' I'm talking to you !'

These two puffins were totally ignoring the fulmar that was squawking in their ears. After a quick shout they all settle down together.

We took the ferry from Tingwall to the island of Rousay off Orkney Mainland. We met Paddy who gave us a wonderful tour of the island in his minibus. It was just a small group of us, two Swiss and two Germans.

Paddy was full of useful and funny info which we would nt have got if we had taken the car over.

We stopped on a great secluded beach for lunch. We had Westray crab sandwiches, Orkney cheeses with oatcakes and fruit and a very welcome cup of tea.
The seals had hauled out on the rocks and gannets and black and artic terns were fishing in the sea.

Later we walked across a field of orchids to a cliff spot where we saw these puffin, fulmars, cormorants and Bonxie.
We also saw an eagle, female hen harrier and baby golden plovers.

We stopped at the sculpture by Iain Hamilton Finlay. It was put up for the millennium. A huge piece of Portland stone brought up all the way from Dorset. Rousay is made up of redstone so it was suggested that a new stone would be introduced to the area. The stone lays flat in contrast to other stones of Orkney.

Midhowe cairn was amazing to see, an Orkney-Cromarty type of chambered cairn.The nearby Broch was equally impressive. Well worth a visit. I will pop some pictures on Flickr when I have a moment free :)