The weather gods are shaking their fists at us again, forcing the Artic Sunrise to seek shelter in one of the three large bays of Stronsay in the Orkney Isles. Which is bad news for our mission, but good news for the 'twitchers' amongst the crew as the island abounds with birdlife and we've arrived here smack in the middle of the breeding season. Large colonies of gannets and fulmars live on the cliffs to the south and west, and there's also a loch and marshes which are havens for ducks and waders including the rare pintail (perhaps only 50 breeding pairs in Britain). And there are land (as opposed to sea) birds here too - swallows flew overhead as we lowered our anchor chain yesterday evening.
