The island of Sanday in Orkney, Scotland

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The island of Sanday in Orkney, Scotland

Scotland’s Orkney Islands – or simply Orkney as the locals call the chain of islands – sit in the windswept waters of the North Sea. As the tides and winds batter the coast of Sanday, one of the 20 inhabited islands of this 70-island archipelago, the coastline will change gradually. Beaches will expand inland or get eaten away by erosion. Of course, that can take decades or longer. In the meantime, the sheep that graze the fields of Sanday probably don’t mind, just as long as there’s grass to nibble.