Natural highs and lows

Over Christmas and New Year when I was laid low with a bad back, I needed something to occupy my time. After I had checked, double checked, uploaded and verified all the county's dragonfly records for 2025 onto the iRecord website, I was in a bit of a data crunching mood, so I thought why not begin pan-species listing? If your current thought is along the lines of "Well, there's Le Creuset for a start", then, no, not that sort of pan. Rather, it is a way of keeping track of a lifetime's wildlife watching. Every species seen, everything, from the tiniest protozoan to the largest mammal, and all manner of wildlife in between. Obviously, the sooner one begins keeping records (what, when, where), the better. It is definitely not recommended to wait until you're in your mid sixties and have just tweaked a multifidus muscle in your lower back, but we are where we are. So how the heck was I going to produce any sort of meaningful list? Well, as a dragonfly enthusiast...

For the first time in 2026, it didn't snow last night. The temperature is still hovering about freezing so there hasn't been much in the way of a thaw. However, today, there isn't any form of precipitation from the sky and the air is completely still, most un-Orkney-like. Here are a few photos from the last week or so, when we've been able to go out for a walk. Icicles! Not the most stunning of sunsets, but atmospheric in its own way Kitchen window view On Monday 5th of January, Mocha momentarily thought about going back to work, but... no.  A bit more of a sunset, down by the harbour Now, apparently, England have stolen our stormy weather. The national news media seem to confirm this, so I will stop worrying about where it has gone. To my readers further south, stay safe!

A belated Happy New Year to one and all. Yesterday, some sort of hibernating response kicked in, brought on by a northerly gale and horizontal hail showers. I did not leave the house. Megan did leave the house, clocking up a creditable four and a half miles through blizzards, and beginning her bird list for 2026 with a respectable 29 species. I managed five species from the lounge and kitchen windows. After a night of snow, today we awoke to a calmer and whiter scene. View from the kitchen window View from the lounge window Mid-morning, Megan received a text from a friend (Sam) who lives near the harbour. Sam had nipped to the local supermarket for a few groceries and spotted a Kingfisher. As you do.  This news instigated a flurry of activity as we hastily donned outdoor clothing and made our way carefully down the hill to the harbour. Luckily for us, the Kingfisher was still present as it was busy feeding, perched on the edge of the harbour wall and scanning the pool below for pre...

This Christmas we have produced two calendars: the usual one for close friends and family; and a site-specific one for the lady who allows us to survey her pond for dragonflies and damselflies (and anything else we might find). There was a little crossover between the two, but not much. For the standard 2026 one, neither Megan nor I had taken as many photographs as usual during the year, but we were still able to come up with something, in a roughly 50-50 split of our images. Cover photo 2026: South Bay, North Ronaldsay From top left: Jackdaws, West coast of Orkney, Redshank, Orange Tip butterfly, Leaves, Green Tiger Beetle, Emerald Damselfly, Common Blue butterflies, Black Darters mating, Grey Seal pup, Stromness sunset, Orphir coastal path. And then, for YH at Brinkies Guest House, we had to combine several years worth of photos to create her 2026 calendar. Cover photo 2026: View across the pond to the hills of Hoy From top left: Green-veined White butterfly, Immature Black Darter, E...

When we attended the Valtos gig in Edinburgh in September, Megan was full of cold and couldn't really enjoy the experience. So a pre-Christmas jaunt was organised to see the band again, this time in Inverness at a new venue An Seomar (The Room). Due to my advancing years, I qualify for free bus travel, so with the addition of a couple of ferry vouchers, we were able to make the journey on public transport at a much-reduced cost. All credit to the Scottish Government for these initiatives. Rather than awake at some ungodly hour to catch the 06.30 sailing from Stromness, we opted to make use of the B+B facility on the boat, checking in at 21.30 the night before sailing. This allowed for a few leisurely glasses of wine and nibbles in the Magnus Lounge before retiring to our cabin for the night.  Following breakfast and a smooth crossing of the Pentland Firth, we had a short wait at the terminal in Scrabster until our bus arrived for the journey to Inverness. Scrabster sunrise twixt bo...

I couldn't actually tell you when I last bought a vinyl album, it would be some goodly while ago. We're talking decades, and possibly as a gift rather than for my own listening pleasure. In an age where streaming music is the latest way to access tunes (Is it the latest? I have never been an early adopter, so probably wouldn't know), we still have a cabinet of CDs, there's a box buried in the garage which has tape cassettes in it, and my vinyl collection, such as it is, resides in the loft. It was over a year ago when we attended Niteworks' penultimate gig in Aberdeen, as we couldn't make it to Glasgow for their final performance. Judging by comments on the band's Facebook posts since then, I think hope had been high amongst their fans that there might be a DVD of the last tour, but this was not to be. Instead, a double vinyl album has been released, complete with a booklet, plus a free digital download of the album. The digital download is available separat...