Gareth and Maddy Leave.

Sunday 29th August 2010

We all got up early to get Gareth and Maddy packed up as they return home today.
It had been a bit breezy overnight and some of the racks stood outside the shed had blown over. I made a mental note to arrange to make sure that I arrange some way of chaining the little trailer down before winter.
We were almost out of milk so I went down to the shop to get some but it doesn't open untill 9 AM on Sundays so I went down to The Hope but it was like a rather damp ghost town. In the end we had enough anyway.

During breakfast we noticed that a neighbouring farmer had managed to get his car grounded out across the road while checking his cattle so we tried to push him out to no avail. A bit of a tow with the lucida however got him out OK so good deed for the day done.

We finaly got all ready and off to the Airport. On the way we noticed that the wind turbine at Burray school had been blown down. I did not think that it had been that windy. I am sure that there must have been a fault on it or something had not been bolted down properly.

Kirkwall airport is by far the best airport that I have ever been in. Everone is friendly and helpful.

It is small so you cannot get lost. The car park is free and indeed many of the people from the outer isles do as June Morris does and keep a car at the airport so that when they fly in they can go shopping. They then do their shopping, drop it at the ferry and drive back to the airport to dump the car for another week.
That may be a bit of an expensive thing to do at Manchester airport.

After seeing one child off not long ago, to see the other one off today, knowing that we will not see either of them for months is very sad even if it was our choice to move away.

We hung about after Gareth and Maddy had gone to the departure lounge to wave them off as it is difficult to wave at an aeroplane from the house. Maddy looked very windswept and interesting as they went to board the aircraft.
And so goodbye.

we came home and Pam put some washing out to dry, not a thing that I would have done as it may have ended up in Norway but they survived.

Another bit of a do nothing day.

Saturday 28th August 2010

I had a bit of a lie-in this morning as I was knackered because my rheumaticy old joints had kept me awake. Old age has many advantages but this is not one of them.

We had noticed that June Morris from North Ronaldsay was giving a talk on genetics at the science festival and we wondered if she had anywhere to stay after she had done her talk as she would not have been able to get a ferry back home at that time of night. We phoned her up and it turned out that she has not got anything organised yet so she is now staying with us overnight before she goes back.

We then went into the big city for some shopping and when we got back home Pams new vacuum had arrived (Oh delerious joy). I had to get it assembled immediately so that Pam could have a play. I am sure that I could think of better things to play with but then I have never claimed to understand the weird way that a womans mind works. At least Pam is happy.

Gareth gave me a hand to get the doors from the loft in the house up onto the rafters in the shed and we got a load of the stuff in the shed up onto the doors. With a bit more tidying maybe I can make enough room in the shed for a model railway. Now that is interesting, much better than a vacuum cleaner.

Pam turns down the offer of a free pony.

Friday 27th August 2010

We all had to get up at a half reasonable time today because Gareth had booked us in to go for a carriage drive round South Ronaldsay. When we got down to the stables we were a bit early (see we can be early sometimes) and they were still harnessing up the ponies. They had a young poodle that came running up to Maddy for a fuss so that was her made up, she played with Cindy the dog and totally ignored the ponies. She even insisted that when we were ready to go, the dog sat in the back of the wagon with her.


Both the ponies were really nice, the sort of cobby things that I like. The black one a sort of Dales type and the pale one a Norwegian Fjord pony. We had a good run round South Ronaldsay for a few miles with one brief shower and it was enjoyed by all including Cindy the poodle.

When we got back we were talking to the owners and they were saying that they were going to have to get rid of Norwegian pony as it had a leg injury and would not be able to do the amount of work that they needed their ponies to do. They had checks done on it and it would be OK for light work but not really for the type of work that they did in their business. The upshot was that if we wanted to take it on loan then we could have it.
Gareth was jumping up and down but then he is going back in a few days. Rather surprisingly Pam said NO very loudly.

Maddy washed the ponies down with a bit of help from her dad and the owner of the stables.



When we got back we got an excited phone call from David and Claire to say that they were comong round as they had some good news. They came round about an hour later full of beans as their house down south has sold and all the money has come through so they can start looking for a house to buy up here now.

All in all a good day for everyone including Cindy the Poodle.

A rude awakening for the lie-abeds.

Thursday 26th August 2010

I of course always get out of bed at a reasonable time but some amongst us would spend all morning in bed if they could so this morning was good even if slightly cruel.
At about 8:30 the builders started compacting the flooring with a whacker-packer. Maddy was first up but Gareth and Pam were not far behind although how they managed to sleep that long was fairly astounding.

