Portrait of a young Solan goose, learning to fish. In a gale. Bothican, Papay, yesterday.

'Animating the Dead: An #Archaeology of Bronze Age Burial Practices in #Orkney' by Professors Jane Downes and Colin Richards follows decades of research and incorporates new excavation results and radiocarbon dates from sites across the county. Available to pre-order now. #BronzeAge #Prehistory

Well this is on my Christmas list! www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Just showing off. Solan goose in the Papay Sound.

South wick in light, the North end in shadow. A fine October day in Papay, with the sea showing true colours. Also note our new boat naust seating area at The Kelp Store, constructed by our master builders Alistair Hourston and Son.

The Pillar of Mad Geo. A line of sight. Papay - Orkney. Stonebuilt.

ON hross n. 'horse' also occurs in the following #NorthernIsles #PlaceNames: Ross Geo & Russiger (with gjá f. 'Inlet, coastal gully' & garðr 'enclosure') in #Papay, and, Ruskilie (perhaps with hlíð f. 'slope, hillside') in #FairIsle

🍄 ⭐ It's #UKFungusDay today! ⭐🍄 Join in with events, online activities, competitions. Share your favourite fungus facts, photos & creations. Learn about these amazing organisms & celebrate our fungal world. www.ukfungusday.co.uk #fungi #nature #mushrooms #fungus

The Henry Moore of fungi...? Misshapen Giant Puffball (Calvatea gigantea) for #UKfungusday today! @britmycolsoc.org.uk

Here are some installation photos of our show currently on at The Reid Gallery - Glasgow School of Art Even better in real life though, so if you are in Glasgow pop in for a survey of our Papay SurvØY. www.flickr.com/photos/glasg...

A group chat along the East Road, Stone and Whin, a moment of serenity before it gets a little breezy over the weekend..

Some small place-names from the 2nd edition of the OS

Two #Orkney #PlaceNames Knarston (Scapa Bay & Harray) may contain ON knǫrr­ m. a type of ship, specifically a ‘large Nordic merchant & warship’ (ONP) compounding with either staðr m. farm-settlement/dwelling’ or stǫð f. 'landing-place, jetty’. Find out more: open.substack.com/pub/uonengli...

Happy to share a call for papers for our PGR/ECR research showcase on Life and Landscape. The showcase is a fantastic opportunity to share environmental research with both the academic community and the wider public. Please share widely!

It might just be about some islands to the north of Scotland on 9th December!

The Scottish Society for Northern Studies day conference is now open for registration with a great line up of speakers #scotland #scandinavia #medievalsky www.ssns.org.uk/events/ssns-...

Biggest surprise in #Eday today, while photographing the old North School, was what was inside! Other than the classroom with scale model of it and the attached house... was a submarine... a real one! Reconstructed inside the building! Well worth a visit (not to mention all the models).

ON kista f. 'chest, coffin, casket' occurs in many #Orkney #PlaceNames, often referring to coastal rocks, incl. Calf of Eday where we find Kistin. This name appears to retain the ON definite article -in & so is perhaps a very old name for this bay! Also a good spot for creels I am told.

Spent the afternoon writing up #Eday #PlaceNames on to a map. Folk have told me of field names and fishing grounds that I'm yet to find elsewhere.

Another #Eday oral history interview today was followed by a prowl around Cusbay! Cusvy in 1750 & Cousbay/Cuthesbay in 1879. One spelling suggests ON kuithe/Scots cuithe 'young coalfish' but the 1750 spelling + its pronunciation, even today's, would seem to discount this option #PlaceNamePuzzles

An#Eday #wildflowerhour Whilst here researching #PlaceNames I spotted my favourite... #BogMyrtle growing near Skaill! Latin name Myrica gale, a plant of many uses not found in many sites (to my knowledge) in #Orkney Top tip from @peediepus.bsky.social to look out for it here!

Another great interview in #Eday today, this time with Eday's last fisher! Need to write up some of the #PlaceNames we talked about... once again the pronunciation of names has proved invaluable!

On the way to do another interview at the north end of #Eday, stopped off at Skaill below the Bay of Icevay, where it looks out over Eday Sound. ON skáli m. '(main) house (the most important living space on a farm (where people worked, ate and slept), banquet hall (ONP) #Orkney #PlaceNames

Currently reading...

Now sailing back to #Eday aboard the Earl Sigurd. See Fersness Hill (L) and Ward Hill (R) as we round War Ness. #PlaceNames #Orkney

Today was an #Archives day at the fab @orkneylibrary.bsky.social Found some lovely documents. Here are some early-ish #Eday names from a 1729-1741 list of debtors to add to my #PlaceNames database!

