The Arctic Tern and the Lumpfish
There are 60 Arctic Terns in this colony but sadly only three surviving chicks. That’s better than the collapsed colony at the …
Lovely Linnets in the garden
Each year at Einar, the Linnets build their nests and raise their chicks. It takes two weeks from laying to hatching and …
Skeldro, Chaldro or Shaalder
There’s a Skeldro, Chaldro or Shaalder, as the Oystercatcher is known in Orkney, in the air. It’s giving me what can only be …
Goodbye to Puffins
Puffins have gone from our shores for another year. It’s been a wonderful summer with them and a pleasure to see them …
“The flesh of the stare is very bitter”
This week I’m reading Reverend George Low’s Fauna Orcadensis from 1813. Today it’s the entry on the Starling: This is a harmless, …
The corby betakes himself to the precipices
There’s a raggedy Raven in the skies. I’ve been reading the Reverend George Low’s Fauna Orcadensis from 1813 on the Raven. It’s …
The Orcadian name for the Wren is the Wirran or Wrannock
The Orcadian name for the Wren is the Wirran or Wrannock. What brilliant names. I’ve just had a small Wrannock in my …
Bonxies on a boat
Great Skuas, Stercorarius skua, are known as Bonxies in Orkney. Their flashing go-faster white wing-stripes are a familiar sight as they patrol …
“…it meddles not with lambs or poultry, but for carrion and garbage none is more so.”
We have the largest gull in the world in the waters around our coast. And it is magnificent. The Fauna Orcadensis by …
Cattieface
There’s a Short-Eared Owl on the Island; I’ve read WhatsApp reports in the Westray birds & wildlife group. We’re driving to get …
A wild Neolithic hat-trick
It’s time for me to catch the ferry away from Orkney for a short while. I have an evening to spare and …