Around Graemsay.....

A few pix from around Graemsay last week...... above looking over to Stromness with the MV Hamnavoe ferry in the harbour.

A slightly more distant picture with one of the old ruined crofts in the foreground.

And a bit closer....

And closer still!  This makes the ruin look as though it's part of Stromness!

The old quarry.  A lot of the stone from here went to build some of the crofts and other buildings around the island.  Now it's home to lots of aquatic insects, and the beautiful damselflies. It's also a feeding ground for many birds. Ah the cycle of life....  And of course local dogs love to swim in it!

Lots of wild flowers at the quarry. I love the smell of this wild thyme.

And the heather is looking glorious this summer...

Looking over to the old school, and the former schoolhouse.  The schoolhouse is a family home now.  The old school uninhabited....

Looking over to the Hoy hills across fields of bog cotton to the croft of Dean.

Closer look at Dean

Meanwhile back down at Sandside and the coral beach....

Good old Scottish thistles!

The old "Lighthouse" pier..... looking to the mouth of Scapa Flow.

The old sail shed where equipment, sails etc for the farm boats would have been kept.

Looking over to Stromness.... the tide is well out!

The sandy beach at Sandside!

And a calm night.....

Of Rings and things.....

....the stone kind of rings.....  Earlier this month I had a chance to wander around the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness.  Amazingly I managed to do it in between tour buses! Both are very popular for tourists, and locals alike so I treasure the times I'm there almost on my own.  So here are a few pictures.

First - the Ring of Brodgar - the circle is about 104 metres in diameter and the stones vary in height from 7 to 15 feet.  The circle dates from about 2500 and 2000BC.  Only some of the stones remain but it is still very much a circle.  Unfortunately due to the popularity of the site by tour buses/cruise liner buses, as well as others the path around the circle is in a poor state.  So Historic Scotland who manage the site have roped it off to give the path time to recover.  This means you can only walk round the outside of the circle, but it's still a lovely atmospheric walk! And the heather is out to add to the beauty....

A stone with a very human profile....

And the Ring now sits amid a fertile farming landscape.

While the Stones of Stenness now has fewer stones visible, the original diameter was only about 44 metres.

Hmm I realise without people in it's hard to gauge the size of these.  I *think* they are bigger than the Ring of Brodgar, or at least not smaller!

Er, except this one - which has been damaged. Note the buildings in the background - this is the site of the Ness of Brodgar Dig.  There have been TV programmes, lectures and magazine articles about this amazing site. This web site has lots of info about the excavations.  I'm hoping to visit soon.

Hoy Hills sit in the background.....

Here are some schematics of the Stones of Stenness and how they fit into the landscape with the Ring of Brodgar and the Ness of Brodgar dig. (Click on image to see bigger and hopefully read!).

Sandside beach

Well one of them!  This is the sandy beach that makes up Sandside Bay.  It looks bigger than it is, or so many folk tell me.  But it's a lovely sandy beach and the island kids have great fun in the dunes. It can be a bit tricky to get down onto if you are less agile.  I sometimes slide down the dunes and scramble back up.  Or there is a track at the end used by tractors, but it is quite steep.  The birds love it.  Waders, ducks, Great Northern Divers etc.

When I first moved here there were seals basking on the sand for much of May.  But they seem to have moved on. Often around the shore but not on the sand.  These were grey seals which are known to move about so hopefully not a decline in their numbers, unlike the common grey seal (harbour seal) which is really struggling in numbers. I went to a fascinating talk organised by the Orkney Field Club where an Italian scientist told us about her 5 year project looking at the common (harbour) seals to try and determine causes for their decline.

Anyway, back to sandy shores (um...anyone remember Sandy Shaw, the bare foot singer of the sixties?).

It looks positively tropical!  Not *quite* as warm as it looks but still very warm for Orkney! Up to 23 degrees C some days.

Looking towards Quoys and Garson

The garden is in full bloom and generally recovered from the June stormy winds.  Though some plants decided to grow horizontally rather than try standing up again!

Especially the poppies....

I'm having some interior work done to a couple of rooms in the house so things are in disarray and Button and I are now sleeping in the upstairs "spare room" for a few weeks.  We have a different view.....

As long as Button's blanket is on the bed she is happy to sleep anywhere....

Though she tends to go outdoors when the noise is at the loudest!  Can you spot her? Hee hee not exactly a camouflaged cat!

And I think this might be a Button equivalent of a face-palm..... or maybe weeping at the reduction in sleeping time due to disruption.....

And a random photo of hens.... two-storey nesting... and NOT in any of the multitude of nest boxes provided either.  Rolls eyes.....

More Graemsay sunshine in July

The nights actually get dark now, but still the sun shines and the days are long. Blue skies and aquamarine blue seas....

The swallows have been busy all summer raising broods.  They flit around the skies, particularly in the evening when the insects are about.  Here are two of their rather precarious nests in one of the old buildings near the house

Fortunately this light fitting is NOT connected to electricity!

Temperatures at the front of the house, where the stone soaks up the heat have risen to 30 degrees C at times!!  Too hot for me to work in the garden that's for sure!

And my haul of "groatie buckies" (small cowrie shells) is growing slowly....

Button, of course, like any cat, loves the heat and sunbathes on the garden benches.  I, of course, rarely have time to sit on them!  Though I do take my tea breaks on a bench in the garden!

And I think she might be down to 8 lives after sitting under a neighbouring farmer's tractor wheel!!

She's always had a fascination for tractors!

Though we both gave this chap a wide berth.  A Welsh Black ram. Handsome fellow who was set to graze some of the long grass by the old buildings.  As you can see in the photos we still have green grass, unlike much of the rest of the UK.  However even in Orkney the lack of rain is causing a problem with thinner, shorter crops.

The occasional day of sea mist or night showers helps keep the grass green in the garden...

And the flowers seem to mostly be doing OK.

Folk often ask what drew me to the house, despite it being nearly derelict..... um... the views...

I wake up to this....

And watch summer sunsets....

And there's a lighthouse - erm you need to look past Madam Button, posing on a pedestal of course!

And this beach is right on my doorstep.....

So I think that answers the question.....hee hee!