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Walking Group One 25th April 2024
Five hardy souls collected today at Happy Valley for the first Hill Walk of the year .The temperature was cool with a North Easterly wind blowing and a hint of rain on arrival.
Off we set heading towards Russadale Quarry, spotting a Buzzard on the way.Turning into the footpath we remained sheltered from the wind all the way to the top of the hill.
The sun was out at the Quarry and a Greenshank was feeding at the edge of the Lochan. Then it was up the Peat road to the summit with spectacular views across Stenness and Harray Lochs, plus a view of the Closed Road beyond the Watch Stone. On the other side we looked over the Flow and down towards the Oil Platform and South Ronaldsay
Then it was back down after a stop for a snack and finally a walk around Happy Valley itself. The Daffodils planted by James and others were looking lovely and the Bluebells are days away from opening. Then it was on to a well deserved lunch at the Pier Cafe, having walked 4 miles and gone up 800 feet (and down again )
The next walk will be on Friday 24th May and hopefully more hills and views.
Keep moving.
U3A BIRDIE GROUP June 2015
by Ken O'Connor - 19:37 on 17 June 2015
Many thanks to those who came along for the outing today despite the weather conditions for the middle of June it was not the warmest of days but it managed to stay reasonable during the morning.
A group of primary school pupils were just starting their visit to Cottersgarth, it was decided by the group to change venue to Burger Hill hide which proved to be the right decision as we observed the red throated having its morning wash, a preen of all the feathers and a sleep, all thanks to Tim and his scope we were all able to have great close up views. Tufted ducks and geese with all their goslings were the main birds on the loch but it was good to watch the oystercatchers defending their nests from herring gulls and great blacks. The other birds seen were Bonxie, meadow pipit, LBJ’s, snipe, curlew.
We took a quick look into Cottersgarth at the end but there were no sightings of the hen harrier today mainly due to weather conditions.
The next outing will be to Herston /Quindrie Oyce, on the 15th July, more information nearer the time.
Ken
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