Orkney, also known as the Orkney Islands, had been on my list of places to travel to for a long time. The islands are quite a trek from Edinburgh and beyond the most northerly point of Scotland. A friend and I wrote up an itinerary, did all the bookings and packed all our art gear to head up. I am not the best at travelling light and with sketchbooks, paints, pencils and a second hand telescope and tripod, needless to say the car was stacked high with stuff. We both guffawed when we saw how much the other had brought.

On 8 May 2022, deciding not to do the trip up in a one day, we made a pitstop at Iain Burnett’s Highland Chocolatier and then headed to the same lovely cottage at Nethy Bridge I wrote about in my last journal post (yes it has been that long since I have written here!). The sun was shining as we arrived and we spotted a deer sprinting off just as we came to the gate. After getting some provisions and going for a walk around the River Nethy, I did a bit of drawing of the daffodils while the birds flitted to and from the bird feeder.

Next day we set out and broke our travel at The River Bothy at Berriedale, where there was a huge choice of delicious treats on offer. The pavlova looked so unbelievably good! After our excellent repast, we took to the road to Scrabster to catch the ferry to Stromness. We had some silly chat and were laughing so hard we had tears in our eyes while driving along the stunning coastline. By the time we settled on the ferry, the rain was beginning to set in so that the Old Man of Hoy was pretty grey and misty when the ferry sailed past. Post landing in Stromness, we drove straight to Kirkwall and had a very quick jaunt there until catching the Westray ferry. By this time the weather had cleared a bit and we sat out looking at the passing islands and birds bobbing on the waves.

More sun was breaking through as we got to Pierowall, the main village of Westray. After having a brief walk about we had dinner at the Pierowall Hotel and asked the locals about the sights and where and when best to see the puffins. Looking out the window of the hotel’s restaurant, a beautiful sunset was breaking and we headed to find Noup Head, where the island’s lighthouse was. Unfortunately by the time we got there and due to travelling along a gravelly farm path, we just missed the best of the sunset. My friend was gutted and I felt pretty bad we had missed it, but at least I managed to get a shot of the sunset as it faded away.

On the following day, 10 May, we got up early to seek out the puffins at Castle O’Burrian. Bear in mind it takes about 20 minutes to travel from one end of the island to another, and you can pretty much see the sea from both sides when driving on the main road. I confess when researching the puffins on Westray before our trip, I kept looking for pictures of a traditional stone castle, perplexed that I couldn’t find any. It became clear when we finally found the puffins that the castle was a bulky sea stack that was their home (haha obviously I didn’t research hard enough!). We travelled towards the Rapness Cliffs and found a simple but effective sign painted with puffins and an arrow pointing the way. Once parked we explored what looked to be an old mill with a large water wheel, that I have since found out is Rapness Mill, which used to ground beremeal and oatmeal. Just past this was a cliff edge path dotted with the beginnings of machair flowers, including Scottish primrose, sea pinks/thrift and both white and red sea campion (machair habitats are pretty special and only occur on the exposed west facing coasts of Scotland and Ireland). There were fulmars nesting on the cliffs, surrounded by this beautiful sea campion. For some reason seeing them in this halo of flowers, reminded me of The Madonna on the Rocks painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, maybe because it was the blues and the sea and the overarching rocks with foliage. Captivated by the beauty I gazed a while.

I set up my telescope for the first time and watched the fulmars preening themselves. I did some quick gestural drawings in pencil and realised pretty quickly that using graphite pencil to capture quick movement was not going to be the best method for me as I instantly started to try to get more detailed, when there was no time for detail.

I painted a couple of watercolours when I returned to Edinburgh of one particular fulmar nesting. Here is the smaller size version.

Fulmars, Westray

Puffins, Westray

Nethy Bridge, Scotland