We went to Kirkwall again so that Gareth could buy pressies for taking home. It took some time but eventually all was sorted.

We bought a copy of The Orcadian newspaper because we thought that the photos from the rock-pooling day may be in it but unfortunately there was nothing. It must not have been a "bad news week". Fortunately we had not told Maddy that the photos would definitely be in the paper so she was not expecting them or we may have had to get a special edition printed.

The schedule for the science festival was on a leaflet in the Orcadian and there are several talks that I would like to go to so we will have to see which ones do not clash and get some booked fairly soon.

After we got back I went to see the man across the barrier who has an N gauge train set to try and make up my mind if I should go with N gauge or OO gauge. He explained some of the problems with N gauge, including having small grandchildren stuffing carriages down tunnels. I will have to consider it, OO is to my mind better but the small size of N gauge means that a lot more can be fitted into the same space so I could get a bigger layout. Life is always full of problems.

In the evening the plumbers came to fit the underfloor heating pipes in the extension. They had to get it all in tonight as the concrete is coming first thing in the morning so they were here until 9PM.

The disobedient dog trap is complete.

Wednesday 25th August 2010

We took a duvet down to The Marengo Centre to wash it. The centre is an old folks home but because they have a good laundry there you can hire the machines just like a normal laundrette. A very good idea that must help with the funding of the centre and also keeps a bit of activity with people coming and going so that the residents at have a bit more interest and people to talk to.

We then went off to the sands of Wright again for a bit.


I am not sure if we go there because Maddy likes it or because it is Pams favourite beach. I think that Maddy prefered the beach at No 4 Barrier.
We got the sheep netting up on the side field so now Molly can be contained at least until she realises that she can probably jump over the fence.
The fencing on the side of the field ended up looking a bit scruffy because of the stone wall behind it but nobody sees that really and at least the fencing along the roadside looks OK so I can still live with the neighbours.

The builders laid the floor for the extension so it is getting there slowly. They seem to reckon that it will be finished soon but I suppose that depends on what you mean by "soon".

We bid a fond farewell to some faithful saplings.

Tuesday 24th August 2010
This morning we went to Kirkwall and at vast expense bought enough sheep netting to finish completely netting the side field si that the disobedient dog can not leg it off whenever it wants. Maybe I will get it trained eventually but better safe than sorry.

Gareth topped round the edge of the field with Maddy's baby tractor while I strimmed up to the bottom of the fence. How come he a;ways gets the jobs that involve sitting on a machine while I get the mugs jobs?

While Gareth was topping the edge of the field he thought that he would be very helpful and trim round the back garden. I was blissfully strimming and did not realise how much help I was getting.

I had previously battled with Pam to leave the border between the lawn and the road for the grass and wild flowers as well as the several saplings that had probably been struggling to shove their head up for 5 years or so. Just for a change I had managed to win the argument with Pam so I had my nice if somewhat scruffy area of garden.

The along comes Mr Tidy on the tractor and pasture topper and Whoosh, a couple of minutes later it is all very tidy short grass with tiny stumps of the ex saplings pointing folornly skywards as they finally give up after years of struggling.

Tea and then when Maddy was safely in bed Gareth and I to the pub as we thought we had earned it although I am not sure if my little baby trees would agree.

I am getting old and it's official

Monday 23rd August 2010
I had an appointment with the doctor this morning to find out my cholesterol levels and I ended up being put on statins so I am officially getting old.
Apparently my cholesterol is only a little high and of that, the good cholesterol (whatever that is) is very high so the really badly behaved cholesterol is not as high as first appears.
It seems as though the doctor thinks that statins are a good idea anyway.


We went down to Kirkwall as Maddy wanted to go to the library but once there she was whingy so we got her some books and departed. The library here is very good and is bucking the trend. Library use is rising. It is a really nice design for a modern building and has good facilities so there are always loads of people of all age groups in there.

We then had to get back home as the people were due to empty the loft and put the loft insulation under one of the free schemes.They took out all the old doors which had been accross the joists of the loft so we put them in the shed so that we could put them across the joists in there.

We were thinking of taking Maddy on a boat trip round Scapa Flow but on checking the price of hiring a boat we decided that there was sure to be something more enjoyable that she could do so we went to the beach at The sands of Wright and built a stone house just to confuse future archeologists.

The digger that dug the foundations has reappeared after being removed for a couple of days but I do not know what for so we will wait and see what they need it for.