Another lovely day in #Eday looking at #PlaceNames & talking to folk. Collected 40 field names, some of which I can't see recordered elsewhere! On another note, here is The Graand (a common #Orkney name) ON grand 'sand/gravel bank, slope', typically a spit of rocky beach projecting into the sea.

Tonight's #Eday fare, pizza with an Eday field mushroom (Agaricus campestris) made at The Ruah! Ruah, also spelled Rowa is perhaps ON rauða 'red' on account of the red rocky shore beyond the croft #PlaceNames #Orkney #Fungi

A backlit St Boniface, while the clouds are drawn in the blue. The old kirk this evening, Papay, island of the Papar.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be invited into someone's house with a view over Calf Sound to carry out another interview about the #PlaceNames of #Eday ... there is even talk of a field-name map! On the R is the Calf of Eday where the seals were singing & on the L the cliffs of Red Head #Orkney

The Equinox gales failed overnight, leaving us to wander in the stillness. South Wick, Papay, this morning.

Having a lovely time in #Eday! First oral history interview today re places & their names. So nice to be invited into people's homes with such a warm welcome! Today, I focussed on the district of Westside/Seal Skerry tunship! #Orkney #PlaceNames

Our SurvØY show is up at Glasgow School of Arts Reid gallery until the 1st of November. Islands in time, space and fragments of flint.. SurvØY is a Papay based artist collaboration between Jonathan Ford and Saoirse Higgins.

Author copy arrived the day

ON stafr m. 'staff, pole, pillar, boundary post, border' (ONP) occurs in a few #Orkney #PlaceNames. Marwick remarks that it is often used of projecting rocks (1923: 58) & notes it in Staves (Stronsay) & Staffs Geo (North Ronaldsay), although the Stronsay application is 'unertain'.

Gairsay, home of Sveinn Ásleifarson in the #Saga of the Earls of #Orkney!... Will we see the caves in which he hid from Earl Haraldr as we pass Greenholm!? open.substack.com/pub/uonengli...

September research trip is just about to start... waiting to board the Varagen to Eday! #Orkney #PlaceNames

Wonderful Open Country episode re Fair Isle! We remember Marie's knitting studio, Eileen's fantastic baking and lovely times in the Community Hall talking #placenames and #sagas! www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

We've just been to the preview of this wonderful exhibition by @papayranger.bsky.social and Saiorse Higgins, a must-see if you're in Glasgow, in fact a reason to go! #Papay #Orkney gsaexhibitions.co.uk/exhibition/s...

Orkney's 5th record of Brown Shrike, present in the garden of the Manse today #BirdingOrkney A species that I always thought should have one day been on the cards for here #PWC2025 #RareBirdsUK

Well done Tom!! 🥃

Just a couple of Glistening Inkcaps (Coprinellus micaceus) on a grassy verge, presumably on some buried decaying wood #shrooms #fungi #autumn

Exciting international #runic event in Kirkwall, Monday 20 October 2025. Free, open to all, and with refreshments! #runes #runology #Orkney

Þorfinnr (later the Mighty), youngest son of Earl Sigurðr of Orkney, was sent off aged five for fostering by his mother's father, king of the Scots, while Sigurðr went off to Ireland, where he died at the battle of Clontarf, carrying his own raven banner (Saga of the Earls of Orkney ch. 12). 🧵 1/5

Should you happen to be in Kirkwall on Saturday the 25th of October, do come and say hello in the Orcadian Bookshop!

We're thrilled to announce our fantastic series of free @thinkuhi.bsky.social online and in-person seminars, conferences, and symposia for 2025-26! Discover the full line-up on our website and secure your place today! www.uhi.ac.uk/en/research-...

In the news @thinkuhi.bsky.social MLitt Viking Studies student, Stephen Barnaby, discusses his research on the Norse in Caithness #viking #History #intangibleheritage tinyurl.com/4mbmx9ct

In ch. 26 of the Saga of the Earls of Orkney, Þorfinnr's attack on Rǫgnvaldr Brúsason in the Pentland Firth was not going well, so he goaded his ally and kinsman-by-marriage Kálfr Árnason into supporting him with a curious comparison ... 🧵1/3

This was fun! We're so pleased with how they turned out!

First Shaggy Parasol (chlorophyllum rhacodes) of the year for me! On the verge of a lane in #Staffordshire #fungi #shrooms