It was July 2018 and I had just finished my first evening of catching storm-petrels on Sule Skerry. As dawn had broken, lightening the sky from dark velvet black to deep blue, rain had moved in and the dark rocks, capped white with the guano of seabirds, had become slippery and treacherous under foot. The … More One little petrel
I have taken a leap of faith. While sat at my desk a couple of weeks ago I happened across a Facebook post advertising Terra Icognita’s Wildlife Blogger of the Year 2018. Sponsored by Swarovski Optik the competition calls on bloggers from around the world to put their favourite wildlife moment into the spotlight. It’s … More Wildlife Blogger of the Year 2018
It felt like history repeating, and I had an ominous feeling of de ja vu. It is mid-September and the first storms of the autumn are sweeping across the Atlantic heading for the UK and Ireland, and once again I am heading out on the ferry to Santander across the Bay of Biscay with the … More Changeable Bay
Night has come to the island. Although the darkness is not absolute and will only last for a brief couple of hours at this time of year. The skies overhead are for once still. It is eerie not to see it filled with racing puffins, marauding gulls and pirating skuas. All are settled for the … More Little Sea Dancers
They are known as the ‘clowns of the sea’ and are one of the UK’s favourite birds. Instantly recognisable with their formal black and white ‘dinner jacket’ plumage, bright orange feet, and colourful orangey red bill. The blackish grey skin that forms a triangle shape round the eye gives them an appearance of wearing makeup … More Little Brothers of the North
On the sheer cliffs and geos of Sule Skerry there are hundreds of guillemots. The rocks are white with their guano as the birds perch on precarious ledges overlooking sheer drops into the churning water below. Sitting near a colony is an assault on the senses. Everywhere you look there are hundreds of these dark … More Guillies and Razors
Across the top and down the steep slopes of the southwestern geo on Sule Skerry is a bustling gannet colony. The harsh grating calls of the adult birds is a continuous noise. Years ago, when monitoring of seabirds started on the island in the 1970s there were no gannets nesting. When they first started breeding … More Gannets of Sule Skerry
Sule Skerry is a remote island 40 miles west of Orkney. Uninhabited by humans but home to a multitude of seabirds. The island is known in the folklore of both Orkney and Shetland, captured in the tale of the Great Selkie of Sule Skerry, which tells the story of a woman whose child was taken … More The Island
I can see why it is called World’s End. The steep slopes round out to extensive moors covered in reddish brown heather, dark green gorse and pale tussock grasses. As far as the eye can see there is nothing but a seemingly desolate undulating landscape, dropping into gullies and valleys, before rising steeply once more. … More At World’s End
Sitting on the cool stone of New Quay harbour and although a strong breeze tugs at coats and hats, the greyish green ocean in front on me is relatively calm with just the occasional little crest of white tipping a wave. The wind is coming off the land, sheltering the coastal waters from its ire … More Dolphins at New Quay
Wild Barley 