Rock Pooling for old and young children

Sunday 22nd August 2010

First thing Gareth, Maddy and i went down to the beach by No 4 barrier with the dog. Both Maddy and Molly really enjoyed themselves. Maddy insisted on stripping down to her knickers and paddling in the North Sea. I am sure that children must have a defective nervous system that makes it impossible for them to tell when water is really cold.
We had to be back in time to get soretd out and go up to Birsay where the RSPB was having a rock pooling adventure for children but when we decided that it was time to go, the evil mutt decided that she still wanted to stay and play so she refused to be caught. After about 10 minutes of trying to get her to come to us for her ball we were getting nowhere. She may be disobedient but she is not stupid and had figured out that we were going to put her back in the hated car. In the end she decided that although she could not trust the adults, she could trust her little friend Maddy.

This was a mistake. Maddy managed to hang on to her until we got the lead on.
We made it back just intime for dinner then off to Birsay. We were a bit late getting there but then we are always a bit late getting anywhere so that is nothing new. In the rush we had forgotten to take the fishing net and bucket but fortunately when we got there another little girl called Jessica offered to share her net and bucket with Maddy.

This worked out well and the two of them had a great time delving into all the pools. Gareth and I had to help out as well.
We were of course not reverting to childhood but just helping Maddy. Between us we caught a brittle star,a rare one with only four and a half legs (It did have 5 legs when we started trying to catch it), loads of hermit crabs and ordinary crabs, sea anemone's and huge bits of kelp which the kids dragged back even after being told that we thought that the huge pile that we already had was probably enough.
At the end they all posed for a photo which may appear in the Orcadian newspaper on Thursday.

Gareth and Maddy arrive

Saturday 21st August 2010
Gareth and Maddy left at 3:00 AM from Leek and Gareth was hoping to get up in time to catch the 13:30 Pentalina sailing from Gills Bay. I thought that this was rather optimistic but then when I am driving up I have several stops because I am old and knackered.
We kept getting progress reports with position updates about every hour after about
9 o-clock and it was touch and go all the way up. His sat nav was saying that he would arrive ten or so minutes before the ferry was due to sail but they want you to book in 30 minutes before the ferry sails. In the end, when he was about 15 minutes away from the ferry we rang up and booked him in over the phone to save time and they just made it.

While Gareth and Maddy were on their way over on the ferry we went to The Hope. Today was the boys ploughing match there. The South Ronaldsay boys ploughing match has been going for 196 years. The young boys have home made miniture ploughs which are judged for the best plough then they go to The sands of Wright and plough on the beach to see who can plough the straightest good furrow.
The real stars of the show are the girls. They are called the Horses and are dressed in fantastic costumes based on the harness of old plough horses. These costumes are handed down from generation to generation and more embellishment is added each generation. Originally it was the boys with the ploughs that wore the costumes but now that part is down to the girls.



It is a real event, layed on for the people of South Ronaldsay and not for the tourists (although they are welcome as always)and it is so much the better because of it.
The families, probably mainly the mothers, must put in a tremendous amount of work into the costumes and the pride that they have in their work shows through.


Later on everything moves from the village down to the Sands of Wright for the actual ploughing match. We went to the cafe for a cuppa before the match and on leaving the cafe we saw the "Pentalina" coming in a bit earlier than we expected so we shot straight round to the dock. We will catch the ploughing match next year.
Maddy was in Gareths arms on the boat waving frantically and a few minutes later they were both on dry land with our little car which they had fetched up for us.

We came straight back home so that Gareth could have a slump after the race to the north.

After Maddy had gone to bed Gareth and I went down to "The Sands" for a couple of pints. It was heaving in there. Normally it is quiet, about 6 or 8 people but it was full. There had been a seven-a-side football tournament and I think that half the players from some of the teams must have retired to the pub as soon as the matches ended. It was apparent that several of them had been either celebrating or drowning their sorrows for quite some time but the rowdiness was all very good hearted.
I don't think that the Burray team did to well, I was told that they lost one match 4 to 1 and that the one goal that Burray got was an own goal by the opposition but they did not seem to be letting that stop the celebrations.
Then back home and so to bed, probably very welcome for Gareth.

The Water man Cometh

Friday 20th August 2010

It was a nice start to the day but got misty for dinner time so obviously Pam thought that it had not been good all day.

