Spring?

Still snow on the neighbouring island of Hoy!  Only on the hills though.  Otherwise weather is just grey and cool, but at least no wind for now. 

However the days are getting longer - sunrise at 6.18am and sunset at 6.23 pm.  Soon the clocks change for British Summer time too so it will be lighter even later!

I'm longing to move back into the conservatory (my sitting room for the summer) but as the weather is kind of cool at the moment I'm delaying the move.  Heating oil was 62p a litre last time I checked so I don't want to waste fuel heating the space when the sitting room in the main house is perfectly adequate.  But I so love the view from the conservatory - so for now it's pulling on another sweater to sit out there for a while!

The birds seem to have found their voice again - last night the air is filled with the sound of oyster-catchers and lapwings.  I just LOVE this time of year!

Below is Ward Hill on the island of Hoy with the fluffy willow buds in the foreground. Above the snow covered hills on Hoy and the green island of Graemsay in the foreground!

Apparently.....

...... I missed a magnificant display of the "Merry Dancers" (Northern Lights) on Friday.  I did see someone had posted some photos on Facebook but by the time I looked out they had faded.  Also the light pollution from Stromness tends to spoil the displays.  Anyway please do look at what I missed on Fiona's (who lives on the Orkney Mainland away from light pollution) blog........

Reminder of winter....

Today Spring has returned, but last week I went back into hibernation as we had strong gale force winds, sleet, rain, snow and it was really cold!  But today there is some blue in the sky, temperatures have risen and there is NO WIND! 

Spring is a busy time of the year for the crofters and farmers on the island with lambing due to start in a couple of weeks for most people.  Lambing is much later in Orkney/Scotland than down in the South of England because of the climate.  Although some people in Orkney will lamb in sheds earlier than lambing in the fields.

The cows are beginning to calve now too.  Most of the cattle are still overwintering in the byres, but as they calve are often released into the fields.  I love seeing the fields become populated with the lambs and calves. It's just like watching kids playing! 

Tonight we have our island community association AGM were we look at setting dates for events throughout the year.  A few things in the pipeline for Spring with a couple of course planned, one on Archaeology (not much discovered on Graemsay but will be interesting to hear some history) and one on photography.

Anyway I'll leave you with some pictures of the weather this last week!

At the top of the page is the approaching weather, below, it's arrived!

 The hoy Hills glowed in the dark!

But the snow didn't settle on Graemsay, just on the neighbouring island of Hoy and the Orkney Mainland! It looked quite odd - the hens and button enjoying a respite of warm sun one afternoon.

Fencing Part 2...

The "hole making" machine went back last week and this week the bit of equipment that bangs in the posts arrived (you can tell I've got to grips with the technicalities of this....not!). Everything has to come out on the ferry and be lifted on and off by crane, so it's a case of fitting everything into ferry schedules and availability of the equipment.  This latest machine just whacked the wooden fence posts into the ground in a matter of seconds.  Quite impressive.  The strainer-posts still have to be bedded into the holes dug last week, but the post-whacker was available this week so the wooden posts were put in line first and then it will be back to the strainer posts. Once the strainers are up it's time for the "stock-proof fencing" and then a gate.  I hasten to add I don't do any of this work - just take the photos and provide tea on request!

New Fencing.....

I own a few acres behind the house leading down to the shore. The fence is old, rusted wire and no longer stock-proof so this year's project is to get it renewed.  The land is used for summer grazing by a neighbouring farmer and I love having the cows and calves in there in the summer. However cows are born Houdini so the fence needs to be secure.

So above is a photo of the magic drilling machine which drills down into the ground for the post holes.  Saves hours of back-breaking work digging (um no it wouldn't have been me doing it anyway!!). You can probably just see that the new fencing posts are being brought in a little further than the old fence - this is due to coastal erosion. It's over 20 years since the field was last fenced but slowly the land disappears - I'm hoping this new fence lasts 30 years or so. I'll be past caring by then!

Below is a photo of..... a hole!  I was hopeful of treasure but none came to light. The holes are covered with flags at the moment until the next phase of work begins.

Hjatland ferry

This ferry usually plies it's trade between Aberdeen, Kirkwall in Orkney, and Lerwick in Shetland. However at the moment it is standing in for the Hamnavoe which usually sails from Stromness to Scrabster in the North of Scotland. The Hamnavoe is having a "refit" which is usually carried out in a ship-yard down the coast in Scotland. However this year it is being undertaken at it's berth in Stromness and the Hjatland is running the trip instead.

As you can see the Hjatland is a large ship. Interestingly when this vessel was brought into service the shipping company said it would not be able to berth in Stromness because the harbour wasn't deep enough. Instead the local authority constructed a new harbour area near the town of Kirkwall.  But surprise surprise once the ships were in service it found it could quite comfortably berth in Stromness!

It's a shame for Stromness as in the summer months the previous vessels would stop in Stromness on their way to Shetland or Aberdeen and on a Friday night the passengers would get off and go for a bite to eat at a local hostelry, and piped bands would play in the streets and the shops would stay open for late night customers.  It was quite a party atmosphere and a huge disapointment to the small town of Stromness when this ceased to happen.  Ah well they say it's "progress".....

I promise this photo is an optical illusion and NOT the Hjatland about to crash into the Hamnavoe! But it just shows the size of these vessels compared to the wee houses in the town!

Ness of Brodgar Archeology Award

I've written about the Ness of Brodgar dig (on the Orkney Mainland) several times here (in 2009 and 2010).  Well on Saturday the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA) received an award at the British Museum as the Ness of Brodgar project was named "Research Project of the Year 2011"! The dig will be starting up again in the summer and it will be exciting to see what new finds emerge.

More info on archaeological digs in Orkney can be found here