As the weather was fairly grotty and it was obviously not a day to ride, we took our visitor to Sumburgh Head to see the puffins.

I took a few photos, as ever, but having gone through my pics, I decided to choose only the comedic or unusual ones.

The first thing that struck me was the puffins’ inability to fly with any grace or beauty.  They resemble Thunderbird 5 or the Vogon Constructor Fleet – “they hung in the air in much the same way that bricks don’t” (Douglas Adams, my hero).

 

Aww, bless them for trying! And try they do, endlessly either throwing themselves at cliffs in the hope they will land or just hover waiting for an opportunity to drop to earth.  It is not elegant.

Serious Puffin

Professional Puffin

Clockwork Puffin

Yoga Puffin

Wind-Beneath-My-Wings Puffin

No-Beak Puffin

Open-Wide Puffin

Pretty Puffin

and best of all, Grubby Puffin!  He’d been diggin’ his burrow and was happily going back and forth enjoying the mud.  Everyone else was spotless but him.

Puffins are funny little guys and always make me smile.  For such a grotty weathered day, we struck gold with our puffins coz we are nuffin’ without a puffin!