Midnight

The sun sets late in this part of the world at this time of the year -  not quite a day without a sunset, but very nearly. Last night   was a clear night - the first i think we have had since the longest day , so I went outside with a camera and took are series of photos , starting looking over the Bay  of Isbister  with the Island of Shapinsay  behind it and the light of the Shapinsay lighthouse, with in the distance  the receding lights from the ferry on its way from Kirkwall to Lerwick .

 And then as you look round to the North towards Rousay, the sun is just  starting to become visible. It won't officially rise for another couple of hours

Of course the corollary of this is that at the end of December its dark until  after 9am and the sun sets at 3pm.

Hanging round with the ducks.

One of the geese is broody as  indicated here . We have 2 geese and the other one has been a bit forlorn, going round by herself. Prior to going broody , the geese were always spotted going round together.

But all is not lost - the one goose has found some new friends -  the ducks.

She has been spotted hanging round with the ducks, going exploring with the ducks and grazing with the ducks.  I dont know if Albert has tried to welcome her as  duck, but if so we haven't seen or heard any of that sort of activity .





So the solitary goose and the ducks has have been spotted together.

 












Meanwhile , back a the nest , the other goose continues to sit on half a plate and a small garden ornament. We've not found any goose eggs in any nest for quite a while .

But the nest has been slowly slipping down the embankment and is in imminent danger of disintegrating and ending up on the path.
 What will the sitting goose do when the nest falls apart ?

Who knows .

NABAFWBAFNFWBACF - the return check-in

There is a bit of a problem with  some BA flights NotABAflightwithaBAflightnumberforwhichBAcollectfare (NABAFWBAFNFWBACF for short ) as described here and here and here.

Briefly

• A flight with a BA flight number that is booked, and the fare paid to BA  through the BA website is not a BA flight.
• Online check-in is not available through BA website  for non-BA flights.
• BA don't tell you how to book online for a NABAFWBAFNFWBACF

So I have a journey  in 2 steps

• BA3296 from London (City) to   Aberdeen
• BA4040 , a NABAFWBAFNFWBACF from Aberdeen to Kirkwall.

I couldn't check in through the BA website for the NABAFWBAFNFWBACF travelling down to London. This is the screenshot.
And coming back ?

You can !.

Just to check , I logged in to the Flybe website, with my BA booking reference

and the flight is listed. And I have the option to check in online for this NABAFWBAFNFWBACF.

Check in for the NABAFWBAFNFWBACF flight through the BA website ( which BA Customer Relations have told me I can't do, or check in through the BA flight reference put into the FlyBe website ?

 ,

So I checked in for the NABAFWBAFNFWBACF, through the BA website. It seemed to be OK. They gave me the option of printing off a Boarding pass as well.

And  having completed that I went back to the BA fight reference login the FlyBE webite on the FlyBe website , and I'm checked in.

 

So the online check-in is different if the NABAFWBAFNFWBACF is the first or second flight .

Confusing ?

Whats the chance that I get any sense out of BA Customer Relations  when I point this out to them ?

NABAFWBAFNFWBACF - the return

So where might one find the NotABAflightwithaBAflightnumberforwhichBAcollectfare (NABAFWBAFNFWBACF for short ) on the return journey.

So the one we are looking for is the online check-in facility for the ABZ -KOI stage of the journey ?

I'll start on the BA website, with the flight reference login.

Flight details say LON-Aberdeen. Its listed but im looking for the ability to check in online.

So I'll look in the Flybe website.
For residents of the Scottish Islands there is the Air Discount Scheme. I can login in to (the same) ADS through the Flybe website or the BA website

 I've got a Flybe account. The previous  NABAFWBAFNFWBACF appeared on the Flybe website.
So I login to the Flybe website and look for a flight

  It says no flights.

So I log out of that and log into the the Flybe website , with my BA flight reference. Remember, this is a NABAFWBAFNFWBACF booking.
 And Flybe can list both the BA flight and the NABAFWBAFNFWBACF.

So I think I've found it.

See , in 36 hours , where the online check-in can actually happen ?

Checking in for NABAFWBAFNFWBACF

So the time has come - what happens when you try and check in  online for NABAFWBAFNFWBACF flight.

Log in to the BA website

 On-line check in is open - for the flight that is listed

Departs Kirkwall Fri 20 Jun 17.25 

Arrives Aberdeen. 

