A FEW days spent with our Norwegian cousins is always a good opportunity to get a different poli­tical perspective from that in London or Edinburgh. So a three-day trip to Norway as a guest of the Norwegian government was a welcome and useful opportunity to renew old acquain­tances, meet new faces and get the Nordic take on world events.

Norway is no more immune from the vagaries of world events than the rest of us but right at the moment they do have quite a lot about which to feel pleased. Time spent with senior members of the Norwegian central …

MY NEIGHBOUR Jimmy recalls digging tatties out of the snow one October many years ago, and there was one occasion in the early 1990s when I was convinced that our weather forecasting cat had got it all wrong.

Minkus, a magnificent brown tabby tomcat, and his tabby sister Frances, were born on my lap on 25th May 1980. She was a home bird all her life, while he spent his youth around the croft, honing his rabbit hunting skills for a couple or years, then vanished every spring as soon as the weather warmed up a little, usually in late …

GIVEN the sudden wintry weather at the beginning of October, it is not surprising that several bird visitors from northerly regions were recorded this week.

These included pink-footed geese, barnacle geese, Arctic terns, an Iceland gull, a juvenile Sabine’s gull, two little auks, a king eider, snow buntings and a Hornemann’s Arctic redpoll.

The Sabine’s gull was observed flying over Old Scatness on the 5th. This gull, a rare vagrant from the Arctic, winters off the coasts of south-western Africa and north-western South America, and is usually only seen inshore in Britain following strong winds.

The Hornemann’s Arctic redpoll, which …

THERE was definitely a northern feel to the North Isles last week.

An Arctic redpoll took up residence in Norwick, Unst, for a few days from 1st October, in company with some common redpolls.

There are two different races of Arctic redpoll that occur here – this individual was identified as a Hornemann’s, the larger paler race which actually occurs from Ellesmere and Baffin Island in northern Canada through to Greenland, this latter from where ours are thought to come.

And what a stunner it was – an almost ghostly bird in flight, but when it landed, often within touching …

SHETLAND Field Studies Group’s penultimate outing this year, the “migration” trip, saw the minibus attacked by savage squalls and violent blinding waterfalls of rain, but the day was a success despite it all. Nearly 40 different bird species were seen and a number of Shetland’s hardier twitchers were in the vicinity, offering directions to interesting arrivals, which greatly enhanced the day.

Chief of the thrills was a magnificent long-eared owl which sat unmoved as cameras clicked. The instant digital records of those brooding golden eyes and gorgeous plumage remain witness to a day far from wasted.

Birds are all around …

25 YEARS AGO

A fire caused extensive damage to the Lerwick hotel on Tuesday night. No-one was injured in the blaze but the hotel’s dining room, cocktail bar and restaurant were severely damaged. The total value of the damage is not yet known.

From about 10 o’clock on Tuesday night barmaids in the hotel’s cocktail bar could smell something burning, but, as one of them said: “I thought nothing of it at first with all the fag reek there is.” By about 10.20 the barmaids could see the smoke coming from the roof. They alerted the manageress, Miss Sharon Taylor, …

Tourist season

IN THE North Isles the success of the 2008 tourist season has been somewhat patchy. Some visitor attractions and venues report a really good season while others are slightly down on last year.

The Old Haa in Yell is one of the places showing an increase in visitor numbers despite the fact that a number of coaches due to call were cancelled. Shearings, the English coach company, booked 19 tours taking in the Old Haa but eight never materialised.

The Shearings tours also call at the Boat Haven in Haroldswick but they, too, report an increase on last …

Harbour news

THERE were limited movements in Scalloway Harbour in the week up to Friday.

The Lowestoft-registered survey vessel Ocean Observer came to port to seek shelter and lay in for several days. The 2,820grt vessel is said to be surveying around the Solan Field, west of Shetland. This substantial oil field is under extensive investigation and is deemed as commercially viable. It is expected to begin production in 2010.

The Anglian Sovereign also called in for shelter at the weekend.

Fishing activity was low at the market with five boats landing a total of 837 boxes. The Guardian Angell, …

Class-leading Forester

SUBARU knows it’s on to a good thing here.

For decades it’s been churning out road cars with four-wheel-drive that have performed ridiculously well in times of marginal grip, yet had such a heavy thirst for the go-juice that many of us mortals couldn’t afford to run them.

Now though, the all new and genuinely unique diesel boxer engine is changing all that.

We first saw it in the Legacy estate car, but now it’s making an appearance in the new-look Forester.

“Class leading” is a phrase you read a lot in the press packs surrounding the launch …

THE LOCAL football season finished a couple of weeks ago with Delting retaining the overall senior trophy for an unprecedented seventh time in a row.

There were mutterings earlier in the summer from some quarters about the champions being somewhat over the hill and Whalsay now being the team to beat. But having picked up the first knockout competition in fine style it was downhill from there on for the men from the Bonnie Isle.

Delting, on the other hand, ground out result after result, often winning by a single goal, and finished the season unbeaten and four points ahead …