After a relaxing start to the day, we headed to the Bressay Ferry terminal for the 12:00PM crossing. At the jetty I noticed and orange “football” floating around the foot of the jetty. Then it flexed, and suckered legs appeared propelling along the ironworks. It was our first ever encounter with an octopus, and it was extremely exciting. The camera being stowed in my rucksack – we were unable to get a photograph before it swam further away and into dark water.
As we crossed to Bressay, I did a search of Octopus species to be found in UK waters, and both Curled Octopus (Elodine cirrhosa) and Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris) seemed potential candidates based on our briefest of views. This evening, I referred to the hive mind on the Shetland Birds and Wildlife FB group, and Curled Octopus was put forward as the most likely, as it has the most northerly distribution.
Walking past Bressay Marina Harbour we noted 3 Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus) and two Common Seal (Phoca vitulina) hauled out on the rocks, whilst a fourth Grey Seal corked in deeper water.
Grey Seal, Bressay Marina
Common Seal, Bressay Marina
Following Uphouse Road, up and over, we turned downhill to the Loch of Brough. From the open moorland came the calls of Red Grouse (Lagopus scotia), and as we turned our attention towards the source, a covey flushed away from us. Turning to follow the track along the side of the Loch, we disturbed a couple more small groups of grouse.
Red Grouse
Our destination was the souterrain [Fogou] at Wadbister; the former an underground passage dating to Bronze Age; the latter an abandoned mediaeval settlement. Having found the entrance to the underground chamber, I climbed through the short narrow remains of the passageway and sat inside for a while. Using the phone torch to explore the very cramped interior, I noted the repurposed quern stone in the dry-stone walls.
Wadbister settlement
entrance to the souterrain
inside - note the repurposed quern on the left of the picture
looking out / looking in
looking in / looking out
Exploring the remaining structures of the mediaeval settlement we saw our first Shetland Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes zetlandicus) of the trip. Returning to the Bressay Ferry terminal we noted the non-native Monkeyflower (Mimulus guttatus) flowering in the wet ditch alongside the Uphouse Road.
Seep Monkeyflower, Uphouse Road
Back on mainland the short walk back to The Watchmakers, was punctuated with respite at both The Noost and The Lounge.
I've been hankering after a visit to the Iron Age souterrain called Boleigh Fogou for sometime now. Earlier visits to the more accessible Cornish fogous at Carn Euny and Chysauster - along with the thrilling ramblings of Julian Cope in The Modern Antiquarian (1998) - mean't that this visit was long overdue. These man made caves and passageways still hold a mystery as to their original purposes - with grain storage, defence or ritual all being suggested (perhaps a combination of all?).
Boleigh Fogou lies in the wooded - private garden of Rosemerrynwood - as such a visit to this site is by appointment only. However, a swift exchange of phone calls mid-week secured both a Friday viewing and a warm welcome from the host. We were left free to explore the site alone, and were given no time pressure in which to do this.
As you enter the subterranean building from the south eastern "entrance" it is only a short way through, before you find a door on the left hand side. This door leads into a further passage - both lower in height and more intimate than the first. This second passage is known as a "Creep". Any ambient light from the doorway is lost almost completely as you edge forward into this new passage.
Turning the head torch on I jumped as a seated figure hove starkly into close view. This anthropomorphic stone is presumably not an original feature of the Iron Age archaeology - instead carved and placed by modern hands - to represent mother and child - a product of modern ritual use of the site?
Beyond the "mother" stone the creep turns left at what feels like a right-angle. Underground the alignment of the creep, to the wider passage from which you first enter is a little disorientating? McNeil Cooke (1996) has a schematic drawing which shows the creep running away from the main passage at an approx. 45deg angle - when I was inside it felt almost as if the creep was in parallel with the wider passage and sharing a wall along it's length? A timely reminder not to take up the sport of caving perhaps, for how could I ever find my way out of a complex cave system, when a simple two passage underground building confuses my senses?
As you turn and exit the creep - a second humanoid object can be seen. A tiny clay figure - standing dark against a small pale spherical rock. A further reminder that this Iron Age site retains ritual significance into the modern era.
A mooch around the Historic Cornwall website provides a wider insight into the frequency and occurrence of these enigmatic Iron Age features, and a discussion of their possible uses.
Bibliographys
Both Julian Cope's Modern Antiquarian (1998) and Ian McNeil Cookes Mermaid to MerryMaid Journey to The Stones (1996) have been fully referenced elsewhere in this current series of Cornwall blogs
