That Was 2021

2021 was a strange year. In many ways just a continuation of 2020 - so how do I distinguish it from 2020?

Travel was again pretty much curtailed - still haven't been on a plane, train or bus since early 2020 - and travel has been primarily day trips between Oxford and Surrey plus a number of extended trips to Shetland (achieved by car and boat).

Having got the travel grumble out of the way, and on the plus side, I'm actually quite pleased that my carbon footprint has been so reduced and it's been splendid to have had so many days when the big decision was which Shetland beach to wander on.

I have successfully taken another 365 pictures of the day.  I have successfully taken another 12 pictures of the month (see below for this years set). I've taken a bewilderingly large number of photographs (I'm blaming the auks - and the very fast silent rapid shooting function on the new cameras).

My vague target was to walk 2000 miles this year - haven't even made it to 1500 - again, I think I'm going to blame the auks, I spent far too much of the Shetland summer sitting watching them to clock up the walking miles I might otherwise have done.

And since this seems to have turned into another post about auks, I might as well point out that I've seen five species of auk around Shetland this year - puffins, guillemots, black guillemots and razorbills and, finally, a little auk - much less common around Shetland than it's cousins but no less welcome.

Auks

Little Auk at Grutness

Guillemots at Sumburgh Head

Razorbill at Sumburgh Head

Puffin at Sumburgh Head

Black Guillemot at Scat Ness

Pictures of the Month 2021

January: Christ Church Meadow, Oxford

February: Green Lane, Shotover Estate, Oxford

March: Mallard, C. S. Lewis Reserve, Oxford

April: Blue Tit in the Oxford garden

May: Puffins at Sumburgh Head

June: Pyramidal Orchid at Milham Ford Nature Park, Oxford

July: Puffin and Puffling at Sumburgh Head

August: Orca at Scat Ness

September: Blue Tit in the Oxford garden

October: Scat Ness Sunset

November: Snipe at RSPB Otmoor, Oxfordshire

December: Kingfisher at Port Meadow, Oxford

Monthly Report, November 2021

The month has been spent back in the south (mostly the Deep South) - and most of the photographs have been tree (or at least autumn-colour) related.

Reporting Days: 30

Location: A wee bit in the Cairngorms, then Oxford

Miles walked: 117

Miles driven: 810

Gardens tended: 1

Puffins seen: none

Jabs received: 2 (Flu and COVID booster)

Photographs taken: hundreds (mostly trees)

Trees

Having found very few trees around Shetland last month, it's been good to catch up on my arboreal photos this month - and it feels like the autumn colours were pretty good this year.

Autumn at Loch an Eilein, Cairngorms National Park

Loch an Eilein, Cairngorms National Park

Green Lane, Shotover, Oxfordshire

Harcourt Arboretum, Oxfordshire

Shipton Lock, Oxford Canal

Sydlings Copse, Oxfordshire

Mesopotamia, Oxford

Birds

It also been good to spend a little bit of time birding around Oxfordshire too - aside from watching the usual suspects around the garden - was particularly pleased to spend time with the snipe at Otmoor and with the kingfishers along the banks of the Thames.

Snipe at Otmoor

Kingfisher on the Thames

Sunrise, Sunset & Snow Fall

And just in case you might have gotten the idea that sunrises are only found on Shetland - or that snow only falls in winter.

Sunrise in Headington, Oxford

Sunset in Bury Knowle Park, Oxford

Snowfall at Rock Edge local nature reserve, Oxford 

Monthly Report, October 2021

Good to have been able to spend so much of the month at the south end of Shetland - and particularly to have seen so many fantastic sunrises and sunsets (there might well be dramatic sunrises on Shetland in the summer, but they are way too early for me).

Reporting Days: 31

Location: Shetland (but just made it to the Cairngorms for the end of the month)

Miles walked: 122

Miles driven: 674

Gardens tended: 1

Puffins seen: None (but a few guillemots plus one little auk)

Ponds dug: 0 (this KPI probably won't appear again!)

Photographs taken: thousands (mostly sunrises, sunsets and waves!) 

