All too quickly, my week in Unst reached it's final day.
The weather wasn't great, so having booked a boat trip to the seabird colonies around Muckle Flugga, we had to wait for confirmation that the boat would be going.
When the call came through, we drove to where the boat is moored and set off for a super trip where the puffins, razorbills, guillemots and gannets where flying and swimming everywhere.
The boat gets you very close. The rocks from sea level are huge and I can only imagine what life would have been like when the light house was manned. It's also pretty scary to imagine what the place would be like during a winter storm - I'd love to see that one day.
After the boat trip it started to rain and having previously decided to walk up to Hermaness, I got dressed up and set off in pouring rain.
I love to photograph wildlife in rain as it adds that extra dimension and providing I am warm and dry, I'm happy.
My Paramo jacket and 'Stealth Gear' trousers kept me dry, but when it eventually stopped raining, the jacket dried a whole lot quicker than the trousers (I'll post a review of these trousers at some point I think as they are great, but have draw backs).
Skua in the rain:
At the top, the cliffs were blanketed in cloud and it was still raining, so I decided to walk to where Robbie had shown us the best area for the Gannets. On the way the rain stopped and what I'd hoped would happen occurred - the Puffins started to emerge from their burrows.
I managed around 20 minutes with these super little birds that will happily allow to crawl right up to them without being bothered - provided you don't make any sudden moves and get down to their level.
That was probably the best part of the afternoon (aside from trying out slow shutter speeds on a Skua in the pouring rain).
After getting back to Ordaal quite late, Robbie and I shared a few too many whiskies before we finally called it a night and that was it, my Unst trip was over for this year.
I'll post up some final thoughts when I get a moment later in the week along with adding some pictures to the other posts I've written this week.
Big thanks to Robbie, Katrina, Sula and Rona for being perfect hosts for the week and for sharing their home. Thanks too for Suze for being such good company this week.
Thanks also to everyone who has taken the time and trouble to read through my ramblings......
The weather wasn't great, so having booked a boat trip to the seabird colonies around Muckle Flugga, we had to wait for confirmation that the boat would be going.
When the call came through, we drove to where the boat is moored and set off for a super trip where the puffins, razorbills, guillemots and gannets where flying and swimming everywhere.
The boat gets you very close. The rocks from sea level are huge and I can only imagine what life would have been like when the light house was manned. It's also pretty scary to imagine what the place would be like during a winter storm - I'd love to see that one day.
After the boat trip it started to rain and having previously decided to walk up to Hermaness, I got dressed up and set off in pouring rain.
I love to photograph wildlife in rain as it adds that extra dimension and providing I am warm and dry, I'm happy.
My Paramo jacket and 'Stealth Gear' trousers kept me dry, but when it eventually stopped raining, the jacket dried a whole lot quicker than the trousers (I'll post a review of these trousers at some point I think as they are great, but have draw backs).
Skua in the rain:
At the top, the cliffs were blanketed in cloud and it was still raining, so I decided to walk to where Robbie had shown us the best area for the Gannets. On the way the rain stopped and what I'd hoped would happen occurred - the Puffins started to emerge from their burrows.
I managed around 20 minutes with these super little birds that will happily allow to crawl right up to them without being bothered - provided you don't make any sudden moves and get down to their level.
That was probably the best part of the afternoon (aside from trying out slow shutter speeds on a Skua in the pouring rain).
After getting back to Ordaal quite late, Robbie and I shared a few too many whiskies before we finally called it a night and that was it, my Unst trip was over for this year.
I'll post up some final thoughts when I get a moment later in the week along with adding some pictures to the other posts I've written this week.
Big thanks to Robbie, Katrina, Sula and Rona for being perfect hosts for the week and for sharing their home. Thanks too for Suze for being such good company this week.
Thanks also to everyone who has taken the time and trouble to read through my ramblings......
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