Natural highs and lows

Before our holiday in Rutland, I had browsed through the iRecord website and a couple of ID guides to see which species of dragonfly and damselfly might still be on the wing in mid-October. There were four possibilities, the most likely of which was Common Darter. We saw these small dragonflies at most sites we visited, including Rutland Water, Stanwick Lakes, Fineshade Wood and the RSPB's The Lodge. A female on the wall of a hide at Rutland Water Another late season dragon is Migrant Hawker, and we were very fortunate to find a male and a female roosting together near a pond at Rutland Water. He is showier in his blue finery, whilst she is camouflaged in brown and yellow, more to avoid unwanted attention than anything else. Clearly, in this instance, she was tolerating the male's presence. A couple of males even put in an appearance outside the log cabin on my birthday. Damselflies are scarcer towards the back end of the flight season, but we did manage to find a few Willow Em...

Today we're starting with a gratuitous fluffy mammal image from a few days ago, mainly so that the banner isn't a shock to the unwary. You'll thank me later. Grey Squirrel seen from our log cabin After arriving home late evening yesterday, this morning was all about unpacking and putting everything back where it should be. Megan nipped out for a bit of shopping and I cracked on with chores. Despite a forecast for showers all day, we risked putting out two loads of washing to dry, and they are now successfully squirrelled away in the airing cupboard. The list of missed phone calls and emails has been dredged for names and details, because as always happens when you go on holiday, the work floods in. Monday morning will be busy with scheduling of appointments whilst I wait for Openreach to install fibre to the property (or so they assure me).  This afternoon I have spent a good while going through Blogger, catching up on what folk have been up to and answering the comments wh...

Homeward bound. Quite a relaxed start to the day as we were already at the airport. My last transit through Birmingham had been a nightmare: the place was rammed, there were folk everywhere; the carrier did not have a check-in desk open; and queues to get into the queue for the lift to take everyone to Security. This time we were taking no chances and headed to check-in a full three hours before our flight. Consequently, there were no queues, we breezed through everywhere and had a v-e-r-y lazy breakfast. This past week has been our Summer. Orkney had not been this warm for this many consecutive days all year, so as we boarded our plane to Inverness, I took a snap of the blue skies. Once back in the Highlands, we had a brief visit to Dunelm to pick up some cutlery that couldn't be shipped to Orkney (because... knives) and then it was a couple of hours drive through Autumn to the port of Scrabster. The sea crossing to Stromness was a little lumpy, courtesy of the gale which hit the ...

Our last full day of the holiday was a whirlwind of packing, followed by another visit to Rutland Water, before heading to Birmingham to return the hire car and check into a hotel for the night. Whilst packing, there was a constant stream of raptor calls from outside. A pair of Red Kites were very vocal, perched in a tree close to our log cabin. At Rutland Water, we spotted a Weasel and four species of ode, but photos of the latter are on my camera, so will have to wait for another day. Here's dawn from the log cabin and an interesting fungi on a willow trunk at Rutland Water. The drive to Birmingham wasn't pleasant, many hold ups along the way, but finally we could hand the car back and relax. This past week has been our Summer, but tomorrow it's back to the cool and windy north.

A slow start today, before a drive south to the village of Potton and a trip to RSPB Headquarters with Ruth. The coolness of an early autumnal dawn had gave way to a pleasantly warm morning. The three of us set off around the heath, stopping occasionally to photograph the heather, flowers and insects. Megan spotted a large beetle on a pathside sign. It wasn't, as I had first thought, a shield bug, but in fact was a Western Conifer Seed Beetle. This, we later learned, was an accidental introduction to the UK (in 2007) from the west coast of North America. I found a very fresh Fly Agaric, yet to be gnawed by anything. Definitely worth a photo. We wandered through the gardens of the HQ building, and just before we returned to the car park, we discovered a dung beetle on the path. Later attempts at an ID suggested it was a Minotaur Beetle. Ruth was enjoying the day out, as little Louis was in Pre School, so we went to a pub for a wonderfu...

During the night, about 3am, we were awakened by a Tawny Owl, calling loudly from quite close. "Ke-wick, ke-wick, ke-wick." The day properly began with an email requesting that I complete a survey. As it concerned the Big Garden Bird Watch and volunteering for the RSPB, I decided to contribute my twopenn'orth. A few minutes later, I arrived at the final questions which included "Which age group are you?" For the first time ever, I realised that I was in the last group, which was a bit of a moment. Daughter Ruth and grandson Louis visited us today, and we all ventured to Fineshade Wood, a site which I hadn't previously been to. In early Summer, it is a Mecca for butterfly enthusiasts, as Fineshade is home to a thriving colony of Purple Emperors. Not in mid October though. However, we had a lovely lunch at the cafe, then wandered along one of the waymarked trails. We saw several Migrant Hawker and Common Darter dragonflies, a few species of plant t...