Hello.
I hope you had a good Christmas and New Year. It's been a rather wild festive break here in the south end of Shetland, with many strong winds to battle against and an awful lot of rain. Have you made any resolutions? Apart from the usual "eat less, excercise more" kind of thing, one of my resolutions is to keep a year list. The list begins with birds spotted during the first sunrise of 2012 whilst walking my dog (before going to bed!) - starlings singing away like it was summer, a raven looking for something to scavenge, followed by a herring gull.
People often ask "What do you do in the winter?" Well, there's always essentials like Health and Safety checks, but much of our time is taken up reporting on and learning from the year gone past, then there's preparing for the year ahead. There's something about fresh new diaries and wall planners that I like. Already, there's a lot marked in them - meetings, travel, dates to remember. However, it's the unpredictable that I like to ponder on, like what date will we be marking down the return of our Arctic terns, guillemots and puffins and when will the contractors arrive at Sumburgh Head to begin the redevelopments?
One question that many are asking is "What's going to happen with the Mousa ferry?" That is a question that no-one can answer. The Jamiesons served the island for more than forty years, and we wish them well in their retirement. I find it difficult to imagine going to Mousa without Tom at the wheel, but Mousa Boat Trips is still for sale as a going concern and I remain hopeful for someone to come forwards to take on the service. So, please spread the word!
I'll leave you with a blog entry by Chris Gomersall (no doubt you will have seen his photographs in Birds magazine) from 2020Vision, which refers to Sumburgh Head. RSPB are an endorsing partner to the ambitious photography project, which will no doubt bring some amazing images to our computer screens.
I look forwards to sharing news from Shetland over the coming year. Thank you for reading.
Helen