Joined by Reynard for breakfast
It’s time for breakfast in Italy which means more delicious food and breathtaking views are on the way. Sitting outside in October …
Domestic
Puffins live so close together that there are frequent small territorial acknowledgements and disputes. They also pair for life so there are …
A billion bottles a day
Last year we used well over a billion plastic bottles a day. Fewer than half of these bottles were collected for recycling. …
House proud
This Puffin was sitting outside its burrow in the soil at the top of the cliff last summer. Its mate was inside …
Go to the edge of the land and stare at the sea as the sun sets
Get out of the house. Stop staring at a screen. Ignore the day-to-day. Take some time. Go on a trip. Immerse yourself …
Puffin portraits
Puffins have a wide variety of poses which humans find appealing. We can easily imagine them as having human characteristics, or anthropomorphise …
When language is lacking
I’m on the deck of the Northlink ferry from mainland Scotland to Mainland Orkney when I see a black fin in the …
Fungus upon fungus
As soon as you begin to look at the natural world there are never-ending chains of relationships between living organisms. The classic …
Wheatears – nothing to do with wheat, ears or even ears of wheat
The name Wheatear sounds so romantic, so descriptive and so elegant. Wheatear. In fact the name is a polite form of its …
Mr Punch
It’s Mr Punch on the rocks on Westray.
Barquentine Thalassa
The Northlink Ferry from Scrabster on the Scotland mainland to Stromness on the Orkney Mainland is always entertaining, thankfully in a good …
Taking a selfie with the Old Man
There’s a crowd on the deck of the Northlink Ferry from Scrabster to Stromness. We’re passing the Old Man of Hoy, scene …
The magic of a Merlin
At the very north of Westray the coast is exposed. In the far distance I can see a falcon. It’s so far …
Twite
There are small brown birds on the lichen-covered rocks on the coast of Westray. It takes me a while to identify them. …
Redshanks
Redshanks must be one of the most annoying birds for British birdwatchers. They are beautiful, active, entertaining to watch and have great …
Puffins on the rocks
It’s good to enjoy the Puffins while we can. They are critically endangered. They are ‘red listed’ which means they are at …
A load of Bronze Age bollards
The Links of Notland is such an amazing place for archaeology. It has a huge neolithic settlement, site of the discovery of …
Compass Jellyfish
I’ve been very lucky with jellyfish this summer on Westray. The jellyfish haven’t been quite so lucky. This looks like a Compass …
The Fulmar Triathlon
Fulmars are one of my favourite birds. All animals have some sort of compromise in their bodies because of the range of …
Sea Rocket
Sea Rocket covers the top of many beaches on Westray. Cakile maritima has either white or a pinky-lilac shade of flowers. It …
Bright-line Brown-eye Moth caterpillar
There’s a green caterpillar on the sand of The Ouse. It’s got a bright yellow line along its side and tiny black …
Orkney door handle
In Orkney, wood rots and metal rusts. Door handles fall off. A piece of twine through a hole, though? A piece of …
Sand Martins
The Sand Martins are teetering on the edge of leaving Westray now. Their chicks must be fully grown and there are only …
They say ‘Take only pictures, leave only footsteps’
They say ‘Take only pictures, leave only footsteps,’ but we decided to take a footstep home. I just need to draw a …
Gertrude Tanglewing
It’s been a very blustery day, it’s nearly dark and I’m just settling down for the evening when there’s an urgent message …
Vanellus vanellus – so good they named it twice
The scientific name for the Lapwing is Vanellus vanellus. It means fan. Well, it means Fan fan if you’re being strictly accurate. …
A pot boiler
Imagine you have no technology other than fire, stone, wood and bone. How would you cook food, other than directly by roasting …
Tangled roots
Grass looks so unremarkable and is so ever-present in Orkney that it takes something special to shock me into considering it from …
Greylag Geese
Greylag Geese are all over Westray at the moment because the farmers have created the perfect habitat for them: acres and acres of fresh green grass. It must be like waking up and seeing delicious breakfast as far as your eyes can see.
Rainbow waves
At the north end of Westray the Atlantic is unrestrained and waves crash into the coast making blowholes, sea caves and spectacular …