In Search of Puffins

We left the house early this morning to search for Puffins.......it was one of my main reasons for coming to Orkney (that was until I found out all the other fabulous places and things Orkney offered).
We were going to go up onto the Brough of Birsay but the morning was found cold windy and inhospitable to we decided to search elsewhere.

Our first port of call was Marwick Head ......we walked all along the cliff tops to The  Kitchner Memorial...we had to be careful so as not to fall into a rabbit hole.....the green hills just at the other side of the fence were just covered in frolicking rabbits.
Suddenly this little guy popped up his head. I don't know if I was just so excited to see a puffin or........my suspicions is that there was something happening with my lens.....all my shots of the only puffin I saw today (that was somewhat still).....was not that sharp. None the less I just had to post it.....(Sleepyhead got a sharper shot). When they are in flight they are like bumble bees with their wings flapping so fast...impossible for me to capture thats for sure.
I experienced my first bout of vertigo today...it was rather horrid. I was careful at the edge of the cliffs looking for those little guys but at one stage I got so very very dizzy and felt rather nauseous.

Walking along the cliffs at Marwick Head was just gorgeous although no more Puffins to my dismay so we decided to go to Yesnaby..... Wow! what an amazing place. Again cliff tops.....arches ....waterfalls ....caves.....a stack (extra)...alas no Puffins.....except for those flying here and there so fast it was hard to keep up.....and I had to be aware of my dizziness so no getting too close to the edge.
Perhaps the Brough of Birsay will have more Puffins...fingers crossed.

To do those two long walks took us to nearly 3pm when we had to be at Maeshowe for a tour. 
From the road it looked like just a green hill with an entrance way. Inside though was another story. The entrance was low and we had to crouch down to pass down the passage into the chamber. (It reminded me a bit of when I went to Egypt and went inside the Pyramids although the passage was much longer and one had to climb upwards).
Inside the chamber one could not help but feel the ancientness all around......again I was a bit gobsmacked at the elegance and ingenuity of the structure and the general building ...how carefully everything must of been thought out........as was pointed out some of those stones weighed a ton. On the shortest day of the year and around that time  the sun sets the passage and some of the back wall is filled with golden light....a perfect alignment.......that would be something to see for sure.
Years after it was built ...The Naughty Norsemen ( as our guide called them) came and bashed their way through the roof.....they graffitied the walls with their runes.......however they did leave behind some glorious small carvings (engravings in the corner stone) of a mythological beast ...a snake and seal with a fish.
They seem to think it was a burial chamber but in my reckoning with what I heard and felt I tend to think it was more for ceremonies ...rites of passage and rituals...who really knows though.

By the time we finished that we were both totally knackered and hungry as we hadn't eaten since 8.30am.

We found a little place in Kirkwall to have an early dinner. As we sat there i noticed a little display for Byron Bay cookies.......I was amazed that here I am in Orkney across the other side of the world and this little shop sold  cookies from my home town.......I asked how come they got to be selling them and I was answered ' We have always sold them'.........I was a bit sorry I asked.
When we finally got home I had to have a little lie down.

I realised I cannot post too many pics anymore as I don't have that many extras left so I have to eke them out.
I had to post the old derelict house and the most beautiful seagull as extras......im off to bed.