Mid-August is when Orkney has its agricultural shows, first local ones such as Burray & South Ron, East Mailand, Dounby, culminating with the county show, which was yesterday. We went to 3 of the shows: our own South Ron one, now on its 175th annual occurrence, the Dounby Show (which was the first time we went to it), and then the big county show in Kirkwall.
Of course I took photos. Here are some I liked.
South Ronaldsay Show
Some fine vintage tractors, note the one with the BSnnnn numberplate. That's a genuine Orkney numberplate, from back when we had our own series. (We saw a shiny modern Mercedes with the numberplate BS1 parked at the Dounby show. The plate has to be worth more than the expensive car!)
Chocolate sheep.
Another fine tractor.
This was the only show to take place in totally lovely weather:
The Dounby Show
The high point for us at the Dounby show was the sheep-shearing tournament.Some of the sheep put up a bit of a fight and it was fun to see how well they were manhandled into submission.
It rained non-stop but no-one minded.
The County Show in Kirkwall
Half the population of Orkney seemed to be at the show.
And a few sheep
Here a friend with her sheep competing for prizes:
I loved this family gathering of humans and cows. (Shame I couldn't get an angle to show the heads of the cattle but the shot had to be grabbed through a gap in the crowd.)
And then there was modern agricultural machinery
I think this is for spraying slurry on fields
This is a bit of the insides of a machine to roll bales
And a veteran. All cleaned up for the show but still in use.
Thanks again for the lovely pix. My favorite is the inside of the baler with sprockets and roller chain. Also, I like all the shots of authentic Orkneyites.
Keep 'em coming.
Bob
Second pic of the county show, the man with very long straggly beard and bottle of wine looks like an interesting guy.
William, I like your flower power shirt, I used to have a vety similar one. Stephan