The long awaited man from the water company eventually came with his metal detector and map to find the stopcock for our house.
The map was useless and the metal detector was worse. The common sense of the water board man was however sucessful. There was no stopcock marked on his map because there was no stopcock. There was therefore no metal cover over the non existent stockcock for the metal detector to detect.
The clever little man (well he wasn't actually little, it is just a figure of speech, all men that come to fix things are obliged to be little) decided that as he could find the meter for the farm up the road, then they had probably taken a "T" off to our house just before the meter. Sure enough, about a yard from the meter was a hole covered by a stone flag just to confuse metal detectors. In the hole was the stopcock for the farm and the "T" off to our house. All I have to do is dig down further along our pipe and fit a new stopcock. Job Done.

The builders got the first few courses of blocks up, so now the floor goes in and then Duncan can put the frame up "I think".

Tescos again then David and Claire's for a cuppa and back home.

Not a good dog day

Thursday 19th August 2010
This was definitely not one of Mollys best days. Although she is perfectly well aware of what "Here" means, she has been getting worse at coming when she is called unless it happens to suit her at the time. She can also jump the garden wall now whenever she wants which does not help.
Until she gets a bit better trained I had decided to keep her on a lead unless she is down on the beach having a run. I think that we will have to go to dog training classes the week after next.


Duncan the builder came up because they had a minor problem with the extension so Pam let Molly out to see him. Molly then promptly legged it up to the top of the hill at the back of the house and totally ignored everyone. Fortunately Mr Scott from the farm up the road saw her and she came to him because she is friendly and likes to meet people. At least she likes to meet people who she thinks will not catch her. In this case she made a mistake and was caught.
I will have to get our fields better fenced so that she can not escape until she has learned to come when she is called.

Earlier in the day we had noticed the builders standing around, scratching their heads and moving bits if string backwards and forwards. We thought "don't interfere" but it looked as though they had a problem with the levels or something similar. Finally they came to get us and explained that the existing house was not square so if they built the extension square as in the drawings then the house would look odd from the outside.
As we have very rarely lived in a modern house which is square then this is not a problem. We agreed that they would make the far end of the extension 8 inches narrower and then it should look OK from the outside and Duncan can make the roof joists to fit and modify the cupboards inside so there should be no trouble. Everybody Happy. VG Tick

It's curtains for Pam

Wednesday 18th August 2010
The curtain lady came to measure up and take the material to make the curtains. I think that this is going to be another of those things where I am not allowed to know the cost. I am sure we could have got a set of second hand blinds for a few quid.

It was supposed to be wet and cloudy all day today but as is usual the Orkney weather will do what it wants with scant regard for what the Met Office says it should do so we had a nice day.

The children went back to school here this week. Apparently there are 197 new starters in the 20 Orkney schools. Even North Ronaldsay school has 2 new starters so I think that they have had to open the school again.
When most of the UK is having problems with class sizes of over 30, it is not bad to have a whole school with just 2 pupils. At least they should get enough individual attention.
Unfortunately Burray school had no new starters so I suppose that means the threat of amalgamating Burray school with the school at St Margarets Hope on South Ronaldsay will be raised again. Although Burray is linked by a causway to South Ronaldsay, the people here are fiercly independant and the school is quite new so the council will have a fight if they want to close it.
If they were going to amalgamate the schools then they should have thought of it before they built new schools in both Burray and in The Hope.

Another "do nothing day"

Tuesday 17th Aug 2010
A nice day but nothing to do so I just idled about. I had to put some curtain rails up for Pam before the curtain lady comes tomorrow but that was about it.

I think that I may have to get some bigger screws for one of the curtain rails. The window is about 12 foot wide and Pam has got some very heavy curtain material which will be lined so the curtains will weigh a ton. I will not be popular if the rail departs from the wall the first time the curtains are hung so it is probably better safe than sorry.

Peters Last Day

Monday 16th Aug 2010

The title of todays blog is Peters last day. This is not meant to imply that I think that Peter has only a short while to live as I am not privy to that sort of information. It is more a reference to the fact that Peter is returning south on tonights ferry to Aberdeen.

As we hadn't been round Kirkwall since Peter arrived, I thought that we had better get down there today even though big cities are not my favourite places normally.
Yes it is a city, it has a cathedral, 4 roundabouts and all that city stuff. About 8000 people live there so it gets crowds and very few of the shopkeepers know you. Not at all like Seaview stores in Burray or the shops in St Margarets Hope.

