MORAY FIRTH — A young male walrus named Magnus hauled himself out of the sea onto Stronsay pier in Orkney on 16 April, beginning a journey that would take him along Scotland's Moray coast and across the North Sea to Norway. By late April, the animal had been sighted on the island of Hidra in Norway, roughly 400 miles from where his travels began.

After his first appearance in Orkney, Magnus swam approximately 200 miles south to the Scottish mainland, where he was found resting on piers and pontoons along the Moray coast. Police asked the public to report sightings of the wandering walrus as he moved between Lossiemouth, Macduff, Fraserburgh, Findochty and Hopeman, drawing hundreds of spectators. By 21 April, police had erected a cordon at Lossiemouth marina to contain people observing him.

During his stops along the coast, Magnus accidentally rolled off a harbour wall. He was later seen sunbathing on a nearby rock and rolling off a pontoon while napping.

On 27 April, Katie Wilson spotted Magnus in Findochty while dropping her three-year-old daughter at nursery near the harbour. "The kids could not believe it. They were in shock. It's not every day you see a walrus here," Wilson said. She added, "He seems quite happy. He is just chilling."

On 30 April, Magnus was spotted swimming alongside a group of pupils from Gordonstoun in Hopeman harbour. British Divers Marine Life Rescue monitored him as he traveled around Scotland and noted that adolescent walruses experience wanderlust.

After crossing the North Sea, Magnus settled on Buerholmen at Hidra, where local birdwatcher Åge Jakobsen went to photograph him. "We went out to Buerholmen at Hidra to look for and photograph the walrus Magnus who is staying there. It was a little different to take pictures of one of the birds I usually do – didn't seem like it would fly away." Jakobsen said the walrus appeared "really tired" after the 400-mile journey across the North Sea.

The Orkney Marine Mammal Research Initiative said this was "a genuinely rare event," noting it was only the third time a walrus had been sighted in Orkney in the last decade. "Walruses are Arctic animals, native to the sea ice and subarctic waters of the northern hemisphere. The individuals that turn up on our shores are typically young roving animals – adolescents striking out beyond their usual range, possibly following food, possibly just exploring, likely due to climate change to some extent," the initiative said.