Shetland - Day 6

We go off exploring on our own today - Richard and Alison have other commitments but Alison has taken the time to point out some places worth visiting. We spend the day driving around the western part of the Mainland. Lifeboats always get our attention and this one is pretty impressive

We are being watched

As we walk up the hill to view the remains of an ancient settlement

The next place we visit is Sandness. The beach is crawling with birdlife

Dunlin's

Turnstones

Sanderlings (another turnstone on the right)

Curlew

Turnstone again

Sanderling

Next stop - it's Breeze's turn as she has a run at The Crook

A lovely little bird which we have seen thousands of through the week, but for some reason I have hardly any photos of - a Tern

Lunch with a view - at Bousta. We were hoping to catch a glimpse of a sea otter here, but were unlucky

After lunch we continue our tour of the west by travelling through the southern part of this area, through Walls. From here we get an eerie view of Foula

on our route we pass many of the everyday signs of Shetland Life. Lambing is still ongoing up here

Another sight which we have been seeing alll over the Islands is Peat Cutting. With very few trees, peat is the main fuel burnt on fires. It is still all cut by hand

While we were out, we had received a message from Richard to say that they were watching Risso's Dolphin's in the Voe in front of their house. Typical - when we were not there. 

However we were in for a treat - they returned in the early evening. The sea was so calm, the first signs were just a ripple

Followed by a fin or two

There were three of them playing around

Not a bad way to enjoy your G & T

Richard had taken some great pictures earlier in the day

I managed to get a few moving clips - apologies for the bad editing but here they are put together

Risso's Dolphins