Welcome to my second rambling!…

I traveled a little further than my back garden this time: by ship overnight from Aberdeen to the Shetland Islands. This was my first trip to Britain’s most northerly and remote islands, which are equidistant to Scotland and Norway and surrounded by wild sea.

Basking and well disguised on the rocks, a colony of seals.

After a predictably choppy crossing,  I was glad to get my land legs back for my brief day tour of the island. I found the landscape beautiful, in a bleak sort of way, with a light sprinkling of civilization and some very hardy looking sheep!

A curious sight off the pier at tiny Scandinavian-style village, Voe.

My main aim was to explore some of the islands’ wildlife and in particular, get some shots of one of our most striking iconic seabirds, the puffin.

My search took me to the most southerly point of Shetland and a well-known breeding area for puffins, Sumbrugh Head. I only spotted two, but

got close enough for a nice clear shot, helped by my 200mm lens and a short depth of focus.  Click here for more information about Hooper’s Of Morecambe coach tours.