We are now all familiar with how the ROV, the remotely operated vehicle as it is called, is deployed under water. Attached to the mother vessel by its power and communications umbilical, it can survey the sea bed and effect...
Category - Column
The Ram on the Rock
Like a Nordic port of old, the Faroese capital of Torshavn smells evocatively of salt and tar. As we disembark the ferry, the harbour waters lap beneath the modest parliament building with its turf roof and oxblood...
Riches from the sea
A mile or so up the coast from the farm, a whale corpse is decomposing in a ‘geo’ (the Orcadian...
Der Mond
I’ve been getting text messages from the moon. A note pops up on my phone asking if the moon can...
Green Flash
In the light of evening the low sun began to illuminate the wall of the croft with a soft amber...
Orkney housing in the 21st century?
The John D. Mackay Memorial Lecture in the 2014 Orkney International Science Festival looked at the...
Rain
One of the exciting things about Orkney is that it is truly oceanic. We are seventy islands in the...
Frost
A sudden dip in temperature reminds us that, here in Orkney, we are closer to the Arctic than we...
A few hot days
For there to be a hot day in Orkney the wind must die down, a rare occurrence. On such a day...
An Orkney wind
Gauging the strength of the wind becomes easy – a force nine tears at the dead skirt of the palm...