Obsession

Looking back at the last six or so weeks, what with staying in whilst being unwell and then being stuck indoors due to the wintry weather, yesterday was a blessed relief. The sun put in an appearance, the wind dropped, pavements were ice-free, puddles had dried up and I went out without a coat on. It was just so pleasant to be able to get on with stuff outdoors.

This morning we had to be up and about as Megan was carrying out her monthly WeBS count for the BTO (Wetland Bird Survey). High tide was at 10.30am and I was tasked with dropping her off at Ness Point so that she could spend a couple of hours working her way around Stromness harbour to Coplands Dock, before being collected again and home for lunch.

I had to nip outside in my dressing gown to capture this pre-dawn shot

The view south from Ness Point, with the clouds seemingly anchored to Hoy High lighthouse on Graemsay

I must admit, the staving off of cabin fever through the medium of live web cams of African wildlife was becoming a bit of an obsession, as a brief look at our Youtube history reveals.

We did wonder about doing something else one evening, maybe going to the cinema in Kirkwall, but checking the online What's On page revealed that it was... 

Or I suppose we could've stayed in and tried a jigsaw puzzle...

So I think it is for the best that the weather broke, and we have a bit more vim and vigour to go out to watch Orcadian wildlife again.

On that note, I returned home from work this afternoon and spotted a male Sparrowhawk on a neighbour's roof. If I can see him, I thought, then so can every bird in the area, why has he perched there? When he eventually took off, I could see the method in his madness. 

Now you see me

Now you don't

As darkness falls, the tv has gone back on, so that Mocha the cat can watch some elephants in Botswana. Honest.