Wheatears in the new stone age
I’m sitting in a stone-age house; the new stone age, when the climate was warmer and people began to settle rather than …
Fish, eggs and baby birds
The Arctic Skua is one of the most recognisable silhouettes in Orkney, patrolling the shoreline hunting for birds’ eggs, young birds and …
Intelligent Sheep
I’m wandering up to the cliffs at Noup Head to take some photographs of the Gannets. I decide not to when I …
Bistorted
There are beautiful pink flowers in the garden at Einar. They look like Bistort in which case I wish I had more …
Well drop my scone…
One of life’s little pleasures is a cup of tea and a piece of cake. One of the very few downsides is …
Fettered
Around Gill Pier I spot a buoyancy ring. The word buoy comes from the 13th Century from the Old French boie “fetter …
Half a pound of biscuit
Half a pound of biscuit – that’s the way the money goes. WFM Brown makes bread and cakes and biscuits on Westray …
Fancy a piece?
I’ve just bought this fabulous dried fruit tart from Peter Miller’s shop. Would you like a piece? Hold on! Wait a …
Eggs on the doorstep
I arrive back from a day out exploring and there are freshly laid eggs on the doorstep from my kind Island friend. …
Emptying woodlice from the bread machine
I remembered to empty the woodlice from the toaster when I arrived. I forgot about the ones inside the bread machine. There’s …
Sunrise
Broad horizons. Breathtaking clouds. Constantly changing skies. That’s the view of Westray from my window.
Even a Gypsy caravan was too much settling down
Alicen’s Gypsy caravan has some wonderful paintwork.
Spider in the bath
It’s time for a bath and that means yet another spider to wash down the plug hole.
Drive carefully
Please drive carefully during the breeding season.
Telling stories
Photographs tell stories. They tell stories about objects and people and the relationships between them. Some photographs tell you their own story; …
Lizza and Jenna at Hume Sweet Hume
One of the greatest surprises I had when visiting Westray for the first time eight years ago was finding out there was …
Manuport
It’s a new word for me. A manuport; Something brought by a human from one place to another. Something which shows conscious …
Stromness Professionals at the Graand Owld Byre
Tuesday night in Westray and the only gig in town is a packed house with every available seat taken, children on laps …
Pierowall Fish filleting
One of my earliest memories of coming to Westray was a trip to find the fishmonger to see what I could get …
A prickly subject
The thistle is Scotland’s national symbol. Scottish independence is as prickly as one.
A Greek rainbow
The Yellow Flag Bog Irises have withstood the winter weather and the first ones are coming into full flower in Rapness. Iris …
Three ways down
I’m walking on the cliffs at Stanger Head past the Castle o’ Burrian and climbing up a rock crack when two tourists …
Crane Flies like Time Flies
“Birds do, it, Bees do it, Even agricultural pests like Crane Flies do it.”
On Westray I pray for a still day and then the midges appear and I give thanks for the blustery ones.
Giant Pebble
A giant pebble at Rack Wick.
Inside Lady Kirk
Lady Kirk in Pierowall was built in 1674 on the foundations of a 13th-century church.
Water Horsetails at Roadmire
Roadmire is a great name for the boggy area leading to Letto Sands. These Palaeozoic horsetails flourish there undisturbed.