Anyway, back to the plot. Peter wanted to see the cathedral and the museum so we vetured into town. Pam decided not to come which at least meant that we did not have to go window shopping or to the dreaded Tescos.
The cathedral is a beautiful building. It is over 850 years old and was started in 1137 AD by Kali Kolson, a norse earl of Orkney as a resting place for the bones of his uncle St Magnus. Kali Kolson later changed his name to Rognvald and was himself canonised and his bones are also in the cathedral.

The cathedral was built using different coloured sandstones from two quarries and it looks spectacular in the sunlight. It towers over everything in Kirkwall as they have had the sense not to surround it with tall buildings. Inside it is on a smaller scale than some cathedrals but it is none the worse for that.

The old gravestones in the cathedral have always fascinated me, none of that "dearly beloved" "passed away peacefully" sort of namby pamby stuff. They all have a skull and crossbones with the words " Remember Death" and sometimes a carving of a coffin and a timer.

It is also the only British cathedral to be owned by people of the town instead of the established church. It is also the only one to have its own jail.

We had a coffee at The Reel and went to have a look round the museum. The museum is very good and does not just concentrate on the neolithic and viking history although the neolithic and bronze age sections are obviously impressive.
We spent about about an hour and a half at the museum then headed back home for a very late lunch.

After lunch Peter and I took the dog down to the beach for a run and so managed to miss meeting the grandson of the man who built our house.
Pam was in the garden when a car pulled up and a man got out and said that he came from Caithness and had fetched his father with him to see the house. His father who was about 80 to 90 years old said that as a boy of 11 years old he used to come up here because it was his grandparents house. His grandfather who was a fisherman in the village had built the house. Pam invited them in but they could not stay as they had to catch the ferry.

The builders finally arrived today and got the foundations dug out and the concrete poured so we have at last got the extension started.

Peter and I saw a couple of hen harriers, or the same one twice but they are getting "old hat" for Peter now.

We ran Peter to Kirkwall to catch the Aberdeen ferry and they had a huge prototype tidal turbine on the dock waiting to be taken to the EMEC test site. There had been an article and photo of this turbine in "The Times" that Peter was reading on Saturday so he was very impressed to see it. If I can figure out how to get photos downloaded from my camera I may put one of the turbine up.

With that last taste of Orkney we saw Peter off and returned home.

Now that we were by ourselves again, Pam decided to make me feel guilty for not buying an anniversary present by presenting me with a beautiful original painting by Tim Wooton of a Peregrine Falcon. Not only that but while she was chatting to Tim he said that he would take me to see the nest next spring. I have always loved Tims paintings and this one was centre stage in his window the other day and I was admiring it. Fortunately for my peace of mind, I have forgotten the price on it.

Vintage Rally and Things

Sunday 15th August 2010

We had a late start (just for a change) but we finally got down to Kirkwall for the vintage rally.
Kirkwall was littered with trailers and horseboxes as it was "The riding of the marches" but we ignored that and proceeded to the Mart for the rally.

Pam for some reason decided to stay in the car and read her E-Book while Peter and I went round the rally. There is no understanding the priorities of women.
For those who do not know Peter, this is him at the tractors in the sunglasses (Vital Orkney equipment).




There was a really good turnout turnout of tractors, cars and motor cycles but not so many stationary engines and only two small mobile engines (not proper traction engines).

There was a very nice tourist liner in the dock at Hatston which made a good background for the show. Most of the tourist liners are multideck ugly floating gin palaces but this one was nicely proportioned.

There were several little grey fergies and they were almost all in very good condition, the only one that was a bit tatty was one that I think was under reconstruction.

For the population of the islands it was a really good attendance, especially the day after the county show.

Most importantly, I managed to see the man who has the N gauge model railway at the indoor part of the show and got an invite to go round any time to look at his layout and pick his brains. He only lives at the other end of the barrier on South Ronaldsay and I gave his wife a lift back from one of the bird walks last week. At least that was the most important task of the day completed although I am not sure that Pam would agree.


After the vintage display we went up to Burgar Hill to look at the wind turbines as Peter is into renewables and they are good sized turbines (That is our people carrier at the bottom of the turbine). While we were there I nipped into the RSPB hide next to the turbines and there were three Red throated Divers on the little lochan as well as some other general odds and sods. Please try to contain your excitement.

From Burgar Hill we went to Birsay tea rooms for a cuppa then had a look round the Earls Palace. While we were up that end of the island Pam said that we may as well go up to the Brough of Birsay to show Peter. I did not want to go but it was fortunate that we did.

We just arrived at the car park and got out for a look over to the Brough when I saw a fin in the water offshore. It turned out to be a huge basking shark.

