THE MAKING OF THE PENTLAND FIRTH

Selena S. Kuzman’s film soars over shores and hills and sea to give varied perspectives on one of the world’s great waterways. It shows how the Firth was carved out by the power of glacial action in the Ice Age, followed by the forces of storm, wave and tide which continue today. The film was premiered at this year’s Orkney International Science Festival in September, and made possible through the funding support of Thistle Wind Partners who are developing the Ayre Offshore Wind Farm to the east of Orkney.

The story was scripted by Edinburgh geomorphologist Dr Adrian Hall, who has spent a lifetime of work studying and writing about the rocks and landscapes of Scotland. He was joined on his journey in Caithness by Mara Gibb, UHI STEM Coordinator for Caithness and Sutherland, and in Orkney by Katy Firth of Stromness Museum. Very much in their thoughts along the way were memories of the renowned Orkney geologist, the late Dr John Flett Brown, whose lifelong study of the Old Red Sandstone geology is highlighted in the dedication of the film.

The narrators look at the marks in Caithness where great glaciers scraped over bedrock. Probing the boulder clay, they find chalk and shell fragments dredged from the bed of the Moray Firth by the moving ice. On Hoy, they search for glacial erratics carried from the Northern Highlands and find evidence for an ice flow into the valley of Rackwick.

The film shows how everywhere along the shores of the Firth, the effects of the power of the sea are apparent. On the island of Stroma, the storytellers look at great caves opened in the cliff by the force of the waves. They trace the course of the great storm of 1862 when waves ran up and over the 200-foot cliffs at the north end of the island and formed torrents tearing up earth and rocks in their flow.

They complete the story of the Pentland Firth at the Old Man of Hoy, looking back at the gradual dismantling of rock that led to first a headland and then an arch, and to the present towering stack since 1700 – and which will itself be eventually destroyed by the same forces that created it.

At its premiere in September, the film received a glowing audience response. “Fascinating content and stunning photography,” wrote one audience member. “Interesting information beautifully presented and paced,” wrote another. “In 50 fascinating minutes, so much science was explained very easily, making the film a great highlight of this year’s festival,” wrote Tom Groat in The Orcadian.

The film is a continuation of a series of videos and podcasts developed by Adrian Hall and John Flett Brown in a collaboration which has also led to a comprehensive Orkney Landscapes website (https://orkneylandscapes.org/) and now to a new Caithness Landscapes site (https://caithnesslandscapes.org/). The scale of the two sites is as vast as the northern landscapes themselves, spanning locations and landforms from coastline and sea-cliffs to hillsides and mountains, with the aim of providing a resource for the whole community – schools, teachers, researchers, and indeed everyone who wishes to find out more about the richly varied landscapes of the two counties.

Everyone involved expressed warm thanks for the help in the making of the film provided by William Simpson for Stroma and by Walter Mowat in John O’Groats, both of whom have recorded material which will be featured in further videos about Stroma and about the Firth’s currents and navigation. Use of the film by communities for local screenings will be welcomed.