Raven over rooftops
There’s a Raven over my roof. Here it is with the top of my capped-off chimney below it. Its wingtips are lit …
Gannet
Walking along the Bay of Tafts I’m sad to see the body of a Gannet. Its fragile ribs and delicate feathers are …
Urtica
There are lots of Nettles at Einar. Their scientific name is Urtica dioica, with urtica meaning to burn. They certainly do.
Leftovers
There’s very little left of this carcass at Noup Head.
Rock pool gardens
The rock pools of Westray are magnificent underwater gardens. Here, red Coral Weed makes a frondy jungle.
Razorbill
I didn’t even see this Razorbill on the cliffs last summer at Noup Head until The Puffin Whisperer pointed it out to …
Cormorants – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
Forty years ago on 17 August 1976, when I was a 12 year old boy, I saw Cormorants while on holiday in …
Fulmars
Fulmars look like gulls but aren’t. Look closer and they have strange adapted bills with tubes on their noses. Their countershading colouration …
Evening Puffin
A Puffin at the Castle o’ Burrian as the low evening sunlight streams through the grey clouds.
Family picnic on the grass
Editing a photograph from last summer makes me want to be on those cliffs again with these picnickers.
Puffin watchers
Looking back at my photographs from the summer I found this one. I’m a keen photographer of the Puffins on Westray: I …
Fish scales at Snaky Noust
‘Scattered fish scales of Osteolepis are common at Snaky Noust.’ From the wonderful Westray Heritage Centre.
Colourful seaweed
I always had a sneaking suspicion that seaweed was all that strange brown colour. Not so. Just look:
Lapwings – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
As a child I remember seeing upwards of 500 Lapwings in a field on many occasions. I remember the ‘pee-wit’ sound they …
Seaweed on the shore
All it needs is a little rough weather and the beach at Grobust is filled with beautiful seaweed.
Turnstone procession
This seal is having a snooze in Pierowall as Turnstones parade across the wet rocky shore. It doesn’t look as interested as …
Camouflage
I found a shore crab on a Westray beach and then I lost it again.
Thistle
I love the thistles on Westray; just not on my ankles.
Struggling up the property ladder
Finding a new home is always a struggle. There’s the emotional wrench of leaving your old home behind, the uncertainty of whether you’ll fit into your new place and the difficulty of finding somewhere suitable when there’s so much competition. It’s difficult for people in the same way it’s difficult for Hermit Crabs.
Gannet
The name Gannet comes from the Old English ganot which means strong or masculine. It’s from the same Old Germanic root as …
My eyes popped out on stalks
My eyes metaphorically popped out on stalks when I saw this Hermit Crab in a Westray rock pool. There are well over …
Curlew
Curlews are in serious decline across the UK. It’s probably because so much of the land is used for food production and …
Mushrooms in the field
There’s something otherworldly about mushrooms. They’re more closely related to animals than they are to plants. A very different kind of life …
The worms of Woo
Lugworm casts litter the beach at the Sands of Woo on Westray.