A fine sunny day, with a definite hint of Spring in the air, and we went for a gentle stroll to the Covenanter’s Memorial, Deerness.
We’ve been there before
but there’s always something different to notice even on the most familiar walks.
A large flock of Geese were ‘put up’ from a nearby field
It was hard to tell what they were by sight, but we could distinguish the harsh honking of Greylags, and some ‘wittering’ from the Pink-footed Geese.
Arriving at the Memorial
and looking about us, a 180 degree panorama presented a string of islands – Shapinsay, Eday, Stronsay, and Auskerry.
When we’re out an about in the East Mainland, it always takes us a moment to work out which islands, or bits of the Mainland, we’re seeing as it’s a very different perspective to what we’re used to from our more familiar stomping grounds in the West Mainland.
I didn’t attempt a photo, far too wide-angle for our cameras!
Mike, however, wrote a little ditty….
From an unaccustomed angle
Isles are hard to disentangle
In your mind.
_______________
Are those cliffs across the Bay
Or a view of Shapinsay
From behind?
McB Feb ‘25
We walked along the cliff-top path for a short way, noticing an appealing little pool in a hollow, with a cliff-scape reaching down along the coast
Looking the other way, more cliffs and an intriguing dip in the land
We wondered if it might be a Gloup, but it isn’t marked as such on the OS map.
Walking back the way we came, we noticed a neat little clump of lichen in the bank by the path
And one of the, by now ubiquitous, Stoat traps
and thought, once again, of how the ‘Stoat People’ need to balance in some precarious places to place their traps…
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=16248
Standing there on that stretch of cliff-top path was utterly peaceful – just the sound of the sea gently lapping, and the birds. Did us a world of good.
And so, to the Dashing Deer for lunch, which was scrumptious, as always!
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=17146
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