Orkney images - wildlife

I tried to post this yesterday evening, but had a problem with the photo format so I'll have another go now.


What a glorious day today.  We spent most of the afternoon in the garden, pottering and reading, and listening to music.  Very relaxing indeed.

This morning we had another viewing.  We're getting ourselves into a bit of a state over this moving business.  We can't find anything locally that interests us, and whilst Orkney has a real pull for both of us, there are one or two factors we have to consider.  We also don't really want to put ourselves into the position of having to rent.  We don't usually have this problem making decisions so there's a bit of consternation on the home-front at present!

Anyway, back to Orkney.  One of the many things we really enjoy up there is the abundance of wildlife.  N has always been quite an amateur ornithologist, but my knowledge of birds has been limited to sparrows, blackbirds and generic 'seagulls', though I now know there is more than one gull to be seen in Orkney.  However, armed with binoculars, camera and bird identification books, we managed to identify no less than 50 different birds in our two-week stay.  I have a feeling there were probably plenty we missed, but we were more than happy with our tally.

This Shag has obviously gone in for a bit of  interior design - the dandelion  is a  colourful touch!

Newark Bay at Deerness had a wealth of seabirds on the shore

A Black-Backed Gull - I think it may be 'greater' rather than 'lesser'.  We certainly saw one take out an Eider duckling in one swoop.

Great Skua.  These two were feasting on something, we think it may have been a seal carcass

Black Guillemot - the inside of their bills is the same bright red as their feet

Here's the full list of our sightings:

1. curlew
2. shag
3. cormorant
4. oyster catcher
5. starling
6. fulmar
7. black-backed gull
8. herring gull
9. guillemot
10. puffin
11. arctic tern
12. rook
13. jackdaw
14. blackbird
15. house sparrow
16. razorbill
17. gannet
18. short-eared owl
19. reed bunting
20. hen harrier
21. great skua
22. ringed plover
23. little stint
24. coot
25. mute swan
26. eider duck
27. mallard
28. shelduck
29. lapwing
30. swift
31. greylag goose
32. great crested grebe
33. hooded crow
34. meadow pipet
35. pheasant
36. wren
37. pied wagtail
38. greenfinch
39. stonechat
40. willow warbler
41. merlin
42. common tern
43. chaffinch
44. skylark
45. black guillemot
46. manx shearwater
47. collared dove
48. canadian goose
49. black-headed gull
50. pigeon - rock dove and and woodpigeon

The gulls did confuse us - we would have benefitted from the knowledge of an RSPB warden to help with identification!  However, we are pretty happy with the other identities.  We spotted lots of seabirds nesting on the cliffs at Marwick, along the shore at Newark Bay and Point of Ayre, and several 'new' birds to us at the RSPB nature reserve at Hobbister which was a real treat - it was a lovely walk, just birdsong to accompany us.

Apart from such a wealth of birds, we also saw many more seals than we have previously, especially at Saviskaill Bay on a daytrip to Rousay.  There was a group of about fifteen seals, and every so often they would all shuffle themselves rather ungainly a little further up onto the rocks to avoid the in-coming tide.

This last photo is a little blurry as it was taken through the car windscreen.  We happened across this chap and his friend, and he obligingly stopped for just long enough for N to snap his picture before racing off up the road.  We were surprised how many hares we spotted, mostly in fields, but one of two taking their chances on the roads.

We were told by several different people we met that just a couple of weeks' previously a pod of Orcas had been seen in Scapa Flow, and we have also been told that some of the North Isles are good places to see them, too.  Now that would be a sight to see.  Perhaps next time.