Hermaness, Unst.

I will never, for as long as I am fortunate enough to walk this earth of ours, forget the moment I first laid eyes on the cliffs at Hermaness nature reserve.

The walk in, or rather up and through the reserve is via a board walk - a steep initial assent followed by a slow upward drag - which carrying my MKIII, 500f4l, 70 - 200 f2.8l, 24 - 105 f4l, tripod & wimberly, water, food and clothing for all weathers was a bit of slog.

When I arrived at the 'top', visibility was around 20 yards or less. I could tell the sea was quite a way off as I could hear faint sounds of breaking waves.
I could hear plenty of birds too, but I only caught glimpses as they came through the gloom.

I was a bit knackered from my walk, so I decided to sit down, listen and hope the air cleared.

Half an hour went by - no people, just an overiding sense of isolation and calm.

45 minutes later, and the fog lifted to show me this view......



An incredible scene - towering cliffs, raw weather and a remoteness I've rarely experienced before or since.

Thousands of gannets, fulmar, skua, puffin and many other sea birds, all sharing the cliffs and surrounding seas.

That day, I spent 5 hours on Hermaness. I saw 2 other people.

At times the sun shone, at others, it rained and at others, the sea mist blew back in, but all times I feel in love with this utterly wild and unspoilt place.

I walked back into Hermaness a further 5 times during my week on Unst and in the end, I enjoyed the walk - even with all of my kit !

Unst Otters

Back in May I spent a week on the Shetlands, staying on Unst, the northernmost island in the UK.

Over the next few weeks, I will blog some of the sightings and my experiences whilst there.
I stayed on a farm close to my friend, Robbie Brooks, who lives in the lovely community of Baltasound.




I was very fortunate to discover that a family of otters lived close by, and on my first morning after I arrived, I made my way to a likely looking spot along the shore line, set myself up and waited.

I can't actually recall how long I sat in my spot, but with such peaceful surroundings, it could have been hours. I spotted movement and the next thing, two otters appeared over the rocks and started to hunt and feed in front of me. The pair were a mother and her cub, and having fed, they settled down on the rocks in front of me for a sleep.

My first ever attempt at otter watching, and I've got a paor of them feeding in front of me, and now settling down for a kip !
For the rest of my week on Unst, I spent many hours sitting on the rocks, watching the tide and waiting for the otters to appear - which, fortunately for me, they did.


This shot was taken after I crawled down the beach to get closer and the otter swum right up in front of me with a crab, and proceeded to eat it within feet of where I was lying. Not a bad experience to have had at my first attempt.....