Seals sing a siren song beyond the land's edge

Duncansby Head, John O’Groats As the wind rises the timbre alters and I struggle to place it – the howling of wolves, infants wailing, dissonant chords on a pipe organ?At the far north-eastern corner of the British mainland the land rises up from the sea like cake from a tin: edges are clean and sharp, layers of sediment cut through the red sandstone like jam. The sun is out, the air is still, and the residents are busy making their preparations for winter in this rare break in the w