White Clover – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
Forty years ago I was busy lying in the grass looking at the clover. White clover is beautiful and highly productive because …
Forty years ago I was busy lying in the grass looking at the clover. White clover is beautiful and highly productive because …
This Common Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) is a species of cormorant. It stands alone on the rocky shore.
Earl Sigurd the Stout was an Earl of Orkney. The Orkneyinga Saga says he fought with a Raven banner made by his …
A calm day flying over the coastline of Orkney is beguiling. Looking below at the beautiful fresh blue water there’s little hint …
The Bay of Noup looks to have beautiful sand on this rocky and rugged coastline.
The history of Westray is told in two small volumes. One is its telephone directory, with its handful of names, many of …
Friends and relatives often ask me whether Westray is a good place to visit and my answer is always very clear. “No,” I say. “I wouldn’t recommend it.” Here then are my top ten reasons why you should never visit Westray.
Every time I visit Papa Westray I say “Next time I visit Papay I must have a look at all those beautiful …
St Peter’s Kirk in Sandwick on Orkney looks so beautiful in the low sunshine, standing quietly alone in its graveyard. It’s now …
Westray still has several relics of a bygone era; red telephone boxes. There are weeds growing inside some of them as they …
I’ve got three cameras with me, sitting in the back of a four seater aircraft flying over the islands of Orkney. I’m …
Someone has been here before me.
Seeing birds close up, in the wind, with rain on the horizon and a glorious sunset in progress, sat at the top …
The Biting Stonecrop on the walls at Einar is obviously confused. There’s one solitary flower left when it’s meant to flower in …
A trip through the Orkney Museum in Tankerness House in Kirkwall is an essential part of any visit to Orkney. There are …
‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ is the actual name of the book and the movie. Kevin, however, has been talked about enough. What we really need to talk about is Dog Whelks, because despite the fact that there isn’t a bestselling psychological thriller written about them, their story is just as interesting.
In St Magnus Cathedral there is a wonderful stained glass window of Saint Timothy, the patron saint of intestinal and stomach disorders. …
This moss is so beautiful in a tight pincushion on Westray’s rocky shores. Mosses have been around since before plants evolved flowers …
Orkney Seal Rescue works to protect seals: they rescue sick, injured and abandoned animals. Here’s one: Orkney Seal Rescue founded their registered …
Sometimes I think there’s more paint on the floor than there is left on the walls.
The graves in St Magnus Cathedral are fascinating. What caught my eye with this carving is the anatomically correct cross-bones, with perfect …
There are many Groatie Buckies on Westray’s beaches. It takes real dedication to find them, though.
The Hall of my house used to be a school and the entrance to it has the places for lots of small …
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There’s a stone heart outside Tullochs.
The stained glass windows in St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall are beautifully done. This is one of them, Fiat lux, or ‘Let …