It is difficult to tell how big it was but it must have been getting close to 30 foot long. We occassionally got a glimpse of the head and both the fins out of the water but I only managed to get a photo of the 2 fins and at a very great distance so excuse the photo.



This was the first Basking Shark that Pam had seen so she was very pleased and Peter was over the moon. We watched the shark cruising around for a long time then left to go home.
Just to show how hard it is to satisfy some people, Peter decided that seeing the Hen Harriers yesterday and the Basking Shark today was just not good enough and complained that he had not seen a Short Eared Owl.
The animals round here are an obliging lot of creatures and sure enough just as we were getting near home there was a Short Eared Owl sitting patiently on a fencepost by the side of the road at the bottom of the hill waiting for us to drive up so that Peter could see it. We stopped to see it and it then flew slowly away over the fields giving us a beautiful view.
Home for a cup of tea then took the dog into the fields with Peter and a Harrier flew over our field and started quartering across the road.


Hopefully Peter had a good day, a close up view of a very large wind turbine, a Hen Harrier, a Short Eared Owl, some Red Throated Divers and a basking shark all in one day. We do try our best but that is good for one day even in Orkney.

County Show Day

Saturday 14th August




County show today. A good day, some cloud and sunny spells but no rain so just right for the show.
We all overslept a bit and were later getting to the show than I had meant to be but this worked out just right. We arrived just as they were getting ready to fetch all the winners of the individual beef classes into the ring for the champion beef judging.

There were some beautiful animals as indeed there should be up here. There was a superb Angus cow with a calf at foot which I though would win but it turned out to be a Limousin cross bull calf that won the champion beef animal.The judge may have been right or wrong but it must take a lot of guts and confidence in your own judgement to place a young calf above adult animals and it was a nice calf even if I did chop its head off in the photo. The Angus cow and calf got reserve champion.

On the way back we dropped into Tesco's ( decides not to rant about Tesco's again for a little while) and when Pam was at the checkout, the lad there asked if she had been to the show and if she knew what had won the beef championship. It turns out that his uncle owns the Angus cow that won the reserve champion so the lad was very pleased as it meant that there would be a good "knees up" tonight when he finished work.
We then drove back past our land in Tankerness to show Peter the rest of our estate
Peter had just finished complaining like a spoilt tourist that he had not yet seen a Hen Harrier when one flew across in front of us and off over the fields at low level.
We got homa and took the dog for a run on our front field and another Hen Harrier came over, slowly quartering the next field. Peter is now complaining that he has not seen a male Hen Harrier. You just can not please some people.

I will try to catch up tomorrow by putting in photos and SOME DRAMATIC EVENTS to show what lengths we go to in attempts to satisfy Peter's every whim.
WATCH THIS SPACE (Well not actually this space but a space in the next blog but it is a space that is a bit like this space so you get the general idea of what I mean)

Another few days catch up

Friday 13th August
First thing we went to the Italian chapel on Lamb Holm. When we looked at the visitor book there were about 20 or more Italians who had been round there this morning. It always gets a load of Italian visitors, possibly they are descendants of the prisoners of war who built it. It is certainly something to be proud of and it was made from odds and sods that they could beg, borrow or steal.




We were going to go to Kirkwall and show Peter round St Magnus Cathedral but when we got to Kirkwall it was raining so we went on to Stromness instead. Everyone knows that it never rains in Stromness.
Sure enough when we arrived in Stromness it was dry. We had a wander round the Pier Arts Centre so that we could all criticise modern art. We all agreed however that the views out of the windows over the harbour were good.
It is unfortunate for the Pier Arts Centre that Tim Wooton has opened a gallery a bit further down the road. He is a superb artist who I think has just won BBC wildlife artist of the year. The contrast between his work and much of the stuff in the arts centre does not do the arts centre any good.

After a slow amble around Stromness Peter agreed with me that it is a lovely town. I much prefer it to Kirkwall although Pam says that there are not enough shops.
We got back to find that some miserable traffic warden had given me a parking ticket because I had only bought a one hour ticket and I had stayed two hours. Even so, I still like Stromness.

We stopped at the Waterside in Finstown for a pot of tea then back home, walked dog etc.

West Mainland show day

Thursday 12th Aug 2010
It is West Mainland show day today. A bit of drizzly rain first thing but the forecast is OK for the show.


I took disobedient dog down to the beach for a run first thing just to try and get her tired. It didn't work. I think that I would have worn my legs down to stumps before she showed any sign of being tired. Maybe one of those old fashioned roasting spits with a dog in a giant hamster wheel is the answer.

