(Joseph)
Well, the weather today couldn’t have been more different than the last few days. It’s been warm, bright, sunny and generally glorious. We decided to take a trip to Unst with two objectives:
1) to record a colony of nesting birds
2) for Kay to document various species, including frog orchids, at the Keen of Hamar, a Scottish Natural Heritage National Nature Reserve… (there’s a mouthful!)
The Keen of Hamar was exceptionally quiet, but I did manage to capture what I thought was a gannet flying close overhead, checking me out…
And after driving to Hermaness National Nature Reserve and a two hour hike to get to the cliffs at the northernmost tip of the UK, we finally came across a large colony of gannets and other species nesting on a rock just off the headland; so I stood on the cliffs above and recorded the “thrum”. It sounded more machine-like than organic, the phasing of the multiple noises blurring into what sounded like a huge, single bird machine.
We did try and go to the Shetland Reel music festival for a few hours at Haroldswick, but anxieties about booking a ferry home (or rather not having pre-booked and possibly being stuck on Unst for the night) meant we rushed off after a late lunch to get the ferries home, in time to enjoy a quick pint at the Pierhead in Voe.
