Orkney Tales 3 – A walk with Tim Dean

Monday July 4  – A walk with Tim Dean

Our friends Richard and Fiona Campbell came over from the mainland, for a two-day break with us from their busy Scourie Hotel http://www.scouriehotel.com. We scooped them up from the ferry terminal at Stromness and headed back to the cottage.

That evening we all enjoyed a wonderful four-hour magical botanical, and ornithological romp with naturalist and writer Tim Dean. He took us cross the cliff tops at Yesnaby. On our hands and knees we saw the Scottish primrose (primula scotica), which is only found in Orkney, and Sutherland and Caithness on the mainland.

The cliff tops were just loosing their haze of sea pink or thrift, although we still enjoyed them and the sea campion, bird’s foot trefoil, eye bright, wild thyme, and ox-eye daisies. Tim pointed out all these lovely flowers and other species. Overhead around cliff top birds, Arctic Terns, and Great Skuas Fulmars, Greater Black Back gulls, Puffins.  Birds were soaring and screeching to a halt landing in their nests on the cliff face.

And the time we said our good byes’ to Tim, just after 10pm, it was still broad daylight!