Later in the morning we went to the West Mainland show. Half of the West Mainland must have been there.


I was surprised at the amount of agricultural equipment on show. There were four combines, a lot of expensive tractors, feeders,tankers, loaders and so on.
I think that the Orkney farmers are supposed to have had a good year as beef and sheep prices have been high so they are all out to buy big new expensive toys.


There was a dog agility class with a border terrier in it. I thought that this was rather optimistic but it didn't do badly and didn't run off at all.

Another dog in the agility show was an ex guide dog. She was very good but had to be excused from doing the see-saw because she decided that it was not wide enough for both her and her handler, a hang-up from her guide dog days.

There were some lovely beef cattle as you would expect.
A border terrier won the dog show which Pam thought was quite right and I heard on the radio that it is going to be mated to a good border bitch up here but I will not tell Pam.

I thought that I would have a look at the poultry as I am thinking I may get some chickens once I have made a proper run but it was a bit disappointing. there were a few nice birds, mainly bantams but it was surprising how many moulting birds were in the show. Maybe there will be a better turn out at the county show on Saturday.

WE left the show and stopped at the Waterside in Finstown for a late lunch. We were greeted like old friends and given a card that now allows us a 10% discount as regular customers. VG TICK.

Back home until 10:15 PM when we left to pick up Peter from the ferry at Hatston and back home with Pam driving so we took the scenic route in the dark.
We sat round chatting until about 1:30 then looked outside to see if the huge, spectacular meteor shower would be any good. We saw one very brief flash, hardly worth going out for. And so to bed.

Graemsay Trip

We both joined the U3A last week, as much for the social side as for anything else. They have many groups which will probably be of interest such as archeology, botany etc. There was a U3A bird watching group having a trip to Graemsay today so I decided to go (another tick for my island list).

This is the MV Graemsay which took us over. I have seen films of this boat going over in rough weather and it made me have doubts about the sanity of the skipper but fortunately the day was calm.


Looking back to the Orkney mainland the view of Stromness is good. I have always prefered Stromness to Kirkwall but am told that it is no good because it does not have many shops. I thought that a lack of uneccessary shops was one of its virtues but then I am male and do not need a new pair of jeans every few days.


It was a really good walk of about 6 miles around the coast of Graemsay. There was no noticable bird watching but it was a pleasant stroll and chat, very social.
It was very informative in one respect. One of the ladies in the group happened to mention that her husband had a model railway and that there was an Orkney railway modelling club which would be at the vintage rally in the auction mart on Sunday so it was a really useful walk, if not very bird oriented.



There are two lighthouses on Graemsay. For some reason they are called Hoy High and Hoy Low lighthouses although they are not on Hoy.
Guess which one is Hoy High and which is Hoy Low.

We stopped by the side of Hoy Low to eat our butties and have a general natter.



I was impressed by the community hall where we were told they have famous parties where people from as far away as Hoy and Stromness come to enjoy themselves.




I noticed that, though the community hall was still in good order, the old kirk was unfortunately starting to deteriorate. A small part of the corner of the roof had come off and many windows were smashed. Maybe it is an indication of priorities.

Although Graemsay is a very pretty island, you cannot ignore Hoy as Ward Hill and the rest of North Hoy tower, dark and threatening just across a narrow strip of treacherous sea. (I made a mental note not to go for a walk on North Hoy unless I was feeling suicidal).



The promised rain held off until after we had boarded the ferry and were returning to Stromness and most of the day was pleasant and warm, a shade to warm at times.
As I dropped Barbara, one of the group, back to her house just across the other side of barrier on South Ronaldsay, we saw a short eared owl hunting across the fields by our side so the day was not totally birdless.

I got home about 6PM, a good day.
Pam whinged (again).
Pam has been told to start her own blog possibly called "Whinges from between the barriers".

I got behind again but never mind.

Sunday 8th August
A do nothing day. Unpacked a few more boxes of stuff but my shed is still full of rubbish (Pams stuff). On the bright side, Duncan the builder, who is the font of all knowledge, says that I can extend my shed by 30 square metres without planning permission. I think that I may check this first just to make sure it is not just another Orcadian tradition of making up their own rules and only telling officialdom what they think it should know.

Monday 9th August
The builders were supposed to start on preparing the footings for the extension today but didn't. Pam phoned Duncan and he checked witht the builders and they will be here Thursday but that is probably Thursday Orkney time not real time.

