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The Covenanter’s Memorial……  

by Bernie Bell - 07:32 on 28 February 2025

The Covenanter’s Memorial……

 

A fine sunny day, with a definite hint of Spring in the air, and we went for a gentle stroll to the Covenanter’s Memorial, Deerness.

 

We’ve been there before…

 

https://theorkneynews.scot/2020/08/12/remembering-the-covenanters/

 

…..but there’s always something different to notice even on the most familiar walks.

 

A large flock of Geese were ‘put up’ from a nearby field…

 

 

 

It was hard to tell what they were by sight, but we could distinguish the harsh honking of Greylags, and some ‘wittering’ from the Pink-footed Geese.

 

Arriving at the Memorial…..

 

 

….and looking about us, a 180 degree panorama presented a string of islands – Shapinsay, Eday, Stronsay, and Auskerry.

 

When we’re out an about in the East Mainland, it always takes us a moment to work out which islands, or bits of the Mainland, we’re seeing as it’s a very different perspective to what we’re used to from our more familiar stomping grounds in the West Mainland. 

I didn’t attempt a photo, far too wide-angle for our cameras!

 

Mike, however, wrote a little ditty….

 

From  an unaccustomed angle

Isles are hard to disentangle

In your mind.

 

Are those cliffs across the Bay 

Or a view of Shapinsay

From behind?

 

McB  Feb ‘25

 

We walked along the cliff-top path for a short way, noticing an appealing little pool in a hollow, with a cliff-scape reaching down along the coast…

 

Looking the other way, more cliffs and an intriguing dip in the land….

 

 

 

We wondered if it might be a Gloup, but it isn’t marked as such on the OS map.

 

Walking back the way we came, we noticed a neat little clump of lichen in the bank by the path…

 

 

And one of the, by now ubiquitous, Stoat traps…

 

 

….and thought, once again, of how the ‘Stoat People’ need to balance in some precarious places to place their traps…

 

http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=16248

 

Standing there on that stretch of cliff-top path was utterly peaceful – just the sound of the sea gently lapping, and the birds.  Did us a world of good.

 

And so, to the Dashing Deer for lunch, which was scrumptious, as always!

 

http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=17146

 

 

 

 

 


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