Exploring Shetland's labyrinth of sea caves and rich array of wildlife

In his day job he keeps a watching brief on comings and goings in Lerwick Harbour, and much of his spare time is taken up with commitments as a member of the Lerwick Up-Helly-Aa committee. His turn in the spotlight as chief Viking, or Guizer Jarl, comes later this decade.

But when he’s not busy with those things – or walking his dog, or enjoying live music, or travelling – intrepid photographer and seafarer Ryan Leith can be found exploring Shetland’s rich, often unseen network of spectacular sea caves and training his lens on the abundance of wildlife found around the coastline.

It was in his work as a port controller for Lerwick Port Authority that the 50 year old’s interest in photography was first stimulated, when a pod of pilot whales came into the harbour. “They were just outside the office and I realised I didn’t have a decent camera,” he says.

Ryan swiftly invested in a Nikon DSLR, followed by a zoom lens, and now uses a high quality but modest 200-500mm Nikon setup (“I don’t think you need all the latest camera gear to get the best shots up here”) that is well suited to wildlife photography.

He has had a boat since he was a young boy and recently acquired a slightly larger, more stable vessel with a cabin – giving Ryan the ideal platform to take photos from the water while keeping his equipment safe from the elements.

While some of Shetland’s caves can be reached by small boat or kayak, others are too narrow and have low ceilings or are partially collapsed in places – making them only accessible by swimming and diving.

Ryan is a former Shetland Sub Aqua Club member and over the last decade has done a lot of snorkelling, with a GoPro camera attached, to some stunning locations including at Eshaness, Papa Stour and Bressay.

“I did my dive training at university [he studied naval architecture at Strathclyde University] then moved back to Shetland and joined a subaqua club, and was eventually the branch diving officer,” he says.

“It was quite an active club at the time, we were all over Shetland from Fair Isle to Foula to Unst to Skerries, so it was great to be able to explore all the islands.

“I like to go ashore and explore small, uninhabited islands as well. You take a small inflatable on top of the big boat, anchor it, row ashore and have a look around the place, which is great fun.”

Ryan is involved in the Shetland Orca Sightings Facebook group, which allows people to spread the word whenever the marine mammals are spotted, and often puts news of sightings up on the page himself.

“If you’re offshore you encounter lots of things that people on land can’t see,” he says. “With this boat I mainly travel along the east coast – before I used to go all over the place with my rigid inflatable – Papa Stour, the West Side, I’ve been to Foula quite a few times.

“With the bigger boat I can go up to Whalsay, Mousa, Bressay, Noss – that’s a big area to cover and there are quite a few tourist boats out there now as well. We’re really lucky to stay here.”

Ryan has enjoyed some memorable wildlife experiences in the islands, most recently in November 2022 when he encountered a pod of seven orcas at Burrastow on the West Side.

“We went off rowing out the voe towards Wester Sound of Vaila and waited around for them. We’d been out for about two hours when they finally showed up. My wife Sara spotted them, she was rowing back in, so we turned around and they were headed straight towards us.”

A video posted on Ryan’s YouTube channel shows how the orcas were “about six or eight feet away, under the boat. It’s just really exciting. People asked if we were scared, but having been in the water with them in Norway, in the Arctic, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t touch you!”

His only word of caution is to urge tourists, visitors and locals alike not to copy what he does if they don’t have the requisite experience of boating, diving and sea swimming.

Shetland’s sea caves can be found dotted around various spots along its 1,700 miles of coastline, often featuring distinctive natural arches and partially collapsed roofs (known as “gloups”), the natural legacy of the islands’ unique and globally significant geological history.

For those who prefer to remain on dry land, the “Smugglers’ Cave” in Hamnavoe, Burra, can be reached on a coastal walk with a cliffside entrance to the cave accessible by rope ladder.

Ryan has picked out three of his favourite Shetland sea caves:

1. The “Orkneyman’s Cave”, Bressay. “We used to dive it regularly with the diving club, and I often go back to it. If I’m out on the boat and it’s good enough weather I take people into the cave. The flow stone inside is spectacular, so it makes for good photos if you take a light – you need a torch – and there’s always seals in the cave. You hear them in the back making this noise, amplified in the cavern, so it’s quite spooky.”

2. The Hol of Bordie, Papa Stour. “It’s supposed to be the fourth longest sea cave in the world, about 300 metres long, and it goes through a headland on the north west corner of Papa Stour. Again I dived it years ago with the diving club, and I’ve been back several times with my rigid inflatable. I’ve snorkelled that, and various folk have filmed it from the surface on my boat as well.”

3. Calder’s Geo, Eshaness. “I’d heard about the cave at Eshaness – [geologist] Jonathan Swale had been with his kayak and reckoned it was the biggest sea cave in the UK. I’ve snorkelled it several times, and been back with my boat a couple of times. It’s got three entrances – it’s just massive, basically – and there is a colony of kittiwakes that nest at the back of the cave. Tourists are walking over the top of it when they go to Eshaness. The weather has to be extremely calm before I would try it.”