I got a phone call from Harral boat brokerage to say that the boat is sold. This means that if Duncan is right about the 30 square metres then I can afford to get my shed extended.

I noticed a man from the water company looking for the next door farms water meter with a metal detector so I got him to see if he could find the stopcock for our house. He spent a good amount of time looking and even went to the bottom of the road to see if a separate supply came off from there but no joy so I will have to get them to send somebody out to find it if there is one or to get one fitted.
It seems to be probable that there is no separate supply and that the farm has been paying for our water ever since they started metering it. That could cause fun if we find it to be true. We are not on metered water but the farm is, so I expect that he will be claiming back years of overpayment.


Tuesday 10th August
Nothing much again. Tidied up and got the spare bedroom ready for Peter when he comes up on Thursday. Went to Kirkwall to pick up some probablyhorrendously expensive curtain poles.

I finally managed to find out where the ducks have been getting out of their pen. They have been spending most of their time across the road eating all their chicken food so I thought that I had better stop them.
It has taken a while but I have finally managed to contain them.
You see, there is no way that my superior brain can be outwitted by ducks, not even four ducks acting as a team.
I may have it printed as a family motto (MORE INTELLIGENT THAN FOUR DUCKS)

Babs says that this should be latin so the nearest that I can find is below.

MAGIS INTELLIGO QUAM QUATTUOR ANATES

All you classical scholars may feel free to correct this.

Swona Trip

Saturday 7th August
After Babs et al left,I packed up my butty bag for the trip to Swona for ringing fulmar chicks, not that I can ring as you need a licence but I think that I was invited as bait so that the chicks would have somebody to spit their evil smelling fulmar oil at.

I got picked up by the others at the village shop in Burray. I had driven down to the shop and left the car there. I had a minutes thought about whether it would be safer to lock the car and risk the keys falling out of my pocket when I was scrambling over some rocks. I then shoved the keys under the dashboard for security, left the car unlocked and departed for the day.

We went down to Burwick to board the boat. I had previously seen the seas around Swona when passing on The Pentalina and was a bit relieved to see that the boat we were going on was an ex lifeboat, The Pentlandsker.



Unfortunately the boat could not get close in at Swona as there is only one landing place and it is a narrow inlet surrounded by rocks. We therefore had to be ferried ashore in a rubber dingy but at least we were all issued with life jackets although by the time some had figured out how to fasten them we were ashore.



Apparently Swona used to have a population of about 75 and some of the houses are quite imposing but the last people left in 1974 and it has not been used for anything since then as it is to difficult to get on or off. It is now an SSSI.


There had obviously been people here for a long time before that though.


There is a herd of feral cattle which I believe have now been designated as a separate breed because they have been isolated for so long. There are only 10 or 12 cattle and about half of them are bulls. To my mind somebody should cull out some of the bulls. The herd would then be better placed as the island will not support more than about 15 cattle through a bad winter.


Swona is surprisingly large, especially when scrambling around cliff tops all the way round the edge of the island.

We managed to get a great number of fulmar chicks ringed missing only a few that we could not get to. The chicks are unceremoniously pulled from their nests on the cliffs using a long pole with a bent coathanger on the end, firmly held in an attempt to stop them spitting, ringed and then returned the same way as they were taken out.




We also managed to find a few Black Guillimot chicks. These are called Tysties up here and nest under large rocks so they are difficult to see, probably a good idea when there are so many Black backed gulls around, not to mention the Bonxies (Great Skuas).

I was checking some stone walls for fulmar chicks and was getting attacked quite closely by a pair of Bonxies (Thet are really large and unattractive thugs), so I had a look to see if I couls find the chick and nearly stood on it before I saw it. It was probably not far from fledging. It made a nice change from fulmars for the ringers..
All in all the ringing went very easily with nobody falling off a cliff or getting otherwise injured. The only iffy bit was when the group leader managed to drop his glasses in their case down a cliff and they stuck on a ledge. Dave Wakefield tried to retrieve them but there was no safe way down so he tried to get up from the bottom unsucessfully. I went down to try to help him up and by cupping his feet first and then directing him to ledges he managed to retrieve the glasses. On the way to help him I managed to slip on some wet rocks at the bottom of the cliff which was on a little inlet and get my boots full of water so spent the next couple of hours with soaking boots and socks.

I did however manage to get through the day with just a little fulmar vomit on my hands and none on my clothes. The boat picked us up about 4:30PM.


Back home about 6PM, Knackered but a good day.