Brough of Birsay, a photo from Orkney Islands, Scotland

Photographer's Note

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Brough of Birsay is an uninhabited island off the north west coast of the main Orkney island. It is connected to the mainland by a causeway and is accessible only at low tide. I'd looked up the tides but when we arrived we discovered that they were wrong so this photo was taken on maximum zoom from the mainland.
The reason for visiting the island was to look at the remains of Pictish and Norse settlements. The Norse settlement was built of top of the Pictish one. Back in the 12th century Birsay was the centre of power for the then Norwegian rulers of the island which Gert referred to in a comment. Norway gifted the islands to the King of Scotland who took a Norwegian Princess for a bride.
Somewhere in those remains is an ancient church possibly that round building.

Now in response to Paul's question about places to eat in the Orkneys. We didn't see lots of cafes and restaurants but that wasn't an issue for us because we always try to stay in self-catering places. We did find a couple of places with reasonable coffee. For self catering the capital Kirkwell has a good Tesco supermarket and Stromness (where we stayed) had a decent small one. For Whisky lovers there is also good Orkney distilled Whisky.

holmertz, Fis2, alvaraalto, ChrisJ, ikeharel, pierrefonds, jean113, mcmtanyel has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Silvio1953 (221751) 2021-07-06 22:57

Ciao Ian, fascinating landscape with fantastic cliffs, wonderful natural colors, splendid light and excellent clarity, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

pajaran (116011) 2021-07-06 23:14

Pozdrav.

Lep pogled, interesantan i dobar tekst ...
Lepa priroda i stara arhitektura, dobro pokazano sa lepim bojama, kontrastom i perspeketivom.
Lepa rusevina i fotografija.
Dobar rad, lepo secanje.

Zelim vam sve najbolje.
Pajaa

jemaflor (147248) 2021-07-06 23:28

Hi Ian,
Nice landscape well photographed from a photogenic POV, impressive cliffs and interesting view about this settlement,good colors contrast between green tones and grey stones.

holmertz (102800) 2021-07-07 0:48

Hello Ian,
This is a fascinating view of not just the ruin of what may have been a church, but even more of the layered rocks that look so similar to the wall of the old building that I could have imagined them to be man-made.
Regards,
Gert

Fis2 (170885) 2021-07-07 1:07

Witaj Lan!
A very interesting place, I like it.
The ruins are impressive.
Good POV, colors and light.
Well done.
Good evening.
Krzysztof

abmdsudi (95869) 2021-07-07 1:09

Hi Ian
This is a real treasure and looks super with that fresh green backdrop with wonderful details of the ruins. A very interesting and informative narrative, Excellent capture
Best regards

alvaraalto (42804) 2021-07-07 1:23

Hello Ian,
Too bad you had to visit this place with the telephoto lens in was not able to walk over the rich history of this place.
The picture does make you curious to get closer here.
Well done
Have a nice day, groet Rob

ChrisJ (171888) 2021-07-07 1:32

Hi Ian,

The exposed and layered sedimentary rock face of the cliff is almost as interesting as the old Norse and Pictish ruins in the distance. Good colour and sharpness. Tfs!

pierrefonds (114556) 2021-07-07 6:52

Hi Ian,

The scenery is impressive. The point of view is showing the details of the ruins of the settlement. The light is gving good colors rendering. Have a nice day.

Pierre

lousat (139342) 2021-07-07 8:30

Hi Ian,we can see very well the geological history of this part of Orknet's coast watching this point of view,very nice capture well done despite the distance. Have a nice day and thanks,Luciano

jean113 (27895) 2021-07-07 13:25

Hello Ian, what impresses me about this view is the strata of the rocks before I notice the man made structures .
This must be a unique site and sight!
Taken with maximum zoom, it’s a very good picture.
Kind regards, Jean.

mkamionka (74577) 2021-07-07 13:59

Hi Ian,
Nice multi layered composition. All horizontal, some man made other natural.
Great colors.
very well done,
M

jmdias (115280) 2021-07-10 12:16

ian

we can see as the walls were built with those long blocks and as difficult would be face them from the sea. excellent view.

take care

jorge

mcmtanyel (68647) 2021-07-19 20:32

Hello Ian,
That wall of layered rocks is impressive. I suspect it is natural, am I right?
Regards,
MT