January 2023

6th January – My WDC co-ordinator, Emma, put out a call this afternoon to help recover the body of a Risso’s dolphin that washed up on Warebeth beach. Such deaths are subject to autopsies by the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) and the bodies are collected by British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR). I and a couple of other Shorewatchers went along to lend a hand.

Not a pretty sight but that is the way of things in the wild. The bloody grazing is caused by the body being thrown against the rocks. The scarring on the flank is just visible, this is common to Risso’s and is caused by the tentacles of squid, which form a major part of their diet.

As the dolphin weighed about 300 – 400 kgs it took twelve of us to lift it off the shore and on to the trailer.

I’m hoping that this isn’t Ness, the dolphin identified from my photo in the Risso’s catalogue. See September 2022 .

Fellow WDC Shorewatcher, Marilyn, made this little clip of the recovery operation. Marilyn like a cheery tune, regardless of the subject matter.

*** Update: A post mortem was carried out on this dolphin. It was found to have a stomach full of squid, so a healthy animal, feeding well. The lungs, however, had water in them and it was concluded that it drowned, possibly as a result of being caught in a fishing net. Known as “bycatch”, fishing boats frequently catch species of sea life that they don’t want. This is inconvenient for the trawlers but tragic for the victims.

11th January – The local starlings are very partial to mealworms for breakfast, here are a few. I challenge anyone to count them!

12th January – The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. A local fishing boat being craned out of the water for maintenance. It’s a tricky operation with not much room for manoeuvre. Luckily there was no wind to hamper the operation.

13th January – H had another session of chemo today. It went well and the Macmillan team are always kind and attentive but H is turning into a bit of a pin cushion.

16th January – Here’s one for the geology buffs amongst you (you know who you are!).

The Kame of Hoy is a rocky outcrop on the northwest tip of Hoy, the snow this morning highlights the stratification of the structure of the cliff. This lump of rock is made up of, from the top, basalt, sandstone, Stromness flags and bostonite.

As I said, interesting for some, a cure for insomnia for others.

23rd January – At last work has started on replacing the en suite bathroom in the downstairs bedroom. Local plumber, Davey Prentice, has done a lot of work for us and was first choice for this project. The original room was designed as a disabled wetroom but that didn’t suit our needs so we are having it changed.

Getting rid of the waste is always a problem but we have friends with a wood burning stove so they will take the timber. Davey and his wife have horses ( see July 2022 ), so he is taking the bath to use as a water trough for them. That, thankfully, doesn’t leave much for me to get rid of.

26th January – Bloomin’ ‘eck! Looks like yours truly is going to be the face, sorry, the back of the Orkney Nature Festival again this year.