The Shetlands was my holiday destination this summer. Yes, I see your raised eyebrows…but it proved to be a great week. We struck it lucky with the weather, and had 6 days straight with no rain, and sunny blue skies instead – quite unheard of we gathered from the weather-hardened locals. I’d seen a few pictures of some of the places in the Shetlands while planning the trip, but I was still surprised at the beauty of the never-ending beaches, lochs, cliffs and hills. We had hired a car to drive around the mainland and beyond, and decided that the trip wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t at least make the effort to get to the very top most part of the British Isles. This involved two ferry trips, a drive along miles and miles of single track road, and then a 2 hour hike out to Unst’s most northerly section. The hike takes you through the Hermaness Nature Reserve, which is one of THE places those in the know go to see colonies of sea birds. Once the trip was booked I was quite disappointed to discover that we would probably just miss the tens of thousands of puffins that come back to nest there each year. I’d never seen a puffin, apart from on the television screen. Oh well, nevermind, the gannets will make up for it…they certainly did with their noise! We hiked down to one section sticking out into a bay, and sat down to watch the incredible spectacle. No other people for miles, blue sky above, waves crashing hundreds of feet below us: just the two of us amongst thousands upon thousands of seabirds. Great day…but not over yet. A puffin appeared… woohoo! I think I actually jumped up and clapped my hands when I saw it…yet another reason to appreciate no other people around… I couldn’t believe how small it was; perhaps David Attenborough hadn't mentioned their size in his documentaries. Somehow I was under the impression that they were like a penguin. After we had seen the one, there were a few more here and there, on the cliffs and in the water. Fantastic. I’m sure anyone with an ornithological interest reading this will now think I’m crazy for thinking a puffin would be the same size as a penguin, but I just did. We’ve had customers specifically mention that they have been pleasantly surprised at the small size of some of the
hearing aids. Maybe not a ‘woohoo’ moment when the box was opened, but perhaps an ‘ahh!’ Hearing aids have certainly changed in design and comfort over the last few years, and many fittings can really be more discreet than expected. Here’s wishing you a puffin hearing moment…
The Shetlands was my holiday destination this summer. Yes, I see your raised eyebrows…but it proved to be a great week. We struck it lucky with the weather, and had 6 days straight with no rain, and sunny blue skies instead – quite unheard of we gathered from the weather-hardened locals. I’d seen a few pictures of some of the places in the Shetlands while planning the trip, but I was still surprised at the beauty of the never-ending beaches, lochs, cliffs and hills. We had hired a car to drive around the mainland and beyond, and decided that the trip wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t at least make the effort to get to the very top most part of the British Isles. This involved two ferry trips, a drive along miles and miles of single track road, and then a 2 hour hike out to Unst’s most northerly section. The hike takes you through the Hermaness Nature Reserve, which is one of THE places those in the know go to see colonies of sea birds. Once the trip was booked I was quite disappointed to discover that we would probably just miss the tens of thousands of puffins that come back to nest there each year. I’d never seen a puffin, apart from on the television screen. Oh well, nevermind, the gannets will make up for it…they certainly did with their noise! We hiked down to one section sticking out into a bay, and sat down to watch the incredible spectacle. No other people for miles, blue sky above, waves crashing hundreds of feet below us: just the two of us amongst thousands upon thousands of seabirds. Great day…but not over yet. A puffin appeared… woohoo! I think I actually jumped up and clapped my hands when I saw it…yet another reason to appreciate no other people around… I couldn’t believe how small it was; perhaps David Attenborough hadn't mentioned their size in his documentaries. Somehow I was under the impression that they were like a penguin. After we had seen the one, there were a few more here and there, on the cliffs and in the water. Fantastic. I’m sure anyone with an ornithological interest reading this will now think I’m crazy for thinking a puffin would be the same size as a penguin, but I just did. We’ve had customers specifically mention that they have been pleasantly surprised at the small size of some of the hearing aids. Maybe not a ‘woohoo’ moment when the box was opened, but perhaps an ‘ahh!’ Hearing aids have certainly changed in design and comfort over the last few years, and many fittings can really be more discreet than expected. Here’s wishing you a puffin hearing moment…