Windy day

The highest wind speed today the 29/01 has been 94mph with the average hovering about 55mph , so it is an indoor day. The children are off school so I am catching up on my blog. So i have been focusing all my attention on one area which is slowly paying off , i an getting to know the animals and more importantly the animals are getting accustomed to me. This is important as they will let me get closer if they trust me.

This female otter is becoming really confiding and i have found out from locals she has been in the area for a couple years , my hope is she stays around.

Along the same beach i found a Red Throated Diver which are common in summer but not winter. It must be good fishing in the bay as there were around 6 grey seals feeding as well . While I was with the otter a male also visited but only hung around for half an hour , possibly an old cub or the love interest of the female otter i have been following , i will keep you updated as i find out. 

more aurora

Was such a different sight this time round , still as amazing and the moon was really bright so i could get some more foreground into the shot. i decided to go to one of our favourite beaches , Whitemill bay . The contrast of the white sand is quite nice i think.

Whale of a day

A couple of weeks a go i had the pleasure to be asked to go and take samples of a whale that had washed up on a nearby island . It sounds weird to say pleasure however this whale was huge, 42ft 8 inch of Fin Whale and i was in awe , the whale was believed to be 2/3 yrs old which is still a baby it cold be twice this size when adult. The samples taken will hopefully help to understand why these whales are washed up.
A couple photos of the whale......

Otterific

So although i had loads of posts to post before this i have to share , yesterday i spent 40 mins with a sleeping otter but a couple of meters away. Just to be so close and have it so relaxed was amazing .

Fulmar love

The Fulmar
I will be writing more and more about these fascinating birds as for some reason i can not get them off my mind. They are a tubed nose seabird which means they have a tube like nostril above the top part of the beak which is to secrete saline or salt from their body. They look very similar to gulls but they have stiff wings and they glide effortlessly along the waves.

Aurora Borealis

The Northern Lights gave us a huge thrill in the closing hours of new years eve, for about an hour and a half for the first time ever i got to see what all the fuss is about !!!!!!!!1

new year

So the move up here went smoothly and the house i have transformed from a pink and purple disaster to a more neutral down to earth relaxing environment , my three boys are very happy they dont have a pink room. I have not wasted much time in exploring the island and getting photos and within the first couple of days i had found a reliable short eared owl site ....

I have found two or three regular sites now and hope to improve the images over time. There have certainly been some high winds of late with the storms passing quickly by. We have had the odd power cut but its not been for very long so thanks to the guys at scottish power. I am falling in love with the Fulmar and i could watch them all day everyday as they glide about with such enthusiasm.

 i will be back in a couple days to tell you about the aurora borealis and new yeas eve!!!

Broadband At Last

Only took a few months for BT to finally drag themselves to the Isle of Sanday but they made it!
Just a quick post to show you the new house ...........