But remember this is NABAFWBAFNFWBACF. Its not a BA flight. 

But I can't check in  to the flight that is listed ( the NABAFWBAFNFWBACF flight). They tell me I have to go to the airport. 
But i can check in for the BA flight 

So I now have a boarding card for a BA flight. But BA  tell me that for the check- in and Boarding card  for a NABAFWBAFNFWBACF flight I have to go to the Kirkwall airport.

But  the NABAFWBAFNFWBACF flight is provided by Flybe.  So what happens if I put by BA  booking reference number ( 7xxxxxC ) into the Flybe website ?

It logs me in !

And I haven't got a BA booking reference, I've now got a completely different Flybe booking reference.

And the Flybe website tells  me that I have to  check in for my Aberdeen -London flight at the airport.

And heres the proof - a Boarding card for a NABAFWBAFNFWBACF, produced from the Flybe website with the BA flight number listed 

BA expecting me to turn up at Kirkwall airport  to check in is not unreasonable ( even though i don't have to ).

Flybe expect me once Ive arrived in Aberdeen 

• to go to the baggage carousel  to retrieve any hold luggage
• leave the departures area and go to Aberdeen Arrivals hall 
• Go to a BA check-in Desk 
• Go back through security
• Go and wait in the Departures area that I have just left. 

Joined up thinking and planning to make travelling easy ? 


We shall have to see what happens on the way back when the NABAFWBAFNFWBACF is the second stage of the journey. 

Not a BA flight , or NABAFWBAFNFWBACF for short

When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.

So what is 'a BA flight' ?  Here's the screenshot from the BA website of flights from Kirkwall to London, via other Scottish airports. 
 

The flight from Kirkwall to Edinburgh or  Aberdeen is listed, along with the onward connection. It is possible to book flights from Kirkwall to London through this website ,and BA collect the fare.

And although operated by AN Other ( Flybe is the insignia on the plane)  the flight has a BA flight number

KOI to EDI at 07.45 is BA4060

KOI to ABZ at 07.50 is BA4101

etc etc etc. 

So you might think this is a BA flight.

WRONG

Although it appears on the BA website , BA have collected the fare, and it has a BA flight number  by which you can refer to it, it isn't a BA flight .

A 'BA flight' is one operated by British Airways.

It becomes relevant when you start to get details of online  check-in and if  flights like this appear in a BA itinerary and its possible to check in online, yet BA say the facility is only available for BA flights. All may become a bit clearer over the next week or so .

I think its very misleading but so far ive managed to establish after a series of emails with BA Customer Relations that these flights arent BA flights and they cant tell me if online check-in is available.

So  what can we call them ?

I think they should be labelled 

Not a BA flight with a BA flight number for which BA collect the fare .

or, for convenience,

NABAFWBAFNFWBACF

The local Hoodies

We don't have foxes in Orkney so the hens cant get 'foxed' as they may do down South.
But we do have hooded crows  - the local Hoodie.

The Wikipedia page  lists their diet as  to include small animals.  And here that means newly hatched chicks  are a target.   The yield from the hatching chicks so far hasn't been good ( 5 chicks from 11 eggs for Emma the hen and 5 from 9 for Harriet the hen)

So they need protection - and we have netted one of the hen houses so that the hen and chicks can come outside and not be predated by the Hoodie

A mystery

I was walking on our bit of moorland and spotted this - a blue plastic box almost completely buried.

So I investigated with a spade . Next to it is an empty can of WD40 . It had rusted through , so that may give an indication of how long its been there.

 And the box came out . An empty ( well, its empty in 2014, whther or nor it was empty when it went in is anybody's guess)  coolbox, without its lid buried upside down, with the handle up.

Driving

You can get to Orkney by a number of routes.  

-We've done the long sea crossing from Aberdeen 

-Friends have tried the X99 bus from Inverness .

The other alternative is the drive to the North Coast of Scotland and take the ferry , either Northlink Ferries crossing from Scrabster to Stromness or Andrew Banks's boat , Pentland Ferries  from Gills Bay , just along from John o'Groats to St Margaret's Hope. As the Wikipedia page for Pentland Ferries  points out,  Pentland Ferries is one of only 2 Ferries that receives no Government subsidy (and the other one isn't Northlink).

