Guillemot hotel

We hired a car and set off to explore the west coast of mainland Orkney. We walked along the red sandstone cliffs near Yesnaby but were careful not to be blown over the edge by the strong easterly wind. We saw purple marsh orchids but it was a bit late in the year to see the rare Primula scotica. We visited Scara Brae - the Neolithic village that had been uncovered during a storm in 1850 by the then laird of Skaill House. It was beautiful on a sunny day but must be a very bleak spot in mid-winter.

We ended up at the northwestern point of the mainland. The Brough of Birsay is a small island which can be visited by a causeway at low tide. We were very fortunate to meet a lovely couple who took us in hand and showed us some of the wildlife on the island. They had been visiting Orkney for many years and were a mine of information. 
I really wanted to see some puffins. We had seen some off the west coast of Scotland some years ago when we sailed our boat around the UK. However, they flashed past and dived into the water so quickly that I didn't manage to photograph any. It's doubly difficult when you're trying to capture a moving target from a boat that's going up and down! I did get a few shots of puffins but unfortunately, I didn't have my telephoto lens on this trip. I have added one as an extra.
I took so many photos that it was hard to choose which one to post, but I rather liked this shot of the cliffs which was home to the guillemots