Sunday 29 May 2016

Back from Shetland

We've just got back from a wonderful week in Shetland! The weather was good, the scenery amazing and the wildlife wonderful from the dolphins in Aberdeen Harbour as we waited for our ferry to leave on the way up to the bonus trip past Noss cliffs and the breeding seabird colony on the ferry on the way back!


We stayed at the wonderful West Hall Bed and Breakfast, where we could watch seals and various seabirds from the bedroom windows, and hired a car to travel all round the mainland of Shetland and got ferries to many of the smaller islands.

Highlights included:

a late night trip to Moussa to see the storm petrels, tiny birds that nest in the old stone walls and buildings on the island;

puffins at Sumburgh head

wonderful beaches including Quendale

adorable lambs everywhere

and the best otter sighting ever!

Sadly we didn't see red necked phalaropes, they don't seem to have arrived back from their wintering grounds yet, but you can't have everything you want in life and that's just a good excuse to go back to Shetland again in the future! 

I'll post more about the highlights over the next few days and will incorporate some of them into my blog posts for 30 Days Wild, which starts in a couple of days!

5 comments:

Caroline Gill said...

What a terrific holiday it must have been ... and you are a much braver sailor than I would have been, despite my love of islands!! It sounds as though you were lucky with the weather, too ... and that elusive Phalarope will doubtless lure you back at some future point!

eileeninmd said...

Hello, sounds like an awesome week and a wonderful spot for a vacation! Awesome photos!
Happy Monday, enjoy your new week ahead!

Janneke said...

Shetland must have been very nice, so nice to see puffins.

Lowcarb team member said...

Oh this sounds wonderful, what a lovely spot to spend a holiday ...
Your photo's are great

All the best Jan

Sandy said...

I have read about this island many times in books. It is nice to see real photos from it.