Monthly Report, July 2026

 It's almost all just puffins. And pufflings.

A puffling ventures out, closely watched by one of it's parents. Picture taken at Sumburgh Head

Numbers

Reporting Days: 31

Location: Shetland, mostly Sumburgh Head

Distance Walked: 246 km

Distance Driven: 734 km

Days including a walk on Quendale Beach: 31 

Days including at least one visit to the auks at Sumburgh Head: 24

Puffins & Pufflings

July is peak puffin on Shetland.  And peak puffling.   

Last summer there was lots of puffin activity to watch (and photograph) but very few puffling sightings to enthuse about.  

This year there has been quite a lot of puffin activity and lots of pufflings to watch.  

I've been photographing the auks at Sumburgh for almost 20 years, but I don't remember seeing so many pufflings before.  Maybe it's my memory (it's got worse). Maybe it's my patience (that's got better). Or maybe there just are more pufflings this year (in the more visible nest sites) around Sumburgh Head.

Over the last few weeks I've seen over a dozen different pufflings, and seen evidence of food being brought in to several other nest sites.

Puffin Countdown... Three Puffins

Two Puffins

One Puffin

We have a Puffling

Another Puffling

And another Puffling

And one more Puffling

Other Auks

It's not just puffins. 

I've seen a lot of razorbill activity around Sumburgh Head this year - but no direct evidence of razorbill chicks this year, which is disappointing after getting good views of youngsters last year. 

Razorbills at Sumburgh Head

Razorbills displaying around a nest site

It was, however, very easy to see jumplings in the guillemot colonies this year.  While it is encouraging that there are lots of jumplings to see (as there were last year), the more gloomy conclusion is that the colonies are less dense this year so it is easier for the passing photographer to see them (and for the passing bonxie, raven or black-backed gull to predate them).

Jumplings in the guillemot colonies

Shetland Sunshine

Shetland can have rubbish weather in the 'height' of Summer, but it can also have lovely weather with lots of sunshine (and temperatures peaking at around 20C, which must have boosted its position in 'Best Places to Live' league).

Sunny afternoon on Quendale Beach

Brei Geo on Scat Ness

Loch o' Gards on Scat Ness

Calm waters at the southern end of Scat Ness

Next Month

It's time to say good-bye to the remaining auks (and to keep fingers crossed that they have a good winter at sea) and for me to say hello to places further south.

Monthly Report, June 2026

Entirely Scotland. Mostly Shetland.

Plotting Puffins at Sumburgh Head

Numbers

Reporting Days: 30

Location: Scotland (including Shetland)

Distance Walked: 265 km

Distance Driven: 1150 km

Auks Photographed: Most of them

Orchids Photographed: Lots of them

Entirely Scotland

I know Shetland is part of Scotland. There are MSPs from Shetland.  I know all about Shetland being pledged (by a Norwegian King) as security for an unpaid dowry.  I even know that Scottish law applies on Shetland (which can't be said of all the residents).

But, I still think of Shetland being different and separate to the rest of Scotland.

So, at one level this month was spent entirely in Scotland.  Really, two thirds of the month was spent on Shetland and the balance was spent on (mainland) Scotland or on a Northlink ferry between the two.

Mostly Shetland. Mostly Auks.

I'm probably still making up for the auk-watching time I missed out on in May, but it does feel as if I've taken a lot of pictures of puffin and razorbill pictures during June.

Puffins at Sumburgh Head

Puffin Line Up at Sumburgh Head

Burrow Negotiations at Sumburgh Head

Razorbills Aligned at Sumburgh Head

Puffins adopting the 1-2 formation at Sumburgh Head

Razorbill Banter at Sumburgh Head

Or Orchids

And when I wasn't hanging out with the auks I was crawling around on my hands and knees looking for some of the many wee orchids that are around on Shetland at the moment.  It does feel as if the orchids have had a bumper year.

Heath Spotted Orchid on Compass Head

Heath Spotted Orchid on Scat Ness

Marsh Orchids on Scat Ness

Mainland Scotland

So what lured me off Shetland (during the auk-watching season) to the other bit of Scotland?

Happy Birthday Mum - a Landmark Birthday

And having ventured onto the mainland, it seemed like a good opportunity to pay a Summer visit to the Cairngorms. I spent a lot of childhood holidays in and around Aviemore, and have in more recent years spent a lot of time taking photographs on the Rothiemurchus Estate.  My back of an envelope (it was a big envelope) calculations suggested that this might have been something like my 38th visit to the Cairngorms National Park, although the first dozen visits (the earliest records are from Easter 1974) were before it was designated as a National Park.

At Loch an Eilein in Rothiemurchus

Cairngorm Club Footbridge on the Rothiemurchus Estate

Slains Castle, Cruden Bay on the Aberdeenshire coast

Next Month

Current plan is to spend another monthly entirely on Shetland. And (if you insist) entirely in Scotland.

 

Monthly Report, May 2026

Half and Half.  Started the month in Oxford, ended up back on Shetland.

Numbers

Reporting Days: 31

Location: Around Oxford, around the M6 and around the south end of Shetland

Distance Walked: 285 km

Distance Driven: 1100 km

Around Oxford

May is a lovely time to spend in Oxford. 

There are lots of green spaces, some more manicured than others - favourites this month were the Oxford Botanics and the Lye Valley.

There are also lots of hospitals.  

