March 2018

It looks like we’ve survived the “Beast from the East”. We didn’t get much snow here, just a dusting on the hills. It was very cold though and we didn’t venture out much over the first few days of the month.

This view looks north across Hamnavoe to the hill of Bruna Fea. The word fea comes from the Old Norse word for hill, fjall. The same root as fell, common in the north of England. Another variant found in Orkney is fiold.

Spring heralds the breeding season for the local wildfowl. Large numbers of eider ducks can be seen around the harbour. They make a lovely, rolling “ooo” sound, reminiscent of Kenneth William’s “Oooh, Matron”. Just spotted this handsome chap gliding past the Noust.

6th March – At last, the sun has appeared and there is a noticeable warmth in the air. Above the Pole Star Pier, the starlings are celebrating the signs of Springs arrival with an impressive murmuration. They roost below the pier and it’s great to watch the flock pour itself under the structure.

9th March – An unusual visitor has arrived in the North Isles. An Arctic Walrus was first spotted by the Bird Observatory team on North Ronaldsay. It was then found by Wildlife Rangers, some time later, enjoying a nap on a beach on Sanday. It is the second walrus to visit Orkney in the last five years. This photo is by Adam Hough of Orkney Wildlife Photography.

14th March – First cruise ship of the season arrived in Kirkwall this morning. Things will start getting busy now. It will be good to see visitor numbers increasing at the Museum. The Magellan appeared out of the sunrise on it’s tour of Orkney, Shetland, the Faroes and Iceland.  A chilly tour in March!

A doubly good day because my peedie car passed it’s MOT. Thanks Blue Star Garage.

16th March – An entertaining evening at the Pier Arts Centre, “An American Foy”.

Stromness has quite a large number of Americans resident here and members of their expat community, got together and related the historical links between Orkney and the US. Facilitated by Jeanne Bouza Rose and Rev. Tom Miller, with Orkney knowledge provided by local historian Pat Long. Accompanied by music, songs and some of Mom’s, good ol’ fashioned, homebakin’.

From the Orkney Dictionary: foy, noun, party or other entertainment originally to wish one success on a journey.

24th March – Now that we’re “Old Folk”, we receive a number of free ferry tickets. They run from April to March. To use up the last of the 2017 allocation , we went on a daytrip to Scotland. Taking the boat from Stromness to Scrabster, we had a run down to Tain then back via Wick. It gives us an opportunity to take in the delights of Asda, Homebase and Pets at Home, all unavailable in Orkney. This was the view of Stromness from the MV Hamnavoe as we set off on a beautiful sunny morning.

25th March – It has been another gloriously sunny and warm day and we enjoyed a quiet amble down towards the south end of Stromness, pausing to look at the Pharos tied up on the opposite pier and watch the lifeboat and emergency escape pod training.  The Stromness silence was only interrupted by a few calling gulls and the hum of small boat engines. Pharos, seen here with helicopter on deck, is used by the Northern Lighthouses Board for the maintenance of the lighthouses and navigation buoys around Scotland.

The spirit lives on… In the evening we walked along to the Town Hall, to a Julie Felix concert. Born in California, she has spent most of her life based in the UK.  She was a contemporary of Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan and according to the Times in the 60’s, she was ‘Britain’s First Lady of Folk’.  Julie is still beautiful, petite and spritely.  She has lost none of the purity of voice and guitar virtuosity of her earlier career, belying the fact that she will be eighty in June this year.

It was a full house and after opening with Bob Dylan’s ‘Early Morning Rain’ Julie entertained us with a full evening including ‘El Condor Pasa’ and ‘Going to the Zoo’, the audience all sang along during the second half of the show and she finished with ‘Hey, Mister Tambourine Man’. The intimacy of the venue allowed her to fully engage with the audience, which she clearly enjoyed.

28th March – Royal Navy minesweeper, HMS Penzance, departs Stromness en route to pay tribute at the site where, in 1917, an explosion destroyed HMS Vanguard, killing 843 of the 845 crew.

HMS Vanguard was a dreadnought class battleship at anchor in Scapa Flow. On 9th July 1917, an explosion in a magazine ripped the ship apart with such force, that a gun turret weighing over 400 tonnes was found a mile away on the island of Flotta. The ship sank so quickly that the fleet had to carry out a roll call to establish which ship had sank.

Go to April 2018