3rd March

A quiet stroll around Bridesness sparked a major twitch among the Islanders, and a national media frenzy this morning when a WALRUS was found sleeping on the beach there. Well out of its range this fantastic beast should be in the Arctic right know and from its scars and markings it appears to be the same individual photographed in the Faroes at the end of February. We don't know much about Walruses and it could be unwell due to its approachability, but it does however appear to us to be a healthy animal and is presumably fairly tame having never encountered humans before? There is one previous Orkney record (in 1984) and about a dozen from Shetland and with many of North Ronaldsay's bays being sheltered, shallow water suiting its feeding habits, it may stick around a while...
photo's by Mark Warren
...a bit bigger than your average Seal!!!


"I am the eggman, they are the eggmen. I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob" :-)
 photo by Kevin Woodbridge
photo by Kevin Woodbridge

In other less exciting bird news... The Stock Dove remains and 28 Fieldfares were near the mill.

Comments

Holy Pinnipedia!

Just read the BBC News website and loved Mark's quote :o)
Sybil said…
What a spectacular creature ! I'm sure it was a real thrill to see it.

Best wishes,

Sybil in Nova Scotia
Richard Webb said…
Walrus are very approachable in the Arctic.

When did this last happen?
Faroeornitt said…
This whalros has also been see in Norway and on the Faroe Island, on the Faroe island it was discoverd at the islans Svínoy at the 27.02.2013 and was ree discoverd at the island Vágar, Sørvágur on the 21.03.2013 where it was tagged with a satelite sender and a DNA sample was collected, the whalros is still at location.