Westray Natural History – Page 23 – David at the HALL of EINAR

Swallows on the window ledge at Einar - photograph (c) 2016 David Bailey (not the)

Swallows – forty years ago in my nature notebooks

Swallows seem unearthly. Their flight is so elegant, so fast and so controlled they seem as if they inhabit a different world. …

Giving me the sly eye

A seal at Pierowall is wary of me and watches out of the corner of its eye.

The Twa Corbies

The Twa Corbies is a favourite ballad of mine, so I’m delighted to see two Ravens on the cobble and pebble beach …

Jellyfish - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Somewhere between mild irritation and death

Washed up on the shore at the Bay of Skaill is this beautiful jellyfish.

Starfish

She wishes she could find a starfish here; I go looking for one and find one. She thinks it’s because she wished for it; I think it’s because I looked for it.

Sea Urchin

Spotted a Green Sea Urchin Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis at the Bay of Skaill.

Pincer movement

A Hermit Crab emerges from its shell, pincers first; it’s just like me getting out of bed in the morning.

Fulmar sunset flypast

A ragged-tailed Fulmar is alive to every variation in the breeze as the sun sets at Noup Head.

Gannets at Noup Head - photograph (c) 2016 David Bailey (not the)

Gannets fly past while the sun sets at Noup Head

The evening is idyllic. Sunshine, hail, rain and a double rainbow in just five minutes. The gusty wind means the Gannets are …

Camouflage - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) 2016 David Bailey (not the)

“Write an essay on colour in animals,” they said.

At school I chose to take Geography A Level and due to the intricacies of the timetable, which only one man was …

Limpet - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) 2016 David Bailey (not the)

For the love of Limpets

All Limpets start life as neuters and develop into males at about a year old. When they get to between 4 to …

“Peel me a chestnut big boy.”

Raven over Einar

There’s a Raven perched at the back of Einar. By the time I get my camera it is already in flight. I …

Beachcombing finds - photograph (c) 2016 David Bailey (not the)

A box of finds

Bones picked clean, floats, driftwood branches and strange objects all collected in a box; I love beachcombing.

Sanderling in the seaweed

There’s a juvenile Sanderling on the rocks. It pitter-patters busily among the seaweed. Suddenly I realise there are a flock of them …

Hedgehog - 1970s Nature Notebooks - The Hall of Einar

Hedgehog – forty years ago in my nature notebooks

Cars are a danger to wildlife. On the road back from Pierowall there is a Hedgehog corpse. Forty years ago I spotted …

Beadlet Anemone Underwater - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) 2016 David Bailey (not the)

Underwater photography Take 2

Beadlet Anemones are vicious territorial monsters. There are both male and female anemones and each of them can become pregnant on their …

Dropping my phone in a rock pool

It takes a lot of courage or stupidity (at least what counts as that in the so called First World) to put …

Cute Seals - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) 2016 David Bailey (not the)

Just in case you thought seals were cute

Common Seals are wonderful and wild animals. This one at Broughton is yawning and showing its teeth perfectly; three front teeth, one …

Seals at Broughton on Westray - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) 2016 David Bailey (not the)

“Who you lookin’ at?”

The seals at Broughton on Westray are curious.

Seals and Turnstones - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Two for One offers

It appears that Westray Wildlife will be continuing their two-for-one offers for the remainder of the month. :)

Me, after dinner

It’s the afternoon and the seals are out in force at Broughton on Westray. From all appearances they seem to have had dinner; at least that’s what I look like after I’ve had mine.