-Seals
and Otters
-The Eight Mile Dog
-Mary Ann's Cottage
-Goosey Gander
Grounded
-Sunset Sunrise
Together -Snow
Blow
-Puffins
|
 |
Seals and Otters Seals make a
sound not unlike a fog horn on a light house, they collect on smaller rocks by the rock
stacks some 300m away. You can walk down to the shore and photograph them, with care
and little haste. The numbers vary from zero to about 100, early season has most, end
season has least. Both common and grey seals bask here on the rocks. Otters also frequent
the same area, but, most often in twilight hours and dead of night. (Back)
|
Goosey Gander Grounded
The wind on Dunnet Head can be rather strong and a much asked
question is how strong, well the inside of an American twister is off the scale and sucks
cars up into the sky but the wind near by can be about the same. Wind can amplify in the gullies of cliffs also small cuts on the edge, mini gully. Results
can be about 150mph peaks.
In 1982/3 the previous cook Lynette had put the horse away and then went to collect the
geese. Geese lie with their long necks flat on the ground pointing into the wind, this is
to prevent them being blown away, its that bad that they wont move.
So someone has to go and collect them one by one and carry them to the pen.
Lyn bent down to scoop up a goose but
the wind blew her over, she tried again and again, all methods of stance were tried, and
she failed. She returned to the house and told me she was unable to scoop them up, John asked if she
had braced herself and leaned into the wind a bit, "of course" she said.
He felt she had not tried well enough, so off he went, striding out along the cliff top
field, to do what he felt she could have done had she approached the task with a little
thought. He was wrong, try as he might, he was not able to scoop up a single goose, as you can
guess, he tried, but he did not succeed. The solution was for both of them to stand and
link arms. John provided the stable position, Lyn linked her arm into his, bending down
with the free arm scooping up a goose, he provided a wind shield as best he could with his
body whilst Lyn carried them back one by one to the pen. And that is the true story of
goosey gander grounded. Thats wind! (Back)
|
Snow Blow
Do we get a lot of snow on Dunnet Head we are
often asked? well we do see a lot at times, but get it, well not too much, to explain, its
Horizontal Snow. In 14 years the previous owners only saw Vertical Snow twice. Normally
the snow keeps going south and ends up where it can stop, where the wind will allow it, if
you get my "Drift" hi hi! We can get a blizzard which doesn't allow you to see across the single track road outside
the Tearoom when its daylight, but that's rare, however it can be very cold when this
happens, its wind chill plus, say minus 20c
It is estimated that if you stood in the middle of the road with these conditions for
about 10 minutes, in shirt sleeves, you could develop rigour mortis in a rather well
preserved state. Cold days by themselves are not so bad for maintaining a good house temperature, but the
wind makes it many times worse. Energy needed to warm a house in southern Spain, or southern England is little in
comparison to the north coast of Scotland. There are worse places in the islands off the
coast of Scotland, yet, there are those who would like to put VAT on fuel for all EU at
the same rate, not a fair way to raise revenue when some pay a heck of a lot and others
pay little. .(Back)
|
The Eight-Mile
Dog
Standing in the garden at the rear of the
Tearoom by the viewpoint seat, it is eight miles to the Island of Hoy. Looking over the top of the Rock Stacks a beach can be seen, in the summer children go
down to the beach to play with their Dog, if you watch the children play through
binoculars, the Dog can be seen jumping up at the children and barking, but the clear
sound of the dog takes some seconds to reach Dunnet Head.(Back)
|
Sunset Sunrise Together
For a few weeks either side of the longest day
the sunset and rise merge into one show. It starts at about midnight till 01.00/02.00hrs
when it is light again, at 02.30 hrs the sun has made its impression over the horizon and
its time to get up and go touring. The trouble would be getting a Caithness B&B lady
to get up and make breakfast at that time.
One member of a family staying at a
B&B awoke to require the use of the toilet, seeing the sun up and strong he got
dressed and awoke the rest of the family. After washing and brushing up, one of them
looked at the clock only to find it was a little past 02.30hrs. One member of the family
was not popular for sure. Don't forget to look at your watch should you visit the loo,
unless you think it couldn't happen to you. (Back)
|
Puffins
Puffins live at sea and come onto land to breed
only; they arrive April/May and return to sea in July/August.
Puffins burrow in the sand stone rocks, or earth near the top of the cliffs. The Rock
Stack at the rear of the Tearoom has puffins nesting on the north side. At the end of
Dunnet Head stand on the view point and face north. Then turn east (to the right) and walk
to the fence on the cliffs, walk up and down that small area where the cliffs do a U bend
and the Puffins can be seen nesting on the other side of the "U".
There is an excellent tour called "Puffin Express" - see details
at http://www.PuffinExpress.co.uk
On no account go outside the fenced
area it is very dangerous, even if the path goes over the fence don't you. (Back)
|
Mary Ann's Cottage Please visit this fantastic cottage on Dunnet
Head. It is located on the "West Side" of the Head, take the road from Dunnet
Village that follows the western edge, not the B855 which passes the Tearoom.
Leaflets are available in the breakfast room and the Tourist Office. Mary Ann's Cottage is as it
was 100 years ago approx., Mary lived in her house until recent years when she moved to
the senior citizens establishment. I regret to say that Mary is not with us any more,
after ninety-nine years. It was our pleasure to be host to Mary each year on her birthday.
Mary did not have any modern equipment in the cottage, today, its as she left it, The
cottage is run by volunteers, we all appreciate the time they give freely for the benefit
of others. Open June to September, 2 to 4.30pm, closed Mondays. (Back)
|
