December 2024

3rd December – A eventful afternoon. Set off to do a Shorewatch but was flagged down by a woman to say there was a seal pup on the shore, and it looked poorly. My initial reaction is to leave well alone. But as I came closer it looked in poor condition.

I phoned BDMLR* and their chap arrived within 20 minutes. He confirmed it was weak and arranged for a vet in Kirkwall to receive it.
So between us we got it into a large crate and lifted it off the shore. Hopefully the vet can revive it sufficiently to be transported to the Shetland seal sanctuary, where hopefully it can recover and eventually be released.

*British Divers Marine Life Rescue

4th December – An update from BDMLR on the seal pup:

“The little lady in the photos below was looking very sorry for herself on the shingle beach alongside the popular dog walk. After an on the beach assessment by medics it was discovered that she was very underweight and was covered in lots of small wounds some of which were showing sign of significant infection. The decision was made to uplift her and take her to Flett & Carmichael Vets where she underwent another assessment as well as had her wounds cleaned and antibiotics given to help her fight her infections. She is now tucked up in our seal unit for ongoing treatment before heading off to continue her rehab journey. As ever thank you to those who reported her as well as the medics and vet team that have looked after her.“

5th December – More news from BDMLR. The grey seal pup, now named Stevie, is doing really well and enjoying plenty of fish. She will soon be able to join the other rescuees at the Hillswick Sanctuary in Shetland.

8th December – WDC co-ordinator for the Northern Isles, Emma Steel, is taking up a new job as the Senior Science Officer with the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust, based on Mull. She set up Shorewatch in the Northern Isles four years ago and has recruited dozens of volunteers in that time. She organised a mulled wine and mince pie get together this afternoon for her Ness Point recruits and we were blessed with decent weather for it.

Emma will be missed and we all wish her good fortune for her new adventure.

11th November – A sad message from Hillswick about Stevie the seal pup:

“It has really been a heartbreaking day here at Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary. Last weekend we noticed that both our remaining two underweight seal pups from Orkney were showing signs of a similar problem as Sandy who passed away last week. We immediately started them on an intensive course of antibiotics and fluids following advice from our local vets, treating them every three hours. We were confident that both Frankie and Stevie were recovering well throughout this week. They had more energy and all the other signs indicated that they were improving. So it was a devastating shock to walk into the seal unit at 6am this morning to find that they had both passed away. We are determined to find out what the cause of death for all three Orkney pups is, so we have already taken them for a post mortem and hopefully will have some results fairly soon. May they both rest in peace xxx“

It’ll be interesting to hear if the post mortem shows any unusual causes in the deaths of the three Orkney seals.

12th December – One of the many problems facing the local fishermen is the loss of creels in rough seas. This is a local crab fisherman collecting one of his creels at Ness Point. At £100 each they need to be recovered.

19th December – MV Hamnavoe departing Scrabster for Stromness. Rather them than me!

https://www.facebook.com/reel/859334479486360

20th December – We are bracing ourselves for some wild winds tomorrow. Gusting up to nearly 87 mph, these are perhaps the strongest winds we’ve seen in Stromness since moving here.

A lot of Norwegian children will be getting Orcadian trampolines for Christmas!

24th December – We visited our friends Terry and Judith today. They certainly put a lot of work into their Christmas decorations.

27th December – Santa brought a weather station so that Well Park can record the gales that whistle through here.

Hopefully it will be sturdy enough to withstand the winter storms.

30th December – We have snow forecast for this coming week and the first has arrived on Hoy last night. The straight line effect clearly showing the altitude at which the temperature allows the snow to settle.

31st December 2024 – Hogmanay sees the annual log pull in Stromness. A team of Northenders vie with the muscle of the Soothenders to drag a piece of tree through the town.

This year the junior event was won by the Northenders but Soothend took the senior event. So honours shared this year.

Happy New Year everyone and a prosperous 2025.