Having experienced two hard winters here my advice would be to order early just in case!

*Special Event at my Gallery in Birsay*

Don’t forget the special Xmas weekend, 10th/11th December, 11am-5pm where you can enjoy a stress free shop & a glass of mulled wine!  

 
With warm winter wishes
Roger

We seem to have had a busy summer with Orcas & not very much else….

3rd June - 4 Orcas Sandside Bay, Mull Head

6th June - Approx 8 Orcas feeding off Hoxa Head

7th June - Pod of 6 Orcas feeding in Birsay Bay

12th June - 2 Bottlenose Dolphins very rare , Deerness

16th June - Orcas Barrier No.4 heading North

26th June - Orcas in Birsay Bay, Otter at Skipi Geo hunting from the rocks

11th July - Orcas at point of Ness Stromness

15th July - 4 Orcas at Burwick, South Ronaldsay

21st July - Pod of Orcas Breckness heading south into the Flow & a pod of Orcas at Marwick heading North

15th August - Minke Whale off the Brough of Birsay

Well here we go the Orcas are here…

18th May - A pod of Orcas in Scapa Flow

19th May - x6 Orcas seen from the John o’groats ferry 1 half miles south of Lother rock

25th May - A pod of Orcas in Scapa Flow

3oth May - A pod of Orcas off the Brough of Birsay to the north side around 2pm. We didn’t see them!!

Even though we know Otters aren’t marine we would like to tell you that whilst Roger was out fishing back in March one evening he was accompanied by 2 adult Otters over Finstown way. They were in & out of the water & he had some great views but sadly no photographs! 

5th April - A pod of Orcas were seen in Eynhallow sound, Evie

Well the sun is shining as I type this but it is chilly for May!

Wildlife & Island news

However, the island is bubbling & singing it’s spring tune. I heard my first Lark back in February this year which is always a sure thing that things are changing. I think that has to be one of the most wondeful birdsongs! It always raises your spirits. We actually went to the cathedral on sunday & enjoyed Camerata playing a themed concert on birds in conjunction with the RSPB. They played The Lark ascending which was truly stunning!

The Oyster catchers & Curlews are bubbling & whistling away constantly. The Lapwings are more in evidence now too. The busy sand martins are flitting about down on the beach beneath the house flying in & out of their homes. My favourite wader, the Ringed Plover is scuttling about the tideline always busy! They  are very terratorial & are amazingly brave when I walk with Selkie down there protecting their space..incredible. We haven’t seen a Puffin yet but have heard they are here. The Bonxies (great Skuas) are patroling the cliff edges already. We are seeing the Short eared owl more frequently too & enjoying them hovering over the nearby fields & then diving for their pray. We actually watched 3 at once last month. The hen harriers are more prominent again too. The lovely Wheatears are flitting about the dry stone walls & perching on the fence posts enjoying the sun.   

It is quiet on the marine mammal front at the moment but there were a couple of sightings of Orcas back in April… Roger was lucky enough to see 2 Otters when he was fishing back in April so he was excited about that! He had good close views of them in & out of the water.  

Craiglands

Well I managed to get my tatties planted at the beginning of May this year as it was so warm & sunny. I also sowed salad & spinach crops & they are coming up already i noticed today. Broad beans & courgettes started to take over our kitchen & have now been put to the greenhouse! Hopefully I will be planting those out the first week of June. I always sow wildflower seeds now in various places around the garden & they too are appearing..they really put on a colourful display throughout the summer. so fingers crossed for a lovely summer this year.

One of our ducks disappeared & took up residence in my green house due to it having glass missing & she has a nest with 10 eggs in it! So anytime now she will hatch those beautiful fluffy ducklings that everyone adores. So I’m sure there will be some photos soon.

I am busy preparing for The Orkney Folk Festival which is just over a week away! If you happen to be here between the 26th-29th May in Stromness be sure to catch something. More info is availabale at www.orkneyfolkfestival.com I am performing on the saturday night in the Festival Club, Stromness hotel. I have a new line-up; still Graham Simpson on guitar but Kathie Touin originally from California has joined me on keyboard. This change has given my current songs a fresh new sound & we have added some new material so come & hear us if you can?! 

Fluke News  

We have been busy preparing some new pieces of jewellery to be added to our website & updating it slightly. We hope these new updates will be live by the end of the week. Roger has made several new pieces including a Kudos seahorse brooch & pendant, charms, Limpet shell jewellery which has been added to our popular Groatie Buckie collection & more. Have a look at the weekend…

We are sure you are all busy too with your Spring jobs..it seems to be such a busy time of year for everybody. Hopefully we will see some of you over the coming months..

Until next time keep well & happy.

Jo & Roger

Cornflowers…the colours of summer to come..

Due to the current increase in prices of metals & VAT we will be reluctantly adjusting our prices both at our gallery & website from 14^th March 2011. We have always endeavoured to keep our prices extremely competitive, which meant the majority of our collection has not seen an increase for the best part of 3 years.However, we would like to give you this opportunity to purchase anything from our current collections at the existing price.

Also due to the fact that gold prices are continually fluctuating we have removed all gold prices. However, these pieces are still available but you will need to contact us to get a current price & timescale.

