Natural highs and lows

Awake early to catch a ferry to the island of Westray, I blearily scanned our bookshelves for some favourite words to read on the boat. My hand settled upon The Screaming Sky , Charles Foster's intensely personal view of the lives of Swifts. Perhaps it was because I haven't seen a Swift for over three years, or maybe it's that I am running out of time to see one this year too, as the birds will soon be heading back to Africa. The journey passed with the swiftness of soaring sentences and sojourns across Sahel and sea. Despite the continued decline in the Swift population, a situation laid firmly at humanity's door, I do enjoy reading this book. Following the installation of a replacement dish and a guided tour of my host's wildlife garden, my thoughts turned to another bird who will shortly be leaving our shores at the end of its breeding season, the Puffin. I drove to the small car park by the ruined cornmill beside the bay of Rack Wick, finding space despite the p...

A recent repair job took me to the island of North Ronaldsay, a fifteen minute flight from the Orkney mainland aboard a small eight-seater plane. For our landing in North Ronaldsay, there was a bit of a crosswind, but nothing too severe or requiring the pilot to hold the aircraft at right angles to our direction of travel as he approached the runway. Once the repair, at the north end of the island, was successfully completed, there were a few hours to wile away before the return journey, so wildlife-watching mode was engaged. We bumped into one of the staff from the Bird Observatory and he suggested trying a sea-watch for Sooty and Manx Shearwaters, and pointed in the direction of the Old Beacon on Dennis Head as a good vantage point.  En route to the Beacon, we scored a bonus Hen Harrier hunting over the small fields The Old Beacon Tucked down out of the wind, on the shore below the Beacon, binoculars were steadied and trained on a patch of sea about halfway to the horizon. It too...