We went to Sumburgh Head in the morning. We parked at the hotel and went to look at Jarlshof. On the way, we stopped to look at some Shetland ponies in a field.
A man came down with his young daughter to check on the ponies. He offered to sell us one for £1500. He was from Kelso, but had been here 15 years. He worked on the road barriers at Sumburgh airport. It’s busy, with lots of flights coming in from the mainland and helicopters taking people out to the oil rigs. The two of them went on to Jarlshof as well, though it was the first time they’d visited in the 15 years he’d been here.
Jarlshof was a mishmash of different periods of rubble, from neolithic to 17th century.
We saw a another wren nest in the wall of one of the stone-age wheelhouses.
We did a 3-mile or so round trip from Jarlshof via Sumburh head, where there were lots of puffins and sundry other seabirds.
We went up to the lighthouse.
We drove to Bigton and parked by the beach to have lunch. Then we walked out over the sandy tombolo to St Ninian’s Isle. Long-tailed ducks were in the sea.
We walked around the isle. Bright sunshine all the way and amazing views of dramatic cliffs with fulmars, ravens, oystercatchers, wheatears, seals bobbing in the water, and good views of red-throated divers.
Back at the lodge, R went for a walk along the coast and was attacked by terns nesting on an islet nearby.