Trivia – where three roads meet
The scientific name of the beautiful Groatie Buckie is Trivia arctica. Its name comes from the Latin trivia, the plural of trivium …
Limpets on the edge
These three limpets are living on the edge. Their shells have been buffeted and battered so much by stones carried by the …
Majestic Fulmar
Fulmars historically bred on the isolated island of St. Kilda. They spread into northern Scotland in the 19th century, and to the …
Green hair
This limpet has the best hair colour – a green fringe of seaweed. Beautiful.
I can also see a ghostly space among the barnacles where a companion limpet used to be. Limpets live 10 to 20 years. That one has gone to its watery grave.
A one egg policy
Fulmars have a strict one egg policy. There are 500,000 breeding pairs in the UK though, so perhaps that’s just as well.
The beauty of Thrift
The Sea Pink or Thrift as it’s also known is utterly stunning on Westray at this time of year.
Something’s been licking the rocks again
Something’s been travelling very slowly and licking the rocks from side to side. It must be the Limpets again.
Casting a shadow upon yourself
Evolution is a wonderful thing. Being grey above and white below is a classic countershading strategy used by many seabirds and often …
Thrift
Thrift on the cost of Westray.
Sand-between-the-toes
When the sun shines on Grobust beach, it’s time to do what AA Milne described and get sand between the toes. When …
Some Enchanted Evening
In the musical South Pacific, Emile sings ‘Some Enchanted Evening’ where he describes seeing a stranger, knowing that you will see her …
Little Brothers
The scientific name for the Arctic Puffin is Fratercula arctica, or Little Brother of the Arctic. Classy.
Pulcinella di Mare
I love Puffins or, as the Italians have it Pulcinella di Mare; Punch of the Sea. We’re wandering along the cliffs at …
Red Champion
The Red Campion is out in bloom again near the Mill on the route to the Castle o’ Burrian. That reminds me; I must remember to take a magnifying glass with me so I can try to tell the difference between the male and female plants next time.
I sent my love two roses…
I’ve always loved wild roses. The cultivated varieties rarely do anything for me, especially in garage forecourts, but wild roses are something …
Trouble with lichen
Today there’s time to relax after a weekend of photography with a trip to Papa Westray. If you think that Westray is …
Harrying the Hens
I’m hoping that the Hen Harrier will be hunting on Westray this summer. I’ve seen a Hen Harrier over Westray’s moorland several …
Sea Rocket
The sands at Mae Sands are verdant with Sea Rocket. The curious flowers are white or lilac and the leaves are fleshy …
Reading weed
I’ve cycled to Mae Sands and the seaweed surrounding me seems to have messages for me. If only I could read its …
Fresh Limpet
This Limpet looks so fresh and clean but I just can’t bring myself to eat it. I think it was the way …
Strip my gooseberries why don’t you?
In the garden of Einar I have some unusual, old and very abandoned plants. There are Sycamore trees more than six feet …
The two houses of the woodland sprite
Red Campion is pink. It doesn’t matter how many times I look at it, or photograph it, it still looks pink to …
Limpets in the midden
What we throw away tells a lot about us. A quick look at my bin would tell you I like an occasional …
Rock licking kneecaps
Limpets. Their traces are everywhere on the stones on Westray’s beaches. The name limpet means ‘rock-licker’ and that’s what they do, with …
Potent potentilla
The Potentilla is spreading with beautiful vigorous red runners over the shell sand at Grobust.
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 …
Bistorted
There are beautiful pink flowers in the garden at Einar. They look like Bistort in which case I wish I had more …
Spider in the bath
It’s time for a bath and that means yet another spider to wash down the plug hole.