LATEST IMAGES - ORKNEY3
After our average week on Westray Island during our trip to the Orkneys, we spent a week on the south of West Mainland. Wildlife was again a bit sparse but the accommodation was much better and we were close to the main archeological sites of Orkney. We had our only close encounter with a Short-eared Owl which thankfully stayed on a post for quite a few minutes. We were surprised as we thought we would see many Owls, we did see a few others but none close enough to photograph. Yesnaby, on the west coast was a very scenic and popular place with high sea cliffs and a number of Sea Stacks. It also boasted a good population of Scottish Primroses with the areas they occur marked on a display board. The Scottish Primrose is only found in a small number if places on the Orkneys and on the North tip of the Scottish Mainland. It is unusual as it has two flowering periods, one at the end of May and one in July. At Yesnaby we found plenty of plants but only one in flower which we were told by a local was very unusual. The other interesting feature of the plant is that it is extremely small with the flower being at the most 2 inches high. The images below are from Yesnaby and a couple of other sites we found.
SHORT EARED OWL
YESNABY SEA STACK AT SUNSET
SCOTTISH PRIMROSE
SCOTTISH PRIMROSE1
SCOTTISH PRIMROSE2
SCOTTISH PRIMROSE3
SCOTTISH PRIMROSE4