …
Sitting in a stall of hay at Quoygrew
A dirt floor. A stone hearth. An open fire. No glass or windows. A turf roof. Stone stalls with hay bedding. What am I describing?
Down the garden path at Quoygrew
My favourite part of the ruined house at Quoygrew is the garden path of the 13th to 16th Century house. What a …
The fifteen hearths of Quoygrew
Quoygrew is a 1,000 year old house on Westray which was lived in by Vikings from 950 AD, shortly after they arrived …
A sense of taste
Hardly any bird species have a sense of smell – and that probably means they have very little sense of taste either. …