Aurora borealis: A walk on the wild side

April 06, 2006

A walk on the wild side

Aurora header.jpg

Just got in after a very long hike around the south end of Bressay, on a classic Shetland spring day – the full mix of bright sunshine, driving rain, flat calm, hail, a screaming wind you could barely stand upright in, and snow. All this in the space of 5 hours. You’ve got to love a place with so much climate.

A really good walk though, even without any birds to speak of. A handful of Skylarks singing, and some Fulmars on cliff ledges far below me. The weather and seeing a new bit of Shetland made it for me, and for once I had a camera with me. Work, you understand!

I’ve never come across caves away from the cliffs here, so it was a novelty to find several inland on the peat moor. There were several ravines intersecting the heather, and within almost every one were holes of varying sizes, leading down into dark, open space below. Some were fairly small, but others seemed to go deeper, and were more intriguing. Expediency forced me into one of the larger ones as sunshine gave way to driving hail, with hailstones like small marbles. They stung badly, and as the storm showed no sign of abating I ducked inside and scrambled down a slope to a dry rocky chamber to sit it out. I had no idea these caves existed; presumably the whole headland is riddled with them.

Further round the coast the sun was back out again, and I stopped to shelter behind a lichen-encrusted wall. I’ve lost maps before in the snatching Shetland wind, and have learnt my lesson. Work eventually over, I made my way back over the island to where I’d left the car by the lighthouse - a much slower journey, as now heading directly into the strengthening wind.

I saw several Iceland Gulls here last winter, but nothing doing today. In fact, I’ve not seen a single white-winged gull this winter – strange, given the northerly complexion the winter has generally had.