Looking towards Muckle Flugga from Hermaness

Rain early and we set off a little later than initially planned.  By the time we reached the top of the cliffs the cloud was beginning to break up and the sun appear.  So we had a beautiful late morning and afternoon on the Hermaness cliffs.

It was determined not to be my day.  I hadn’t slept well and woke at 1.30am feeling a little unwell.  I then ran out of energy (both me and the camera)  and my camera and battery grip weren’t connecting properly (though having now downloaded a huge quantity of images from the day I understand why the batteries ran out - I really must have been out of it!)  Finally my binoculars refused to focus, so I need to have them repaired.  I was photographing the Bonxies (Great Skuas) as we went up the hill, several of which were enjoying a bath in the numerous pools and then we encountered a puffin, so all in all too many images taken and a big sorting out job to do now.  Having finally managed to get my camera working again I photographed some of the flowers on the way down and rather wish that I’d set off earlier and spent a bit more time concentrating on the edges of the boardwalk.

Extra (will be):  white Common spotted orchids and blue - I haven’t been able to identify the blue flowered plant so far.  Many thanks to Fiona MacFarlane who has identified it as Polygala serpyllifolia, Heath Milkwort on FB - Wild Flowers of Europe.