Gorgeous gorgeous GORGEOUS! Great pics, Shauny. :D

It's amazing the things we take for granted, like koalas in the trees and kangaroos in the paddocks, yet the sight of shetland ponies on the road and puffins on the cliffs makes us all excited....I had that feeling when I saw your photos!! I've never seen Puffins for real before :-)

Puffins are real!? I remember the Shetlands at El Cabello Blanco when I was a kid :-)

How sweet!

I am simply throwing up with the sight of all this, too cute.
Shetland ponies are bitey little buggers though, aren't they?
Puffins!!!

Aww, love the Shetlands, although they can be a little grouchy sometimes... I learned to horseback ride on a 25 year old Shetland pony named Mary.

I had no idea that there were puffins in Scotland - cool picture!

I had the same reaction Mary did - Puffins are real? I had a omgwtf moment there.

Also, Shetland Ponies in Shetland? Whodathunk?

I know! I just thought Puffins were the wee cartoon birds on the kids books. Hehehehe.

Look what followed me home, can I keep him!

Free roaming horses are way cool... the 1st time I saw wild horses in the Western US I was beside myself. I worked on an archaeological site alone in the Sonoran desert outside of Yuma, Arizona once, and a wild horse followed me around for 5 hours, but would never get quite close enough for me to pet him.

i want to see puffins!

lol at the pony that chased you down the road... scottish animals seem to like doing that!

Puffins & ponies! I don't know how you managed to contain yourself (I certainly wouldn't have been able to). I guess I need to visit the Shetland Islands.

Finally I know what that Fiery Furnaces song 'Tropical Iceland' is about; check out the lyrics.

"Ive seen enough stray ponies and puffins
To get me through till the end of May"

Thank you Shauna - you've made everything make sense!

PUFFINSPUFFINSPUFFINSPUFFINS!!!!

PUFFINS!

Oh how cool. I was promised deer and leaping salmon when I was in bonnie Scotland but saw nothing (not even at Pitlochary (sp?)). But I was well impressed with the wooly cows. But puffins. Hot.

Sounds like my kind of island given I spent three years working on a horse magazine and have now hit the big time on a bird title! I'd be beside myself, not knowing which way to turn. Do I fawn over the ponies or go for the puffins!!?? ;)

Those pony things are out of this world.. they look as if from a work of fiction.

I am new to both your blogs and love them!
Wonderful humor and I learn new stuff! Puffins!!!! Wonderful. So glad I found you.

i love shetland ponies!!! they have furry feet... will definitely have to add the shetland islands to my list of places to go... i hope i make it over to bonnie scotland sooner rather than later!!!

How cute! The puffins, I mean. I love that the Shetland Islands are actually full of grumpy Shetland ponies.. it must be an interesting place to live.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh Puffins! Gotta love them! They're called Papageientaucher ""parrot divers") in German!

Dani - there are leaping salmon at Pitlochry, I've seen them (through a thick pane of glass at that artificial thingy next to the dam)

Oh man. As if Shetland Ponies aren't cute enough, real Puffins too!

Thanks Shauny, now I've added yet another destination to my 'Islands I Must Visit Before I Die' list :)

Shetland ponies look much less ridiculous in their natural habitat. Also, 'puffn' is the most glorious word to say.

If I'd just seen the pictures I'd have guessed those pictures were from Iceland! Our 'ponies' (We're really sensitive about our horses, the rest of the world insist on calling them ponies :p ) do look a lot like the Shetland ones, and then the puffins as well! The landscape, the rocks, the sea etc etc Looks Icelandic to me! :)

Sigga dear! It did remind me a lot of Iceland, a similar lack of trees, but less geothermal ;)

ZOMG PONIES! :)