Thanks Goldfinch, for confirming Waynes ID on the thrift.. shetland is all covered with it, its so colourful..

Wayne.. I used to own two boats, but not any more, so any mackeral I get would be out of the fishshop.. PS.. I love eating mackeral...

Hi George
dont you go spinning with feathers of the rocks like the cornish folk for mackeral, usually 2 hours before and 2 hours after high tide. i thought you might have some nice bass beaches up there, but aren't the bass up north earlier in the year and return further south to spawn and then return late autumn.

Wayne.
As far as I know, we don't get Bass in shetland waters, at least, i've never even seen Bass at the fish market in lerwick, just cod haddock ling tusk monkfish and mackeral.. We do get sharks around the island, I think its portbeagle [excuse spelling] my neighbour across the street from me, catches them sometimes when out in his fishing boat..

A visit to heaven..

Well today, one of my sons wanted to take me out in his new car, well nearly new.

He got it last night, its one of those posers cars, you know what I mean.. its a 250bhp things goes to 0 to 60 in 4.7 secs. top speed limited to 155mph, why they make them so fast, I don't know.. mine only does 125mph.. not that I break the speed limit mmm.

So, Ian asked me where I would like him to take me to.. I replied heaven.. Ian said.. your to young to go there Dad, your only seventy,[ me..] less o the lip sonny boy, i'm only 69, seventy in september..

So I told him, heaven was a special place called Sandwick on the west side o the island. it really is a very beautiful spot, you can only drive on the one road, 7 miles of twisting single track, with passing points.. I got Ian to stop at various points, so I could take some photos of some wild plants, and of course, birds, and a couple of old houses..

His new car..

Subaru WRX..






Wild Iris



lilly





Thistle





Continued..

At Sandwick..

Old house [looked really nice]



This house, I think, is a renovated croft.. its in a really sheltered hamlet..



looks like wild iris.



Junenile Black headed gull



Meadow pipit



A wee bonus was the common Cross bill. I had heard that there was an influx of these birds in shetland, so I was glad to get these photos, unfortunatly they were up in the power lines, so were backlit, lightened and over sharpened in photoshop..





Hope you enjoy looking at them..

I was out birding today, I did'nt see an awful lot..

So I took some photos of wild plants, then I was going along a single track road, and noticed a snipe sitting on a fence post, took aim with my 170x300mm lens and all I got was a terrible whirring noise, it sounded expensive.. I'll take it to the camera shop in lerwick on monday... So I changed lens, and put on my 170x500mm.. then I spotted a wheatear, took a few shots of it, then I spotted another wee bird, I think its a juvenile meadow pipit, but not sure..

Then I headed off to see if I could spot some otters, I did, I managed to fit the whole family in one of the photos.. four of them.. they had just left their holt and swam right past me.. then they started diving and bringing up fish to eat.. then they came ashore.. quite far away from me.. I watched them through my binoculars scampering about the rocks, then they all went back into the sea...

While I was there, an arctic tern landed on the rocks right in front of me...

Part two..

Birds and otters..

Wheatear..



Meadow pipit. [ I think ]



Tern [Arctic]





Otters.. complete family..





Lunch..

Good set of various photos there George - good stuff again me ole mate.

Yogi.

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gill

hi george
you never disappoint with your snaps and most are with animals i've only ever seen on brief occasions, well done, hope that whiring noise is not to expensive. like the close ups of the thistles surprising how things look different close up and think your first flower is a bog asphodel, lovely flower of bogs and moors.

I took two of my grandaughters out on one of my forays to the cliffs at eshaness, they opted to stay in the car as the cliffs are quite high, but warned me to stay away from the edge..

Beautiful pics George. Last time I saw water the colour of your final pic was Merlin's Cove near Tintagel in 1972.

Gill

p.s. Just caught sight of yout shag mugshots while scrolling through. He doesn't half look cross! Love it.

Simply stunning as ever George-the second off last thistle pic,it looks like its wearing a purple crown. And a whole otter family-i would be thrilled to see just one let alone 4!!

Thanks for yet more beautiful insights into your area. Fraid i would have been staying in the car at eshaness too lol.

Tass

Hi George
nice to see some more of your shots as we not seen any for a while, my god you got some high cliffs up there. keep the photo's coming me ole mate

p.s not surprised the grandkids didn't fancy viewing the cliffs the photo's frighten the bajassers out of me

Yesterday i took my grandaughter out in my car to a place she had'nt seen yet.. the day was really nice, but it was very windy..

Muckle Roe

A small circular red granite island in the Shetland Group of the Northern Isles, situated to the west of the Mainland island of Shetland. The root of a 350 million-year-old volcano, it is linked to the Shetland Mainland by a road bridge. The island, which extends over an area of 1773 ha (4381 acres), is noted for its abundant plant life and its magnificent cliff scenery in the northwest, particularly at Hams. There are crofts in the east and south east, the rest of the island comprising lochan-studded moorland.

Beautiful photos and a beautiful place, George. I'll bet your grandaughter loved it.

Gill