Catamaran - and body . . .

Such a lovely word with all those "a"s in it! This is our ferry, which is a catamaran, coming between the island of Flotta and Hoxa Head, with Hoy in the background. The building on the Head is part of the wartime battery which was used during both WW1 and WW2. It's a fascinating place and there is more about it here.

While we were up on the cliffs I noticed dozens of blackback gulls lifting from the shore as we approached them. On the beach there was a large white body, about 12 foot long, far too big to be a dead seal pup. I shinned down and took lots of photos of it, but they aren't really the sort of thing for blip! Ollie was very good and stayed away from it, once I'd let him get close enough to take a shot with him in it for scale purposes!

I emailed the photos to the local recorder of such things and he confirmed it was a long dead cetacean, but sadly past identifying. Luckily it is so long dead that it is past the smelly stage! Just a large piece of skin and bone . . . but very dramatic to come across when you're out walking.