June 2021

1st June – Clearly the month is known as flaming June for a reason. A glorious day here, we took the opportunity to go up to Evie to have a walk along the beach and collect any plastic waste that had washed up. It’s a beautiful beach, almost tropical, on the stretch of water between Mainland and Rousay.

2nd June – Popped into Kirkwall today to do some shopping. The tree in this picture was voted Scotland’s Tree of the Year in 2017. It’s pretty old and there is virtually no core to it, it is supported by a steel pole in the centre, just visible in this pic. Despite its infirmities it still manages to put on a good show of springtime foliage. Living proof that there are trees in Orkney!

5th June – Another nice day. On our shore walk H captured this impressive sky of cottonwool clouds.

6th June – There are a number of ways of getting around Stromness, under sail, under power or simply swim.

7th June – The navigation lights around Scotland are maintained by the Northern Lighthouses Board, here at Ness Point, the Engineers have to be quick to get the job done during a low tide.

It’s a different story for the Brough of Birsay lighthouse, here the NLB ship Pharos has to sit offshore while the Engineers and equipment are brought in by helicopter.

8th June – We were woken this morning by the MV Hamanavoe‘s foghorn as it departed in a real peasouper. By 8 o’clock the fog lifted and revealed another sunny day. We decided to treat ourselves to a nautical excursion and caught the 10 o’clock MV Graemsay run to Moaness on Hoy.

We’ve never been on this route before and it gave us a different perspective of the Hoy High lighthouse and the view back towards Stromness.

The boat was quite busy with a school party of about forty children on a day trip to Graemsay but as that leg of the journey was only fifteen minutes the boat soon quietened down.

Their departure left H, myself and three couples for the next leg to Moaness, which is on the north tip of Hoy. Here the three couples disembarked and, as no-one got on, we enjoyed a private trip back to Stromness.

En route we passed a reef with a few seals basking in the sunshine, they didn’t seem too concerned at our passing.

The final leg of the journey brings us around the back of Graemsay into Stromness harbour and past our front door.

We’ve been here six years and are mystified as to why we’ve never done this little outing before. It only takes an hour and we will certainly do it again in the near future.

13th June – As mentioned earlier, I’ve enrolled as a Shorewatch volunteer, monitoring cetacean activity around the coast. Last night, H and I were out watching and were treated to this family of otters out fishing for their supper. In this clip (recorded by H on her phone) one of them seems to have caught an eel. The light quality is quite good as this was at 10pm. It’s worth watching full screen.

20th June – The day started cool and overcast. After a short bit of Shorewatch, we decided to have a run out to Deerness, in East Mainland, to visit the Covenanters memorial.

It’s a place we’ve never visited and a bit out of the way. It marks a terrible event in 1679, when a ship, carrying 200 Presbyterian Scottish prisoners to the American colonies and into penal servitude, was wrecked in a storm. The ship’s captain ordered the hatches to be sealed and he abandoned ship. The story is that a sailor, appalled by this action, opened a hatch and 50 prisoners survived and subsequently fled to Holland.

The memorial stands on an exposed cliff top with a sheer drop to the rocks below. It’s a wonder any of them survived.

East Mainland is a strange place, populated by strange fowk. The sort of fowk that keep hairy pigs and dry their washing in derelict old buses.

21st June – Since I became a Shorewatch volunteer, I’m spending a lot of time at Ness Point. This picnic table is now my office, an excellent place to sit and enjoy the scenery if not dolphins. The ship passing by is the Northern Lighthouse Board’s MV Pharos, which has been working in the area.

22nd June – Fire Brigade training down by the camp site. A group of firemen were practicing throwbagging: a method of throwing a line to help someone in the water.
A brightly coloured tough fabric bag attached to a rope is thrown into the water.  The bag is weighted by either half the rope (coiled) or with some water to make it easier to throw it a long distance, to get it near enough to the person in distress.
In this photo the bags are red and yellow and the rope is bright yellow; two bags are visible (in the air) on the left.  The distance the guys are achieving with these practice throws is impressive.

25th June – H had her last session today with Dominic at Stromness Surgery. He had been carrying out a case study of H’s particular conditions. It was great for H to have someone that she could sit and chat with on a more informal basis. He is moving south to progress his career in Dundee and we wish him well.

27th June – H’s friend, Caroline from Edinburgh, is in Stromness just now for a quick holiday. As it was a nice day she came along to Well Park for sandwiches, cakes and a blether. We managed to sit outside as it was quite warm and the front of the house is sheltered.

A keen cyclist and photographer, Caroline is often out cycling at first light, which, at the moment, is 4am!

Go to July 2021