Natural highs and lows

A recent work-related trip to the island of Westray gave Megan the opportunity to tag along   to carry out a recce for Wild Orkney Walks  whilst I was attending to a couple of repairs.  The walk in question is to the Castle o' Burrian, a rock stack on the east coast of Westray, which will soon be seeing the welcome return of a colony of Puffins for their breeding season.  Once I had completed my tasks, I drove to the small car park by the ruined Corn Mill and headed north along the clifftop path above Rack Wick. Here too, in a few weeks, will hopefully be yet more Puffins. I say "hopefully", because over the Winter severe storms in the Bay of Biscay resulted in many dead Puffins being washed ashore around the coasts of Spain, France and Britain. Megan and I sat on the cliff top opposite the Castle and ate our lunch, watching the comings and goings of Fulmars, Rock Doves and various species of gulls. In the surf at the base of the rock stack, a Shag was diving for fo...

The considered opinion around here is that January went on and on forever, but the same cannot be said of February, which seems to be whizzing by at a rate of knots. So let's bring this blog up to date with a whirlwind round up of happenings since last we spoke (ok, typed and read). Mid month, and there was a change of jigsaw! After the 99 Bees in a thousand pieces, we thought we'd go easy on ourselves and try a five hundred piece one instead. Well, that was the theory, practise is proving somewhat different. A walk at Evie Sands a couple of weekends ago was a great opportunity for a bit of skincare and exfoliation. A very chilly wind is the abiding memory, although we did see our first Snow Buntings of the year as they foraged for food amongst kelp on the tideline, and we did happen upon a flock of Purple Sandpipers on the rocky shore. Purple Sandpiper Brown Hare activity has shown no sign of letting up, though getting close to the action is proving difficult. Here's a se...

There's little in the way of good news these days, eh? Whether it be on the national or international stage, there seems to be a preponderance of men (and it is predominantly a male trait) who are keen to have a willy-waving competition, blithely unaware, or uncaring, of the fact that that we already know they're a bunch of dicks. So how to relieve the stress of worrying about mutually assured destruction, or at the very least, how to pay the bills? I'm fairly sure you will know what my solution is. A Siskin put in an appearance on the bird feeder this week, looking rather tiny in comparison to a male Greenfinch A Brown Hare paid us another visit, but wasn't too impressed with the old kale crop. Photo from bedroom window. Snow Buntings on Evie Beach   It was low tide, so the burn (the self same one which produced the mini-bore a while back) had to flow all the way down the beach to reach the sea, fanning out into a mini estuary as it did so. It was helped along by a br...

During a recent calmer and brighter spell of weather, we took a trip to Evie Sands in the hope of seeing a flock of Snow Buntings. These small birds are the epitome of cute and we'd heard reports that there were several dozen of them foraging on the tideline. Here's a view of the bay from the top of the beach. There were several flocks of waders present, as well as Twite, Pied Wagtail, Rock Pipits and Stonechats. This male Stonechat was a bit shy, I guess. The Snow Bunting flock were very mobile, so this was the best photo I managed, a stunning looking male. Shame about the stalk of dead grass! Wader-wise, there were numerous Turnstones, Ringed Plovers, Redshanks and simply loads of Purple Sandpipers.   And here's some footage of various Purps... At one end of the beach, a burn flowed into the bay, and I was delighted to see its interaction with the incoming tide. I have never seen a tidal bore, so although this was only a mini version, I was absolutely chuffed to witness i...