Wanderings: 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.