June, despite its mercurial weather, has been quite the lepidopteran feast. The past three weekends have featured some sunny weather, huge downpours and gale force winds. You may recall that we had to cancel a wildlife walk due to persistent showers. It should be noted that this postponement was purely for the benefit of humans, the wildlife was out in the weather whatever. There follows a brief round-up of some of the moths and butterflies seen since we last spoke. There has been a steady stream of sightings of Painted Ladies in the county. This one was nectaring on our front "lawn". Prior to one of the huge downpours, Megan spotted this moth on the garage wall. How, I do not know. Grey Dagger Sheltering from the weather, this time on the frame of the patio door, a Clouded-bordered Brindle. Meanwhile on the recess of the kitchen window, a Narrow-winged Pug And the fourth Megan-spotted moth was a Wormword Pug on the increasingly-popular garage wall. Yesterday saw us leading ...
This blog tends to concentrate on parochial environmental topics, rarely touching on global political affairs. For example, the changing roll call of birds seen through the year as the seasonal mass movement of feathered creatures wing their way around the planet, outrageously ignoring any lines drawn on a map. Or, even closer to my heart, the androgyny of dragonflies and damselflies as they seek a bit of peace, away from testosterone-fuelled madness. And yet, morning after morning, the news is full of another act of war by an aggressor state. I kid you not, as I typed those words, there were actual rumbles of thunder. I had to double check, but a real time lightning app confirmed it. But I digress, back to wildlife in and around an Orkney garden. This week, there was wondrous news in the Comments section when AF identified the smaller beetles which have turned up at the pond. He wasn't sure of the exact species, but the genus is Helophorus . To arrive at the specific name, I will ...