To drive to the North Coast of Scotland , we reckon that 

• Inverness to the North Coast is 2.5 hours 
• Edinburgh to Inverness is 2.5 hours 
• Newcastle to Edinburgh is 2.5 hours
• Sheffield to Newcastle is 2.5 hours 
• London to Sheffield is 2.5 hours

(allowing for traffic and comfort breaks)  

The first ferry is 845am (Northlink) or  930am  (Pentland) , with car checkin 30-60 mins beforehand. 

So to get the first ferry , you really need to stay overnight somewhere close to the terminal. We've stayed at the Forss House Hotel , a couple of miles from Scrabster, with breakfast at a time that lets you get to the terminal in time to check in for the early crossing. 

Lunchtime crossing is at 1300 or thereabouts for both ferries. So working backwards, car checkin will be at 1200.   And if you are ejected from a B&B  at 10 am ,you will need a drive  for a couple of hours. So the overnight stop needs to be just north of Inverness. We have stayed in Golspie , which is about 70 minutes from Thurso. So its a bit close. better would probably be at Dingwall .

The A9 

The A9 north of Inverness  is  rural dual carriageway , as described on the trip to Sutherland.

Its a very pleasant drive, as long as you don't get stuck behind a truck. Some of the road has snow poles , so I imagine it could be difficult driving in the winter. 

There are a string of villages along the A9 next to the North Sea. We have stopped at a very nice cafe in Helmsdale , one of the villages on the way. And there is still the hairpin at  Berriedale Braes to negotiate.

We've also visited Wick and John o'Groats  and found it to be an underwhelming  experience for both places so at the moment we wouldn't recommend a visit to either. 

Demanding ducks

The ducks get locked up  at about 8pm every night. And then unlocked at 10 am the next morning . it means that any eggs that are laid ( they usually lay in the morning )  will be easy to find, rather than laid wherever she thought at the time .  The pain of being locked up is eased by feeding them some  grain once they are  in their enclosure.

So at about 7.30 the ducks appear  at the front door.

they then follow you across the lawn

and willing go into their pen, to be fed grain

And then, 5 days overdue

We have some hens who are sitting on eggs as noted here. Due. date was 5 days ago .We've been looking  and nothing has been happening,  no cheeping heard, so this morning the plan was to remove the presumed infertile eggs, ban the cockerel who obviously hasnt been performing to the moorland from whence he will end up eventually  like this, and to return the broody hen to the field with the others.
And lo and behold, we have some chicks !

 So the hen gets to stay , the cockerel gets  reprieve and we wait and see what happens with the 3 remaining eggs.

BA and the missing flight

The missing flight ? 

Flying from Orkney to anywhere outside Scotland  involves 2 flights.

Flybe go to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness.  So to go to eg London  involves 2 flights, usually Kirkwall (KOI) to Aberdeen (ABZ) and then ABZ to London (LON).

And its convenient that its possible to book from KOI to LON , all through the BA website.

And here is a recent booking

The email acknowledgement  is this : The subject line is the  KOI - ABZ flight .

 So where has the ABZ-LON flight gone ? Its here , listed in the Itinerary

And the same thing happens when I log into my BA account  and see what I've booked .

I don't want to 'Manage My Booking ' , I want to verify that the flights I think I have booked ( and paid for) . Nevertheless , its the only link to follow  and if I then go on to 'Manage my booking', its all there.

So I think its OK. What's going to happen when online check-in opens ?

Online check-in available for  the KOI -ABZ flight ?  Probably
Online check-in available for the ABZ-LON flight ? Have a guess.

And what do you think will happen for the return flight ?

Watch this space.

Hello , Gandy

We now have an Orpington cockerel. One of the breed  characteristics is that they are a bit larger than your average hen. As we are also breeding chickens  for roast cockerel  and   cockerel casserole as well as eggs, it wont do any harm to have slightly bigger birds.
the difference in size between Gandy, our new cockerel and Andrew , the bantam   is clear to see.

So Gandy has gone into a field along with some  of the blackrock hens

 

If we end up with another  broody hen in a few weeks ( that's the length of time is can take for the 'efforts ' of the last cockerel to  wear off)  we shall sit one on one of Gandy's eggs.

One Goose a-sitting

One of the geese  has gone broody - as well as the various  hens.



 
She has made a nest for herself and is sitting on one egg ( and , we think,  some broken china ) . But we haven't got a gander so the egg will be infertile.





So we leave her to it. We've no idea how long she will sit for, before realising that it is all to no avail .

But if you get too close you get hissed at.