Recently I've been taking part in a couple of Parkinson's-related research projects.  One required an MRI (that project is part of a broader six-year study into brain mechanisms underlying motivation and apathy) the other required me to wear a collection of high-tech sensors to monitor my movements over several days (part of a project to better quantify the severity of Parkinson's symptoms). These research projects are entirely optional, but are an interesting extension to the regular NHS-based appointments.

Garden walls at the Oxford Botanic Garden

River Cherwell in the Botanic Garden

Orchid seen from the Lye Valley boardwalk

Milham Ford nature park (sometime good for orchids)

Motion Sensors

The West Wing, John Radcliffe Hospital

In Transit

I've travelled between Oxford and Shetland a couple of hundred times over the last 20-ish years.  I used to regularly fly up and down (from Heathrow or Birmingham, via Edinburgh, Glasgow or Aberdeen), but now that time pressure has eased somewhat, I usually drive between Oxford and Aberdeen and catch the Northlink boat.  

This time I split the long haul north with a very civilised dinner, bed and breakfast at the Westmorland Hotel (part of the Tebay Services).

Trees at Tebay Services

Stonehaven Harbour, waiting until it's time to head for check-in at Aberdeen

Around the south end of Shetland

Folks sometimes ask what I find to do when I'm on Shetland.  

At this time of year, I'm really spoilt for choice.  And there's so much daylight.

Every day includes a beach walk (always Quendale Beach, sometimes West Voe too).  Most days include a visit to Sumburgh Head (or Scat Ness or the Pool of Virkie).  

And at this time of year, I usually check in with the local auks who are all back on Shetland for the breeding season.

On Quendale Beach

Walking up the West Voe path to Sumburgh Head

Atlantic Puffin

Razorbill

Next Month

I'm expecting the pictures next month to include beaches, headlands and auks - just the usual Shetland fare :-)

Monthly Report, April 2026

Mostly Trains. Mostly Italy.

Reporting Days: 30

Location: Italy (and a wee bit of Oxford)

Distance Walked: 275 km

Distance Driven: 810 km

Distance Trained: 2640 km

Driving South

The car saw limited use during April. I reset the trip counter on the first of April as I drove off the MV Hjaltland, by the time I got to Oxford on the second I'd clocked up 503 miles. And that was it for driving for the month.

Stranger in Town.  Cal Mac boats don't often wind up in Aberdeen.

Tebay. Mid-journey break.

In Oxford

Still early spring in Oxford, but definite signs of fresh green shoots in the trees. 

River Cherwell in the Oxford Botanic Garden 

Lye Valley boardwalk

On the Trains

After a quick turnaround we headed to London for the usual 'commute' to the Parkinson's Therapy Centre in northern Italy. We've caught a morning Eurostar to Paris on lots of occasions over the last few years, and we've never had a problem making the onward connection onto the TGV to Turin.

This time it was different.   The Eurostar started a bit late but then ground to a halt in northern France as a result  (we gathered) of a fatality on the line on the approach to Gare du Nord in Paris.  Once it became clear that we weren't going to get to Paris by the time of our train, never mind getting across to Gare de Lyon, we started re-planning.

So, what's Plan B?  A later train? There isn't one!  

Plan C? Train tomorrow? They're all booked! Bugger! 

We're now on to Plan D. Is there a Plan D? Turns out there is.  

Plan D involved the night train from Gare d'Austerlitz to Nice. No cabins or couchettes available, but there were at least seats for the 12 hour haul down to the French Riviera.  Followed by a slightly convoluted series of trains along the French and Italian coasts, changing trains at Ventimiglia, before heading north to Turin. Only 18 hours later than planned, but it did confirm my view that it's good to build an occasional 'buffer' day into the schedules. 

Walking beside the Seine in Paris (while waiting for the night train)

Walking beside the Po in Turin (better late than never)

Back in Boario

After a decent nights sleep and a proper breakfast, it was good to have a smooth travel day, from Turin, to Milan, to Brescia and finally back to Boario Terme in the Val Camonica. 

This was visit seven to the Therapy Centre in Boario. 

Spending time working with the therapists at Boario has, over the last few years, just become part of my annual routine, and I always feel better after spending time there.   Experience has told me that I get more benefit from two-week stays in Boario, there's more time to get into 'swing' of things (and there's a bit of time off at the weekend too).

Taking the waters in Boario Terme

The Big Alarm Clock / Chiesa Madonna Degli Alpini

Across the River Oglio / Railway Bridge

Boario Zootecnica / Agricultural Show

Old Montecchio Bridge / A regular morning or evening walk

Instruments of Torture / C21 version

In Bergamo

After the exercise it's always good to have a spot of tourist time.  

This visit we opted for a few days in Bergamo - a lovely city of two parts.  We stayed in the old Citta Alta which is separated from the (much) newer Citta Bassa by a ring of vertiginous walls.  

Bergamo is highly recommended for the excellent food including awesome stracciatella (a local chocolate-laced gelato) and dangerously potent Aperol Spritz.

I'm pleased to be able report that the return journey to Oxford via Milan, Turin, Paris and London didn't present the same challenges that the outward journey did and we made it back to Oxford by the end of the month.

Piazza Vecchia, Bergamo

City Walls, Bergamo

And next month

Plan A involves a bit of time in Oxford, and then heading north to spend some quality time with the puffins and razorbills at the south end of Shetland.  But my track record with Plan A's hasn't been great recently.