With the birds

Day 6 of the road trip and a great day of ancient history and beautiful walking. I visited Skara Brae (the best preserved Neolithic village in Europe, built in 5100BC) which was fascinating and I’ll post another time.

Then I moved on to Marwick Head where I walked up to the Kitchener Monument. It’s a lovely walk, starting in the bay with the waves crashing onto the beach then moving up the cliffs and a little away from the sea where it becomes completely silent. Then you come over the ridge towards the monument itself and are faced with a wheeling, shrieking, carnival of seabirds circling and diving in and out of the cliff face. It is spectacular.

I have never been particularly interested in birds (not the feathered kind anyway) but I could sit and watch these guys for hours, skimming within inches of the waves one minute and then within inches of the cliff face the next – wonderful.