Oystercatchers

Another foray to Birsay. I started, as usual at the Hide by The Loons and walked to Marwick, then up to the cliff top. A peregrine floated high above in the blue sky. I got my first puffin off the season and walked on until I passed through the village at the Palace and on to the Brough of Birsay. Here I managed to see what I was really after- a ring ouzel, which is a sort of highland blackbird. Not a great view, but the first I've had of this species on Orkney. A previous encounter was of several whistling and flitting around the rock formations at The Quiraing on Skye, where I slept one summer's night and had very strange dreams.
More here.