Festive leftovers

Dinnae worry, this isn't an extension of the 'Love Food, Hate Waste' campaign, not least because, as the thrifty folk would argue,"Leftovers?"

Nope, this is a post from the tail end of 2021, when a work trip to Stronsay left me with a long wait for the return ferry to mainland Orkney. A week or so past the the solstice, there wasn't very much in the way of daylight, and the scant amount that was available struggled with low cloud, rain and high winds. Sorry, no, that was me, I struggled with those things 🙄

It had been an early start, up at 05.30, to catch a ferry at 07.00. After an hour and forty minutes of sailing, the ferry arrived in Stronsay half an hour before dawn.

Mid morning saw me departing the customer's property and parking my 'office' up at a suitably windswept, but wildlifey, location to check on emails, phone calls and the local waterfowl (from a safety-conscious bird flu distance). Behind the Bight of Matpow (for some reason, Stronsay's bays are mostly called bights, whereas other islands' aren't), a small lochan held good numbers of Wigeon and Teal, whilst flocks of Curlew, Golden Plover and Bar-tailed Godwit frequented the neighbouring fields. After a while, I looked up from some admin task and noticed a pair of ducks that hadn't been there five minutes ago. Checking with bins showed them to be Pintails, the males of which are possibly the only UK bird to give a male Hen Harrier a run for its money in the smartness category.

After an office lunch, it was time to venture out into the bracing air. Parking the van behind the dunes of St Catherine's Bay, struggling into full waterproofs and trudging shoreward brought this vista, which could only have been improved with the addition of about 15 degrees Celsius.

At the water's edge, several species of bird were feeding, and I was captivated by this small flock of energetic Sanderling.

I ended up walking along the beach, parallel to the waders as they foraged, for about quarter of an hour. They weren't bothered by my presence and just carried on as if I wasn't there. I felt very honoured.