With Kind Regards

Roger & Jo

We managed to get some winter sun in Spain recently & I have put a few photos here in the hope it might bring you a bit of  warm sun during these dark months!

I managed to get in the garden last week & do some clearing in the borders under the watchful eye of my new garden companion ‘Peter Rabbit’! I think he is going to be a real friend to me this year & help protect the veg garden when needed & also be a great listener! It was a sunny but cold day perfect for working outside, with a few layers I hasten to add! The geese were a constant companion as were the swooping balls of starlings. It was good to see so many things peeking through in the garden. Even the buds were daring to show themselves after the bitter, snowy winter. It gives you a sense of hope of what the year might bring.

Peter Rabbit of Craiglands -my new gardening friend!

Sparkling sunny sea! mmmm

We hope you all had a great christmas & are looking forward to the New Year! We enjoyed our white christmas & shared a goose with some good friends. Our celebrations preceeding xmas (as for many folk!)were somewhat few due to being snowed in twice within a month..looking forward to the snow & ice going now…. 

Please note we are unable to send out any orders between the 4th - 18th January 2011 inclusive or deal with any email enquiries. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause during this time. We will deal with all enquiries on our return.

Have a great New Year & thank you for your continued custom. We look forward to seeing some of you in 2011!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from Roger, Jo & Selkie!

More news & photos soon…it is snowing heavily again as I type!!

Icicles over front door!

Well its just under 4 weeks to go now until Christmas is here. Are you ready? No, maybe, sort of, I think is what we all feel at this time! It was good to hear from so many of you after we sent out our Christmas email & we have since sold out of our limited edition Fire & Ice pendant! However, the limited edition drop earrings are still available but again only 50 are being made. The handmade studs & rings will continue to be available. There are still plenty more ideas for individual gifts.. Our Special Offer of any piece of jewellery & buy Jo’s CD for £10 is still available for this limited christmas period only….

So here in Orkney we had a severe weather warning on thursday from the MET office & we waited in anticipation…the snow started on friday evening & by the morning we had a good covering. The three of us set off on a winter wonderland walk across the fields after a hearty brunch. Selkie loves the snow & bounds about all over the place chasing & playing with it. We enjoy watching her having such a great time & she is such a poser for the camera, honestly have a look a the photos!! The snow had drifted in the wind & so walking was quite hard & unexpectedly deep in places..see Roger! He he..We endured real blizzard conditions & as we walked back towards the house we were heading North, right into into the eye of it.. 

After enjoying a bitingly cold walk & all sorts of amazing light & views we got back, lit a fire & cracked open the mulled wine..bliss! I’ve added some photos from the weekend so you can see how beautiful & dramatic it is at the moment.

Take care, happy shopping,christmas planning & keep warm..

With Seasons Greetings

Jo & Roger

A snowy moody Brough of Birsay!

Our summer this year was mixed weather wise & it certainly wasn’t as settled as last year. However, the garden did well because of this, once we had dispatched of a baby rabbit that had started enjoying the fruits of my (Jo’s) efforts! Since then Roger & my dad have made proper gates that are rabbit proof for areas in the garden..fingers crossed for next year?! Once done everything seemed to flourish & I am pleased to say that I got 4 1st prizes at the Dounby show for various vegetables & bread. What a feast we enjoyed from broccoli, broad beans, Foccacio bread. However we didn’t eat the marguerite flowers that also got a 1st!! I sprinkled wild flower seed in a patch round the garden & we had a continual blend of gorgeous colour from July through to September, see photo below. I also seem to grow very weird shape potatoes each season. I tried sweet peas outside this year which did well up against our dry stone wall. I planted up an old belfast sink that we had had for years & enjoyed seeing those lovely little alpines spread themselves in a relatively short space of time. 

 It was great as always to see so many returning customers who have become part of our life here. Many people holiday at the same time each year in Orkney so we get to know when to expect folk now. Roger has been busy keeping up with replenishing our jewellery. He has made some lovely individual handmade pieces for customers during this year. He has also made some new sculptures so have a look on our Sculpture page There are new bracelets now available online within our Sandkrumma/Groatie Buckie page that have proved popular. Our very special Fire & Ice handmade limited edition pieces are still available but only a few pendants are now left.

Selkie is as lovely as ever & still has loads of energy. She is a joy to take out for a walk & a swim! She will be 7 this weekend aaahhh. We know she is loved by many of our customers who visit us, so I have put some new photos of her on our Flickr page. Olive is still enjoying her retirement & has all the grass she could ever eat all to herself! We enjoyed lovely sights of swallows around our home this year & at one point there were a dozen or so sitting on our washing line. The short eared owl & hen harriers are about again now & Roger took some great photos of the owl so i will put them on Flickr too.

As always there were many musical events throughout the summer & we had a lovely weekend on Hoy & performed at The Gable End Theatre. We were able to enjoy a sunny weekend too so did some walking on the beautiful beach of Rackwick. The Folk Festival was as fantastic as ever & many late nights were had amongst great music & friends. Roger managed to get out a bit & enjoy some fishing on some beautiful still evenings. I have now added a selection of photos taken during the summer months..

Anyway, our next update will be to let you know of our christmas posting dates & special offer.

So until next time, keep warm & cosy..don’t forget to change the clocks!!

Best Wishes

Jo & Roger

Weird potatoes!