Where Golden Roseroot proliferates
As soon as I saw Golden Roseroot, Rhodiola rosea, I assumed it was a garden escapee. It’s a brightly flowering succulent; surely …
Chew Valley
We’re taking a hike up Chew Valley. We pass The Clarence on the way, site of my teenage drinking and snooker playing. …
Destroying nature, yet thinking you are saving it
Here are some old Ivy stems, destroyed at the base. All the bats which roost in it, the birds which nest in …
Linties
A pair of Linnets is a constant joy. Especially when the male is singing from a perch in my garden. The female …
Shocking a Shag
I appear to be standing in a place which Shags usually land to dry and preen and be social. That can be …
Laverick in heather
There’s precious little heather moorland left on Westray. Most of the land has been converted to pasture with a monoculture of grass, …
Noise to weight ratio
There’s a Wren on a post. I wouldn’t have seen it if it wasn’t for the enormous volume of its call. Wrens …
Soon, Sangar Mill will be lost forever
I’ve visited Sangar Mill before. It’s a tiny windmill which was built in the 19th Century and which was still used to …
Dropping in for a bath
I’m crouching down on shattered bare rocks in the desolate far north of Westray trying to get a photograph of a Ringed …
Mallimack in Sea Pinks
A garden of Sea Pinks makes every bird photograph look better. This incubating Fulmar has the perfect vantage point, surrounded by a …
Floating Eider
I’ve been enjoying floats of Eider Ducks all around Westray this summer. Occasionally I’ll see a group of males hassling a female. …
Kits
Young Rabbits are such perfectly packaged bundles of protein that it’s no wonder Rabbits need to breed like… well, Rabbits. Some parts …
Green fields and red legs
Westray truly is the land of a million stabs. That’s what the wooden fence posts are called here. They’re perfect perching posts …
Hook-nosed Seapig
The scientific name of the Grey Seal is Halichoerus grypus. The title of this post may tell you what the translation of that …
Teeick
I’m grateful to a Hooded Crow for rousing this Lapwing into a frenzy of protest. It’s been circling, complaining, and swooping at …
Twite
There’s a Pennine Finch on barbed wire. That’s a cue for me to lift my lens up: Lovely, aren’t they?
Watery Pleeps
There’s a Watery Pleeps overhead. At least that’s what an Orcadian would call it. South it would be a Redshank and internationally …
The rabbit chase
Ravens love a choice cut of Rabbit. Skin on. There can be over twenty of them in the dunes at the Sands …
Dark morph
Arctic Skuas come in several different colour varieties. Here’s the darkest: Aren’t the feather patterns on its underwings beautiful? They’re elegant and …
Swallows and streamers
Scientists have placed Swallows into wind tunnels and studied the aerodynamics of their flight. Their long tail streamers appear to help their …
Hearts and Sea Pinks
The Sea Pinks are at their quivering best and this tight group in a cosy crevice has a heart-shaped stone for company. …
A world turned upside down
Ravens are wary birds. They recognise humans from a huge distance and fly away, because all of those who didn’t have been …
Like pebbles on a beach
Every beach on Westray has a different character. There are pure white shell sand beaches which wouldn’t be out of place in …
A pied landscape
Out past the beach and the relative calm of the Bay of Swartmill is a shattered and splintered landscape of monochrome rocks …
Industrious Linnets
I love to see Linnets, with their bouncing flight, and constant twittering. They are nesting in my garden again.
A splash of Sanderling
It’s a dull day but I’m forcing myself to go out. If you only ever went out on sunny days in Orkney, …
An egg on the edge
I’ve abandoned the car and I’m exploring some of the abandoned buildings of Westray. This building has what must be a piece …
Tied to the ribbon of the tideline
It’s rare for me to photograph Dunlin. They’re normally too far away and I don’t want to disturb them. It’s only if …
Scolder
As soon as I walk anywhere on the coast of Westray, there’s a noisy complaint. The Shaalders, or Scolders, are out, and …
The Flower of the Vine returns
Wheatears are back on Westray. They’ve made their way from Africa to Westray to raise their families in hollows, rabbit burrows and …