Common Seals on a Grey Day
Common seals strike ridiculous poses in Pierowall Bay. Apparently Common Seals have a characteristic ‘head-up, tail-up’ posture when they are hauled out. …
the natural history of Westray
Common seals strike ridiculous poses in Pierowall Bay. Apparently Common Seals have a characteristic ‘head-up, tail-up’ posture when they are hauled out. …
Dunlin are wary birds. As I walk along the Bay of Tafts they jerk in nervous motion and skit further along the …
Idyllic weather in Orkney? T-shirt and shorts on the beach? It must be August and it must be a fluke, surely? Westray …
Another day, another cycling trip to the shops. Having no fridge means buying fresh and Westray is full of fresh produce. This …
is not a question you want answered by a slow but persistent drip, drip, drip somewhere near your head at 04:38am. It’s …
A Dog Whelk perches on a barnacle-encrusted rock, waiting for the moon to pull the sea back over it like a foamy …
The Lochs at Aikerness are empty, dry and dusty. There has been no proper rain for weeks.
At this time of the year the ripening cereal crops take on the colour of the sun on a seemingly endless summer …
Today the jellyfish came; hundreds were washed up on Westray’s beaches. Mostly they were clear with pale pink and lilac frills, a handful were deep inky purple. Their alien life forms litter the shore.
Noup Head, the RSPB reserve, is seabird city. Here is a Fulmar, crouching ungainly on the cliffs, waiting to wheel into the air.
A long walk along the cliffs to Noup Head. Giant mushroom fairy rings lie like targets on the fertile hillsides.
Top Shells, Dog Whelks, Limpets, Flat Periwinkles and pebbles litter the shore like scattered pick ‘n’ mix.
Thistles sprout in the rough grass on the dunes as the sun sets.
Footprints of gulls pattern the sand.
A Fulmar glides past like a flying boat over the Knowe o’ Skea on Westray.
Flat periwinkle (Littorina obtusata) on the beach in the Bay of Swartmill.
Allowing ponies into our field has finally had the much anticipated and appreciated effect. The mushrooms have come. What would we do …
It’s August and the cliffs around the north of Westray in Orkney are covered with the dried husks of Sea Pinks. Seals snort curious noses and Gannets plunge headlong into the sea, whilst we keep a watchful eye out for a pod of Killer Whales.
Evie finds a collection of Goose Barnacles on the beach at Tafts.