Give ’em enough Phalarope
It’s another day on Westray and another chance to walk the cliffs and paths of the island. I’ve got the usual camera …
Whaup in Buttercups
Whaup is the Orcadian name for the Eurasian Curlew, Numenius arquata. Here’s one flying above the Buttercups in Westray: They’re severely threatened …
Scolder
Eurasian Oystercatchers have no fear. They’re happy to make the lives of any other bird, or even human, a misery with their …
Rock Pipit
There are three types of Pipit: paper, scissors and rock. This is a Rock Pipit: Although it’s beautiful and close and detailed …
The biggest gull in the world
Hunter, pirate, scavenger, the Great Black-Backed Gull is a curious opportunist. It is the apex predator unless a White-Tailed Sea Eagle appears. …
A Sand Plowman’s lunch
The name Sanderling is from the Old English sand-yrðling, or ‘sand-ploughman’. I’m enjoying watching them eating their ploughman’s lunch. Still photographs may give you …
Eider/Or
There’s a Dunter, Somateria mollissima, commonly known as the Eider Duck, on the waves. I particularly like the chick’s hairstyle. When it …
Wet Gannet, shaking
This Gannet was very wet after a dive. As it flew past it decided to shake itself dry. I suspect it’s the …
Sandy Laverock
This juvenile Ringed Plover is a wonderful bird. In Orkney the Ringed Plover is called Sandy Laverock. The UK conservation status of …
Whale
There’s a whale corpse in the car park at Taftend. It takes up the space a car would, or even a little …
Scenes from the sea
It’s all about perspective. Looking at familiar scenes from a different place always makes you think more deeply about them. Similarly, seeing …
Are these the most northerly cliff-nesting House Martins in the UK?
I spot a House Martin, Delichon urbicum, on the cliffs at the Castle o’ Burrian. That’s nice. Then I spot another one. …
The return of the pot-boiler
There’s a spot on Westray where a buried ruin of a house is being lost to the sea. Whenever there’s a storm …
Harbour Seals
Amazingly, there are limbs inside the fat-suit which seals wear. You would, however, be forgiven for thinking otherwise: This one is delicately …
Greta Gannet
We’re watching the Gannets at Noup Head when the Puffin Whisperer gets very excited. She’s seen one with an egg. The adult …
Puffling in a flap
It’s rare to see a puffling, as young Puffins are called. They’re usually hidden in their rock or earth burrows, safe from …
Noup in the mist
Noup Head lighthouse isn’t visible until we’re almost on top of it. There’s dew on the grass and on the purple flowers …
Skeldro, Chaldro or Shaalder
There’s a Skeldro, Chaldro or Shaalder, as the Oystercatcher is known in Orkney, in the air. It’s giving me what can only be …
Chasing Puffins
There’s a marked difference in the size of fish which Puffins bring to their burrows. I’m sure that they were bringing smaller …
Harsh life
We are at Noup Head watching the birds fly by. We get a close pass from a Great Black-Backed Gull. Aren’t they …
Goodbye to Puffins
Puffins have gone from our shores for another year. It’s been a wonderful summer with them and a pleasure to see them …
The first flight of the Kittiwake
Kittiwakes are one of my favourite birds. I love their delicate bills, their dipped-in-ink wings and their streamlined bodies. And their “Kittiwaaaak” …
A precarious life on the edge of a precipice
Who would have guessed that Gannet chicks could be so cute close up? Their white downy feathers are not quite as brilliant …
The Short-Eared Owl makes another appearance
We’ve toured the Island today and our final destination is the Ouse. There were reports of a Short Eared Owl there earlier …
The Orcadian name for the Wren is the Wirran or Wrannock
The Orcadian name for the Wren is the Wirran or Wrannock. What brilliant names. I’ve just had a small Wrannock in my …
Bonxies on a boat
Great Skuas, Stercorarius skua, are known as Bonxies in Orkney. Their flashing go-faster white wing-stripes are a familiar sight as they patrol …
Giving lobster the ‘v’ s
The Lobster creels are groaning with Lobsters, Homarus gammarus, today. Not all of them are regulation size, so Stewart measures them carefully …
“…it meddles not with lambs or poultry, but for carrion and garbage none is more so.”
We have the largest gull in the world in the waters around our coast. And it is magnificent. The Fauna Orcadensis by …
The struggle for survival
In the battle of Bonxie v Baakie there was only ever going to be one winner.
Unattractive and covered in slime. But enough about me…
There’s a Three-Bearded Rockling, Gaidropsarus vulgaris, in the creel. It’s a spectacular fish, a relative of the Cod and Haddock, but very …