Sunrise at the Pool of Virkie

Pre sunrise at the Pool of Virkie

Sunrise at Sumburgh Head

Sunset on Scat Ness

Sunrise at Brough Head

Between sunset and sunrise - there's always a chance (at this time of year) of getting a glimpse of the mirrie dancers. 

Northern Lights behind the clouds

And between sunrise and sunset - this being showery Shetland, there's always a chance that there will be rainbows on show.

Double Rainbow on Scat Ness

Double Rainbow at Sumburgh Head

And when there aren't sunrises, sunsets, aurora and rainbows - there are always waves to watch (which are lovely, except on days when you are due to catch the evening ferry south!).

Incoming Waves at Scat Ness

This being autumn on Shetland - there are always wildlife specials on offer too - occasionally the glimpse of a fin, sometimes a visiting little auk and (unusually) mass landings of By-The-Wind Sailors.

Little Auk at Grutness

By The Wind Sailor on Quendale Beach

Passing Orca at Grutness Voe

And finally, one more thing, trees - these in the Cairngorms National Park (more trees in the November report!).

Autumn Colours - in the Cairngorms National Park

Monthly Report, September 2021

 Cue the transition from summer to autumn, and another transition from Oxford to Shetland.

Sunrise: Arriving back on Shetland

• Reporting Days: 30
  
  
• Location: Mostly OX3 - but just made it back to ZE3 for the end of the month
  
  
• Miles walked: 115
  
  
• Miles driven: 720 (fuel shortage didn't really have an impact)
  
  
• Gardens tended: 1 (mostly digging)
  
  
• Puffins seen: None
  
  
• Orchids seen: None
  
  
• Ponds dug: 1
  
  
• Birthdays celebrated: 1 (yes, another one)
  
  
• Photographs taken: hundreds (mostly trees)
  
  

Oxford Sunset

Visiting the Oxford Botanics

Watching autumn arrive, Green Lane, Shotover

Garden birdwatching

Pond Life: Have been meaning to dig a pond for ages

And any month that closes with a glimpse of the northern lights is OK in my book.

Mirrie Dancers

Auk Summer: Part 3 Puffins

Part 1 was razorbills, Part 2 was tysties and now Part 3 of my 'Auk Summer' reflection is all about puffins.

The puffins are undoubtedly the star turns of the summer at Sumburgh Head - in the spring the question on the lips of every visitor (including the local visitors) is "Are the puffins are back?".  As the season goes on the question every year is "Have you been to see the puffins yet?" then finally (in August) it becomes "Are the puffins still around?".  Maybe we need a big puffin clock marking off time in puffins?

And, I know I'm biased, but is there anywhere better to see puffins than Sumburgh Head?  There are probably places to reliably see bigger groups of puffins, there might be places where you are more likely to get puffins wandering around your feet but I'm pretty sure there's nowhere where it's easier to see puffins.  I'm also not aware of anywhere else where you watch puffins and eat fantastic cake at the same time.

Every summer I say that I'm going to keep track of how much time I spend at Sumburgh Head - and every year I lose track of the number of visits never mind the number of hours spent looking over the walls just watching what the puffins are up to.

So did I have a favourite picture from the 2021 Season?  

In getting to this I found I needed to divide the pictures into three groups.   Firstly, there's the puffins just hanging out on the cliff-tops category. I still can't decide the winner here - it's either the puffin in the rain or the puffin in the mayweed.

The next catagory is the pairs catagory - a heady mix of bill-rubbing and fighting!  Favourite here might be the first picture (taken at the end of the season as the puffins are making plans to head out to sea)

And finally, the puffing category.  I really don't think I've ever seen more pufflings at Sumburgh Head - I can think of three explanations - there were more pufflings this year, there were more pufflings in accessible burrows or I've just never spent as much time peering over the walls at Sumburgh Head!

And the winner of the puffling category... 

I didn't give all the pufflings names, but this one is LB (it's a long story) posing beside his Mum (or possibly Dad) - and I think this is probably my favourite puffin picture of the season!

Next year?  More of the same please. And more cake.