Go West

I confess my heart is tied to the West Mainland, the result of times past and, more recently, because my mother's ashes were scattered close by here. The blip is from the Brough of Birsay looking down over the Viking settlement through a carpet of soft blue sea squill to Northside and Palace. We saw a handful of puffins on the Brough, along with other seabirds. To be honest, I was happy just sitting on the soft turf enjoying the sunshine and pretty chilly breeze; genuine Orcadian summer weather so evocative of holidays at Palace when I was young (and deluded) enough to believe it was a sunbathing opportunity. I get goosepimples just thinking about it!

We travelled back in a very leisurely fashion via the Loons birdhide (views of a very smart tufted duck diving underwater - we could see his sinuous body and legs paddling) and Yesnaby (extra of LH and Poppydog).

Home to nearly finish planting the weeny garden. Everything is drying out so readily in the winds; I think I might return in September to a tragedy of shrivelled leaves but unfortunately preparing the ground has taken so much longer than anticipated that I won't have time to give the plants the tlc they need ...