The DVD cover for the first series of the BBC series, Luther, depicting Idris Elba as the title character.
So, onto Luther! An instant antidote to The Killing. We’d forgotten how fast-paced and thrilling the first series was. Just brilliant. Idris Elba’s performance overshadowed only by Ruth Wilson. Her best role? Sadly we’ll rip thru them in next to no time!
#Westray #Orkney #OrkneyIsles #IslandLife
Snow blowing over Knucker Hill, Westray, Orkney Isles, 3 January 2026.
Not much in the way birding being done here today on Westray. Lots of snow fell overnight. Snow-laden skies. Strong winds. Drifting snow. Some roads not passable cos no gritting at all done here. Our hill road now turning to sheet ice. Looks very atmospheric tho! #Westray #OrkneyIsles #Orkney
Bedroom window view from about 8.30pm till 10pm tonight, the aurora has been putting on a very nice show pretty much since it got dark enough around 8pm. Timelapse shot on the gopro 11
#orkney #orkneyisles #aurora #auroraborealis #northernlights #scotland #viewfrommyhouse
Had one here in #Westray for a week 🙂 with at least three seen across the #OrkneyIsles.
Triangle Plume moth, Westray, Orkney Isles, 30 July 2025
Hoary Plume moth, Westray, Orkney Isles, 30 July 2025
Purple Bar moth, Westray, Orkney Isles, 30 July 2025
Ghost Moth, Westray, Orkney Isles, 30 July 2025
My largest ever catch overnight here on #Westray with 307 of 22 species. Nowt starting but both Triangle and Hoary plumes are uncommon and only my third Purple Bar. The latter first caught on Westray last year and now catching odd one around the isle. A recent colonist? #TeamMoth #OrkneyIsles
A really welcome development to combat ScotGov's bed-based #VisitorLevy. A bed-based system not only misses c.50% of tourists to the #OrkneyIsles but is complicated and cumbersome for individual businesses to administer. An entry-based levy is both fairer and simpler. #Orkney #tourism
Aurora on the way home from work tonight at 12.55am
#aurora ##auroraborealis #aurorahunting #northernlights #kirkwall #orkneyisles
I enjoyed filming this earlier today. The SS Reginald was an iron steam schooner built in 1878 which was sunk as a German submarine blockship at the east end of East Weddell Sound, #OrkneyIsles, in 1915.
Thank you @bylinesscotland.bsky.social for inviting me to write this article on the harm of #fireworks on #birds and other #wildife.
bylines.scot/environment/...
#UKwildlife #bonfire #bonfirenight #Orkney #OrkneyIsles
For the ‘feeding birds’ theme, here’s a Hobby feeding on a Starling. Very little large flying insects for them to prey on here in #OrkneyIsles
#WestrayBirding 🪶
The Screen Machine has broken down 😭 So no more screenings now (yday’s went ahead) and many Westray folk won’t now get to see The Outrun on a big screen 😞
#IslandLife #OrkneyIsles #Orkney #OrkneyIslands
The cinema has come to town! Well, to the village 😂 Opened today. We’re going Monday to see The Outrun starring Saoirse Ronan and based on the book of the same name written by Amy Liptrot, a lass from neighbouring Papay, and filmed there.
www.screenmachine.co.uk
#IslandLife #OrkneyIsles
Winter plumage adult Mediterranean Gull stood on a weedy and rocky beach. Westray, Orkney Isles, 23 August 2024. A white and pale grey gull with bright red, black-tipped bill, red legs, and all white primaries.
So, two weeks of raging southerlies/southwesterlies have at least delivered something up here at last - isle’s second Med Gull and a nice adult too. Still a scarce bird here in the #OrkneyIsles with <70 records in total.
#WestrayBirding #UKbirding #LowCarbonBirding
Many who know me from TwiX will know I set up what has turned out to be a loooong thread over there when I moved here #Westray in the #OrkneyIsles in 2021. I continue that thread here on my #WestrayBirding tag (not a feed). 👇🏼 Enjoy!
#BirdingScotland #ukbirding
bsky.app/profile/stev...
An interesting read on the mass stranding of pilot whales here in #Orkney last week.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
#whales #cetaceans #marine #wildlife #OrkneyIsles #Sanday
Narrow-winged Pug, Westray, Orkney Isles, 25 June 2024
It’s been a thin week #WestrayBirding but despite poor weather, #moths continue to deliver. This Narrow-winged Pug is new for Westray 🕺🏻
#OrkneyIsles #Orkney #MothsMatter #TeamMoth
Aethes cnicana (micro moth) - small moth with a cream coloured background and brown patches on wings.
Blastobasis lacticollala (micro moth) - a small, slender moth with dark cream/light brown background colour and darker bronzer markings in wings and white legs.
The first decent nights trapping for me here in #Westray (and only my sixth trapping night of the year) with 42 of 14 species including two new micros for Westray - Aethes cnicana and Blastobasis lacticollala - as well as several NFY. #OrkneyIsles #Orkney #MothsMatter #TeamMoth
Front cover of the June 2024 issue of British Birds magazine depicting a first-year (1CY) Blackburnian Warbler.
Brilliant article in this month’s British Birds on record numbers of Nearctic landbirds in UK last autumn. Looking at the winds and subsequent arrival sites, can see clearly why #OrkneyIsles does so badly for Yanks as we’re is in the shadow of N Scotland for birds arriving on SW winds.
#ukbirding
Brilliant article in this month’s @britishbirds on record numbers of Nearctic landbirds in UK last autumn. Looking at the winds and subsequent arrival sites, see clearly why #OrkneyIsles does badly for Yanks as is in the land shadow of N Scotland for birds arriving on SW winds.
Icterine Warbler singing in a sycamore tree, Westray, Orkney Isles, 29 May 2024
Female Red-backed Shrike perched on a barbed wire, Westray, Orkney Isles, 29 May 2024
Male Red-backed Shrike perched on a pampas grass stem, Westray, Orkney Isles, 28 May 2024
I have to admit that it was for springs like this that I moved to the #OrkneyIsles. Our isle Red-backed Shrike tally hit 17 today (14 of which I've seen) and this Icterine Warbler found by an islander singing in the middle of village is #4 of my spring. #LovinIt #WestrayBirding #LowCarbonBirding
Coming to the #OrkneyIsles this summer? Our ferry summer schedules are now open but note, they do get booked up well in advance, so plan ahead!
https://www.orkney.com/plan/getting-here
And late availability accommodation is on Facebook...
Coming to the #OrkneyIsles this summer? Our ferry summer schedules are now open but note, they do get booked up well in advance, so plan ahead!
www.orkney.com/plan/getting...
And late availability accommodation is on Facebook t.co/HZiGcitvuM
#Orkney #UKbirding #Scotland
I’d bet this is the Long-billed Dowitcher found on Sanday #OrkneyIsles 10 March-22 April. It turned up here on Westray 30-31 July before returning to Sanday 3 August-18 October. It’s certainly been in the North(ern) Isles all winter, but where? And will it return to Sanday? Or Westray? #UKbirding
And you can follow my #ukbirding here in #Westray in the #OrkneyIsles as I post my #birding on my own tag #WestrayBirding (not a feed).
bsky.app/profile/stev...
A view of Noup Head Lighthouse, Westray, Orkney Isles. Moorland in the foreground, lighthouse in middle distance and sea and sky in the distance.
My contribution to the #LowCarbonBirding blog and book charts my journey and eventual move to the #OrkneyIsles where I now largely confine my #ukbirding to the small isle of #Westray - 18 sq miles and lots of sea! My #WestrayBirding is done on foot, electric bike and electric car.
