2nd May – The marigold seedlings are coming on nicely in the crab creel cloches. They get protected from the wind and it can get quite warm inside.
I think I’ll take the cloches on Dragon’s Den. I’m sure Deborah Meaden would appreciate their green credentials!
3rd May – Today’s walk took us over to Coplands Dock, on the far side of the harbour. We get a different perspective on the town from over there.
Our wee house has the double white dormer in the centre of this photo. The hills of Hoy look quite close in the background.
Since we’ve been in Stromness, there’s been an old fishing boat, Revenge, stored at Copland’s Dock but when we arrived today it was being broken up for removal. Quite sad to see.
5th May – I’ve just completed a five hour training course on Zoom to be part of a team of whale and dolphin observers in Orkney.
It was a long but interesting day learning how to identify and accurately record cetaceans around the coast of Orkney. There are five observation points in Orkney and, conveniently, one is along the road here at Ness Point. I’m looking forward to it.
7th May – Picking up plastic from the coastline has it’s little perks. We’ve found a few of these sea urchins along the shore. They have such intricate structures, like little works of art. We just picked up no.6 (top row, centre) just below the house this morning.
They are so fragile, it’s a wonder they don’t get smashed when they wash up onto the rocks. I suppose nature has designed them to survive the rigours of life in the sea.
13th May – It’s great to see the local yacht club back on the water for their first outing since lockdown. They met regularly on Thursday evenings but the boats haven’t been out since September 2019, so the sailors will be feeling a bit rusty.
17th May – Norway Constitution Day being marked outside St Magnus’ Cathedral in Kirkwall.
Orcadians like to hedge their bets, if things don’t work out in UK, they’ll just become Norwegian again.
19th May – Courtesy of Orkney Library, a very quick drive from Stromness to Kirkwall.
22nd May – A big congratulations to St Johnstone for making history today. They won the Scottish Cup at Hampden, thus completing a cup double this year, having won the Scottish League Cup in February. Outside the Old Firm only Aberdeen have achieved this. A great year for such a small club and they become the second most successful Scottish club, after Celtic, of the last decade. Simply amazing!
25th May – After a long lockdown delay, the little play park by the golf course has finally opened. The Norse longship looks good on the grassy waves.
28th May – At long last, after many a long hour scanning the seas, we finally were in the right place when a pod of Orca swam past Ness Point. H took this great photo at distance. The Ness Point light, which features in many of our pics, is at the right. We think there were about five animals in the pod, including a calf.
30th May – Which? readers showing great taste!
Scapa Views 
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