Arctic skua, Shetland Through Atlantic fronts, through a week of wind and rain, I immerse myself in the Shetland experience. A reprise of three weeks spent exploring the Shetland Isles in June and July 2011. An interval of nine years brings change and that's a telling perspective- a history of natural history.
I focus on a selection of locations and themes, not including the coming of North Sea Oil to Shetland- its influence on the infrastructure, its impact on wildlife.
Then I heard Shetland naturalist Bobby Tulloch, a recording from 1974 and I was in deep.
I focus on a selection of locations and themes, not including the coming of North Sea Oil to Shetland- its influence on the infrastructure, its impact on wildlife.
Then I heard Shetland naturalist Bobby Tulloch, a recording from 1974 and I was in deep.
Bobby Tulloch lived on Shetland and was born there. In The Living World, A Visit to Shetland, he speaks of snowy owls breeding on Fetlar in 1967. You can hear his reverence for wildlife, the excitement in his voice at the discovery of seven white eggs and the urgency of protecting them. He tells of red necked phalarope breeding on the Fetlar marshes and their distinctive spinning motion as they feed on a freshwater pool. We saw red necked phalarope during a day on Fetlar but June 2011 was not a good year for them. He knows Fetlar intimately, through the seasons, over the years. Such a chronicle through time is inestimable. As is his detailed local knowledge. He takes us to each scrape on the ground where the snowy owls chose to nest over the several years they were resident on Fetlar during the breeding season. Bobby Tulloch was speaking at the time North Sea Oil was coming to Shetland and he became a member of the Sullen Voe Oil Terminal Advisory Group. (If this comes entirely in capital letters, it is apt.) You may hear the trepidation in his voice as he tells how difficult it is for wildlife to adapt fast to the changes mankind imposes.
In a major review of my writing and website I am aware of the passage of time and how my earlier work will read in the light of species loss and Climate Change. Bobby Tulloch's LIving World programme, recorded in 1974 hints at dramatic changes coming to Shetland.
To read of my Shetland experience - go to Other Writing, Further- Shetland Explore.
In a major review of my writing and website I am aware of the passage of time and how my earlier work will read in the light of species loss and Climate Change. Bobby Tulloch's LIving World programme, recorded in 1974 hints at dramatic changes coming to Shetland.
To read of my Shetland experience - go to Other Writing, Further- Shetland Explore.
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