Sundogs and Skuas
There’s an Arctic Skua hunting Puffins for their fish. The weather is stunning, with interesting clouds making rainbow sundogs either side of …
Final Puffin evening
It’s time to head out to the Castle o’ Burrian to see the Puffins for a final time. The light is unexpectedly …
Juvenile Peregrine pursued by Arctic Skuas
I hear a loud Keeeeoww; a scream coming from above me. I manage to get its source in my viewfinder. It’s a …
King of the Castle o’ Burrian
It’s been great to watch the Puffins this year. This one was collecting last-minute bedding for its Puffling. The air must get …
Razorbill – with fish!
I’ve seen hundreds of Puffins with beak-fulls of fish recently, but it’s still a rarity to watch a Razorbill fly past fully-laden …
Kittisleeps
Fledgling Kittiwakes are littering the inlets and cliffs of Westray. They seem like they are playing, delighted with their wings, whirling around …
Chasing
Once species chasing another is the order of the day. Inter-species conflict is breaking out all over the island. We’ve had an …
Feeling the breeze on your belly
Why do I like birds? A large part of it is that they make you feel intensely, vibrantly, alive. Seeing individuals going …
How low can you go?
I’d like you to have a look at two of my photographs, taken a minute or two apart. They are of a …
Synchro Puffin
Synchro Puffin should be a new Animal Olympics sport. Or should that be Animalympics? Maybe not, that was a cartoon. These two …
Juvenile Puffin flypast
I’ve taken a few thousand photographs of Puffins flying past me in the past few days. Most of them have fish in …
Twinkle twinkle little Puffin
Evenings are special when the sun sets slowly over the North Sea. Puffins gather in huge floats in the bay and fly …
The Black Guillemots of Aikerness
I’ve had a few trips recently to the far north of Westray. It’s a great place to go as it’s too far …
Outbuilding Sparrows
There’s a male House Sparrow chirping insistently on a bare patch of ground. He’s fluffed up his belly and is enjoying the …
Leave only footprints
They say ‘Take only photographs, leave only footprints’. The Dunlin wading in the mud in the pools at the north end of …
Red-Throated Diver
I had a message that there was a Red-Throated Diver, Gavia stellata, in one of Westray’s many bays a few days ago. …
The Arctic Skua family
The Arctic Skuas on the Westside have a chick. It appears to be bigger than they are. It’s easy to see the …
Ground-nesting Sandy Laverock
There’s a Ringed Plover nest here, next to the footpath, near the coast: I can tell that because, as I walk past, …
Oystercatchers in buttercups and bill-tip clines
Eurasian Oystercatchers are loud in volume and loud in plumage. There are no words for skulking, camouflage or whisper in the Oystercatcher’s …
Gannetry
There’s a Northern Gannet colony at Noup Head on Westray. Whenever there’s a breeze in the right direction the Gannets appear at …
Fish!
I’ve spent several days recently photographing Atlantic Puffins with fish. It’s for a wonderful creative project I’m involved with. More about that …
A minute and counting
Common Guillemots are free-diving pursuit divers. Their diet is fish, and the fish which are alive in today’s ocean are the descendants …
We’re going on a Puffin hunt
Arctic Skuas are one of my favourite birds. They do, however, hunt Puffins to rob them of their fish. I’ve previously photographed …
Fat Puffling with fish incoming
How fat must this Puffin’s Puffling be? We’ve been sitting half way down a cliff for the past three hours and a …
Heads or tails?
“Heads or tails?” “Heads.” “Sorry, it’s tails.” When you see an Atlantic Puffin arriving with a beak full of sand eels the …
Bridled Common Guillemots
There are Common Guillemots, Uria aalge, flying in front of the cliffs at Noup Head on Westray. It’s a breezy day and the …
Another reason to love Dunters
Dunter is the Orcadian name for the Common Eider Duck. I find it hard to believe that Eider Ducks are still extant. …
Flypast
I’m sat on the cliffs of Westray in pleasant light. It’s the middle of summer and it’s finally made it to 16 …
The scolders are at it again
You may be the great Baakie, Lord of All He Surveys, largest gull in the entire world, but you’re still going to …
Let me introduce the band…
Great! The backing singers have arrived. Now let me introduce you to the star of the show: Razorbills are such great entertainers. …