Natural highs and lows

Time for a bit of a round-up of the last month's nature watching since we returned from holiday. Our weather has continued to be rather mercurial, the occasional warm, sunny day in between dreich periods with chilly winds. For the season, some things are early, some things are late, the wildlife is not sure what to make of Spring 2026. Neither does it help an amateur naturalist with his sartorial decisions, so if in doubt it's four layers and a set of waterproofs. A trip to Sanday saw me visiting a bit of the island which I not previously seen. After a walk along the beach at Backaskaill Bay, I detoured to investigate a large metal construction. It commemorated a sad event which happened more than 30 years ago. Back at home, we're slowly adding more aquatic plants to the pond as friends donate things from their gardens. We now have our very first Bogbean flower! The dragonfly season in Orkney started in mid-May, but it was only last week, as more sightings came in, that we ...

Having sustained the bumblebee queens which were on the wing before any willow trees were in bloom, the Dandelions are now going to seed and feeding several Goldfinches. Meanwhile, I have begun Operation Dochan 2026, a task not dissimilar to painting the Forth Rail Bridge, though with less red led read led read lead red lead. As the canopy of dock leaves temporarily diminishes, I am left with two thoughts, one good, one bad. The bad news is that there is also a profusion of Lady's Mantle, the non-native invasive species Alchemilla mollis , which if left unchecked might even give the docks some grief, as well as everything else. The good news is that there are also many, many orchid rosettes this year. Oh joy unconfined! The front garden has not previously been particularly orchid-y, but this year looks like it will rewrite that history. Needless to say, there's no mowing occurring, save for a perimeter path and a gently-curving route from the little wooden gate to the propos...

" and we weren't to discover the actual answer until much later in the holiday."   Those were the words with which I ended the second blogpost of our Blairgowrie holiday, so here we are at the finale and one last big splash. A few years ago, friends left Orkney and moved to deepest rural Perthshire. We spent a day with them in and around Comrie, experiencing their wonderful hospitality and sharing the local wildlife. As a regular moth-trapper, our host had kept a few species from the previous night's haul for us to see, including this Red Chestnut. At the nearby community woodland, we were shown around and given a potted history of the site. Whilst inspecting a pond for potential odes, we were all amazed to see a Palmate Newt. Towards the end of the holiday, we journeyed to the Angus Glens, driving up Glen Clova to reach Glen Doll. We did not attempt to reach any summits, but were content to potter around the valley, taking in the splendid views. And then one evening,...

Spending longer on holiday made for a much more relaxed time of it. One of the things I wanted to try during the fortnight in Blairgowrie was to deploy a new wildlife camera in the garden of the cottage. This allowed us to monitor the local wildlife when we were out and about elsewhere, or even when we were asleep at night. Three Long-tailed Tits Blue Tit Great Tit Coal Tit   A cat on the prowl A different cat on the prowl Why they were prowling... Wood Mice Bullfinch Robin Nuthatch Great Spotted Woodpecker Jays Carrion Crow Jay Red Squirrel Red Squirrels Red Squirrel Long-tailed Tit And one photo from the usual camera... Jay All in all, during the two weeks, we logged thirty species of bird in the garden. Perhaps the most surprising was a small flock of Common Crossbills which appeared for three evenings running (flying?).