The Decca

03/04/2026

Our first guests of the season are here… and so are the northern lights! (Not to be eclipsed by the shining lights of the Ness Football Club! 😜)

20/01/2026

Always a good day when Home & Floors are here beautifying the cottages!

20/01/2026

Quite the from the tonight!

01/11/2025

A beautiful in Ness.

23/10/2025

Very cool!

Planning permission has been granted for the first broch in 2000 years to be constructed in the Highlands

20/10/2025

Our local orcas… and Happy Menopause Day! 😆

Today is World Menopause Day, and did you know that menopause is incredibly rare in the animal kingdom? In fact, only a few species of mammal are known to experience it - and they're nearly all cetaceans! (Humans and some chimpanzees are the only other mammal confirmed to experience menopause!)

**THE MENOPAUSE CLUB:**
🐋 Killer whales
🐋 Short-finned pilot whales (and possibly long-finned pilot whales too)
🐬 Narwhals
🐬 Beluga whales
🐬 False killer whales possibly

𝑩𝑼𝑻 𝑾𝑯𝒀?

The leading scientific theory is the "𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙮𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙨". Older females stop reproducing but continue to play vital roles in their pods:

👵 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬: Post-reproductive females, particularly in killer whales, act as repositories of ecological knowledge. They lead their pods to feeding grounds, especially in lean years, and their experience is crucial for survival.

🐋 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲: They help raise their grandchildren and other young in the pod, increasing their offspring's chances of survival.

📚 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧: They pass on hunting techniques, migration routes, and social behaviours to younger generations.

In killer whale society, older matriarchs are the glue that holds pods together. Studies have shown that when a post-reproductive female dies, her adult sons face significantly increased mortality risk - demonstrating just how vital these experienced females are!

Right here in Orkney waters, we're privileged to see killer whale pods that include these wise matriarchs. The knowledge they carry about our local waters, feeding grounds, and seal populations has been passed down through generations.

On World Menopause Day, we celebrate not just human experience, but the remarkable evolutionary strategy that makes older females so valuable to their communities - both human and cetacean! 💙



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18/10/2025

Watching them dance

(You may have to view this in a dark room with the brightness turned up… 😉)

18/10/2025

Even more!! Beautiful out tonight!

18/10/2025

Beautiful out tonight! And the big dipper! And that flash of blue light? The !

02/10/2025

We only made it out on the with once this year, but it was a SPECTACULAR 4-hour tour! We saw TONS of and some gorgeous (as well as an abundance of ) circling over their dinner. Here are the very abridged . Most of these were taken by me () but my handsome hubby took the (amazing) first one!

20/09/2025