May 2023

3rd May – Although this photo shows a bright morning it soon clouded over and stayed that way. I’ll be collecting Heather from Kirkwall Airport later as she is visiting for a couple of weeks.

5th May – Orkney has been covered in low cloud for a few days now and quite windy. We thought we’d go to Kirbuster Farm Museum to enjoy the smoky peat fire. On arrival we were greeted by this, rather vocal, North Ronaldsay sheep.

9th May – We are still covered in low cloud, although the sun is trying hard to break through. the haar produces some nice effects, such as this image of a ghostly Hamnavoe arriving in Stromness.

10th May – Meanwhile in Kirkwall, the fog has lifted and the cruise ships are in the harbour. It’s always difficult to tell the visitors apart from the locals, they are so inconspicuous.

12th May – The Stromness lifeboat was called out this afternoon following reports of a distress beacon being triggered thirty miles west of Orkney. Fortunately it was a false alarm as the beacon had been triggered accidentally. The crew are always prepared though and do excellent work.

Nice to see Lady of Avenal back in Stromness. A 102ft brigantine square rigger, this boat takes small groups of passengers around the north of Scotland. It is a regular visitor to Stromness.

13th May – A successful morning at Ness Point, we managed to spot two harbour porpoise passing through Hoy Sound. Nice to have a sighting for Heather while she is with us.

They are very small and difficult to photograph, they vanish underwater for several minutes at a time, so they are hard to track. It’s still a thrill to to see them.

15th May – A beautiful sunny day here today. It’s so warm that the tugs have got to cool each other down!

16th May – Heather’s holiday has ended, far too quickly. We took her to Kirkwall Airport for her flight to London. A kindly tail wind delivered her into London City Airport a half hour early, so a successful holiday.

This week is the Orkney Nature Festival and WDC have been represented with Emma hosting an open session at Ness Point to highlight Shorewatch and the work of WDC. The event was well attended but unfortunately not by dolphins.

A couple passing by, unaware of the WDC presentation, had in their car an old teddy bear that they bought sixteen years ago. It had the old WDCS logo which none of the team had seen before. A strange coincidence.

17th May – It’s that time of year again, when Kirkwall welcomes our Norwegian neighbours to celebrate their Independence Day. On 17th May 1814 the Storting (parliament) signed their Constitution. In 1905, the Storting dissolved the union with their larger neighbour, Sweden. Here is their delegation marking the occasion outside St Magnus’ cathedral in Kirkwall.

21st May – Its been a glorious day here today, so, as is my wont, I went shorewatching. Managed to spot another couple of harbour porpoise, I don’t know if these are the same as we’ve seen recently.

27th May – It’s the Spring Bank Holiday weekend, the folk festival is in full swing and one young woman is undergoing a ritual blackening. Blackenings are a tradition in parts of the north of Scotland to mark a forthcoming wedding. Both bride and groom are “kidnapped”, separately, by their friends and paraded around the town covered in flour, treacle and various disgusting substances.

Accompanied by tooting horns, whistle blowing and the banging of saucepans, you always get advanced warning of an approaching blackening.

Normally only the prospective bride or groom receives the treatment but the bridesmaids here seemed to have taken more than their fair share of the messy gunge!

28th May – A coterie of colourful kayakers passing by this afternoon. The dive boat, Jean Elaine, providing the backdrop.