All change again !

  Well there's nothing quite so fickle as the weather (apart from maybe, children) so after having a few nice days, things have changed again and we are now back to wind and rain - and today (9th March) snow showers.

  It had been forecast for last Thursday (3rd) to be a sunny and fine day - and it was ! I had been given the chance to go across to the uninhabited Uyea Isle (a short boat trip from Uyeasound) for a few hours and so jumped at the chance. It really was a cracking morning, so much so, that for a while I was down to just a fleece top (plus trousers of course) as the sun beat down taking the temperature soaring to a pleasant 8 degrees C. It is a lovely island, so only spending under three hours there was not nearly enough time - but it certainly whetted the appetite to go again sometime. Right in the middle of the island is a very large derelict house; which, in its day, must have been splendid. Sadly now it's minus its roof and in time will most likely crumble to the ground.............

Looking east along the north shore of Uyea Isle

  There is a brief description of the isle here

  Returning back to Unst, I took a look at the beach at Westing and sat and had my lunch - which I'd made to take to Uyea thinking we'd be there longer. Apart from the glorious weather, there wasn't much else happening there apart from this Shetland Wren which was too close for the camera (hence the cropped off feet) but if I'd had the time I could have rotated the camera to frame it vertically................

  The only other bird shot of the day was a Grey Heron fishing at Haroldswick Pools.............

Saturday 5th March

  After being delayed out of respect for someone who passed away last week, this evening was to be Norwicks Up Helly Ah procession etc. The weather was fine, the wind had dropped and all was set for a good evening. Unfortunately due to the postponement, there were less squads than there should have been, but even so, a good time was had by all..................

 

Down the 'Broken Road'

The torches are thrown in

The 'Hot X Bunnies'

  The day after Up Helly Ah, the weather turned again and was pretty foul for a few days. Strong wind and driving rain was the order of the day(s) with a few light snow showers thrown in. Fortunately I was going to be working inside at a job on the Monday (7th) so I did manage to keep dry. Tuesday (8th) was even worse, the rain was very heavy and driven by a strong wind. I was to have a meeting with the councils Listed Buildings dept here at the house, but it wasn't particularly pleasant walking around outside talking about the harling (a bit like rendering) or roof slates and getting blown all over the place as we talked.

Wednesday 9th March

 Over night we had a covering of snow here on Unst - even down to the shore line. My plan was to go to the job for a while (there wasn't enough for all day) and then have a quick walk up to Hermaness to see if there was snow on the cliffs and also gannets. From the car it takes around 40 minutes of brisk walking to one part of the gannet colony and so despite the cold, the walk kept me warm. A few pictures from on the way up...............

Looking east

North to Muckle Flugga lighthouse

South to one of the Gannet colonies

Travelling on around towards the cliffs in the picture above, there was snow on the cliffs and also gannets, unfortunately not as much snow as I'd have liked. Watching the birds sitting around in the snow it did make me wonder if they thought that they'd arrived back a bit too early !...........

I've often heard it said and seen it written that a sea bird colony - and especially scores of gannets in flight, often looks like swirling snow; well today that was particularly true...........

A Gannet in a snow storm

                       

                                   Robbie