Geograph Britain and IrelandLatest Images by Derek Mayes
https://www.geograph.org.uk/
2024-03-19T04:38:39+00:00text/html2024-03-15T09:53:35+00:00https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/60128Derek Mayes58.959392 -3.301123HY2508 : Quiet view
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7728563
Photo from within the Modern Public-library building.
Orkney has one of the oldest Public Library systems in the UK and consistently wins polls for the best Public Library. Two quite new Library buildings in Orkney, one in each Town, are clean, warm and crammed with books and research facilities
Here is the Kirkwall branch https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6172960
And yet, both seem underused.
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In port today are the NorthLink Ferry ship Hamnavoe and the Buoy/Lighthouse vessel, Pharos (both in the photo)text/html2024-03-15T09:32:55+00:00https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/60128Derek Mayes58.959574 -3.300956HY2508 : Modern Tardis
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7728554
Stuffed full of wires, electronic circuits and money.
Street-vending Dr Who style.
It is rare to find a street-phone nowadays but Cards Only Please.text/html2024-03-14T15:29:54+00:00https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/60128Derek Mayes58.967903 -3.294314HY2509 : Stromness Co-Op
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7728317
The only supermarket for 15 miles
The Co-operative Group has been serving Orkney for many years and currently has three storestext/html2024-03-14T15:12:32+00:00https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/60128Derek Mayes58.963469 -3.297625HY2509 : John Rae
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7728310
A bronze, life-size statue to a son of Stromness.
See also https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7592913
Rae was an extraordinary explorer of the Arctic regions of Canada.
Somewhat maligned by the Admiralty and the writer Charles Dickens for his association with the Inuit, from whom he learned the ways of travel and survival.
His relationship nurtured trust in and for the Inuit (Eskimo) ways. They gave him hard and verbal evidence of the demise (and acts of cannibalism) of Franklin's Crew, who were striving for the final link to the NorthWest Passage in ill-fated sail-ships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.
Rae himself most probably found the final link to the NorthWest passage
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rae_(explorer)
Much more of the Franklin/Rae story is here
https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/what-happened-to-erebus-terror-crew-true-storytext/html2024-03-13T15:27:01+00:00https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/60128Derek Mayes59.050429 -3.013269HY4118 : Puldrite
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7727620
A remarkable quay that is rarely at the water's edge, perhaps for half an hour on the biggest tides. I suppose it might just have been constructed to protect the dwelling from wave action during storms.
Puldrite is an historic dwelling with perhaps some recorded history that I cannot locate just now,
It really looks like a quay, with good access from the roadtext/html2024-03-07T10:42:56+00:00https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/60128Derek Mayes58.925869 -3.181747HY3204 : Approaching the Trig Point
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7724199
A gloomy and cold afternoon on Midland Hill Orphir.
The backdrop shows the northern hills of Hoytext/html2024-03-07T10:15:13+00:00https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/60128Derek Mayes58.927719 -3.175904HY3205 : Divot Hall
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7724197
Linked to https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7724194
This photo shows all three historic buildings
There are signs of recent habitation, say well within 30 years, judging by artifacts. But it is all well run-down and pretty hopeless.
The middle of the three is probably Mounthoolly, the bigger, slate-roofed is most probably Divot Hall, the near building appears simply to be a storage barntext/html2024-03-07T09:46:06+00:00https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/60128Derek Mayes58.927719 -3.175904HY3205 : Mounthoolly - Midland
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7724194
A sheltered ruin with distant views of Orphir and Smoogro.
Very run-down, overgrown and somewhat collapsed.
Very old maps suggest that the low roofless building is Mounthoolly (or Mounthooly), the bigger one is named Divot Hall
There are signs of electrical wiring and 'modern' plumbing.
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See also https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7724197
https://scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/digital-volumes/ordnance-survey-name-books/orkney-os-name-books-1879-1880/orkney-volume-14/87
https://maps.nls.uk/view/74427941text/html2023-08-19T12:59:09+00:00https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/60128Derek Mayes58.938566 -3.105970HY3606 : Cot on the Hill - Orphir
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7571438
Gradually tumbling.
Probably empty since 1970stext/html2023-05-29T13:08:51+00:00https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/60128Derek Mayes58.936205 -3.088798HY3705 : Water tank platform
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7496584
Mostly degraded but was a tank storing pumped water to supply nearby housing in the middle of last Century.
a revisit to https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2303631text/html2019-10-06T13:38:40+00:00https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/60128Derek Mayes58.937945 -2.857590HY5005 : Dark wood
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6288932
Unmanaged conifer woodland in Orkney is rare. The block of Norway Spruce is protected by a few mature broadleaves, mostly sycamore but with a few rowan.
Within the wood it is dark and generally devoid of undergrowth, except where the light penetrates near the edges.
The road and woodland straddles the old broch of Long Howe and is not very far from the mysterious Mine Howe http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/minehowe/index.htmltext/html2019-06-24T10:16:15+00:00https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/60128Derek Mayes58.919488 -2.794442HY5403 : Colaconema caespitosum
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6190851
The Wartime anti-tank structures at this location https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6190823 are ecologically significant. Some of the lowest ones host quite rare marine organisms. There are plenty of common limpets of course.
On a few, and on some concrete surfaces, there is the quite rare seaweed Colaconema caespitosum - http://www.seaweed.ie/descriptions/Colaconema_caespitosum.php
World distribution - https://www.gbif.org/species/5278379
My record https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/2242813042
Personally, I think the structures should be protected for their historical and environmental value.text/html2019-06-24T09:55:30+00:00https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/60128Derek Mayes58.918770 -2.794426HY5403 : Wartime Structures
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6190823
These structures are worth recording - I can find no Web-references. They are significant historical and ecological features. The whole line, of mostly concrete truncated pyramids, reaches nearly 200 metres from dry land to quite low water. Some are exposed for most of the day, others for only an hour or two.
They all have a good coating of Wracks (seaweeds) which hide a varied collection of other Marine organisms, some quite rare.
Linked to https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4717066
and my series of iSpot Observations here https://www.ispotnature.org/communities/uk-and-ireland/view/observation/778731/text/html2019-06-09T12:41:22+00:00https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/60128Derek Mayes59.019287 -2.900889HY4815 : Saeva Ness Shelter
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6176728
Having crossed the String and negotiated the Washing Tub race, there is shelter to be found. But not always!
Linked to https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6176699text/html2019-06-09T12:07:22+00:00https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/60128Derek Mayes59.018477 -2.901217HY4814 : Sea Crossing - the String
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6176699
The picture, from mid-sound on a bright and cold day in May. My first solo trip of the year. It is not far but is committing. The small race off the point needs to be expected and mastered, so as to gain shelter below the Light of Saeva Ness. The actual point is within the square, the light tower and old keepers cottages are on the Grid Line.