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Nature, yellow in petal and feather

Around this time of year I get to thinking: 1. Jeez, still two months to go before dragonfly season; 2. Will Winter never end?; 3. I haven't seen any Coltsfoot yet. There's not much I can do about the first two items on that list, other than moving south. Whilst in another time and place, I regularly used to confuse myself with Coltsfoot flowering dates, seemingly always presuming it to be sooner than it actually is. In fact, one year, I sat down and looked back through that particular blog and made a spreadsheet of the first flowering dates I had recorded for Coltsfoot in Orkney. The trend was clearly mid-March, so here I am, bang on cue. Having moved into a new home only last Summer, and this being our first Spring here, we weren't sure where we would find any Coltsfoot in flower. The setting is more urban, fringing on the rural, but Megan did find some at the beginning of March whilst recceing a walk along the coast about three miles from home. Meantime I had seen the gr
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Midmarch, a lesser study of provincial life

This is so very Orkney. Yesterday was sunny enough to make it pleasantly feasible to sit outside and eat lunch. The camping chairs were found, shaken for any overwintering spiderage and then deployed to the patio. OK, I was still wearing fleecy layers, but a little heat from the sun was definitely detectable. The bulbs in our containers also took the opportunity to partake of the rays. This was only temporarily a good thing, because as I type (this afternoon) the wind speed is ramping up and it will be gusting storm force from the south west by tea time. Oh, those poor flowers. However, it is still sunny enough to provide sufficiently good lighting to capture the occasional spontaneous wildlife moment.  This is possibly the best photo of a male Hen Harrier I will ever manage. And it's from the kitchen window, although heavily-cropped. Brown Hares are still visibly active during the day, maybe more so first thing and late afternoon. But this one ran by at lunchtime. Sadly, by the ti

As promised...

I am not sure that I will ever gravitate to the gardening standard where I would be comfortable contributing to a monthly "Through the Garden Gate" series as so many of my fellow and very talented bloggers do. Being able to nurture and paint with plants as well as words is maybe just beyond the pale for me. However, in our new place, we are one further rung up the horticultural ladder. We have a garden gate. And like the whole garden, it will need some TLC soon. A few weeks ago, at the end of February, we carried out some preliminary measuring of the perimeter at the front of the house. We'd popped outside for our mid-morning beverage, taking advantage of a lull in the weathers. The area is approximately 50' x 30' and in the past had been laid out quite formally, judging by old photographs we have seen. As a consequence of the modernisation work which had been carried out on the property, this garden was swept away, leaving us a blank canvas. Initial thoughts are

A month microwaved

The considered opinion around here is that January went on and on forever, but the same cannot be said of February, which seems to be whizzing by at a rate of knots. So let's bring this blog up to date with a whirlwind round up of happenings since last we spoke (ok, typed and read). Mid month, and there was a change of jigsaw! After the 99 Bees in a thousand pieces, we thought we'd go easy on ourselves and try a five hundred piece one instead. Well, that was the theory, practise is proving somewhat different. A walk at Evie Sands a couple of weekends ago was a great opportunity for a bit of skincare and exfoliation. A very chilly wind is the abiding memory, although we did see our first Snow Buntings of the year as they foraged for food amongst kelp on the tideline, and we did happen upon a flock of Purple Sandpipers on the rocky shore. Purple Sandpiper Brown Hare activity has shown no sign of letting up, though getting close to the action is proving difficult. Here's a se

Love is in the air

We have lived in our current home since last Summer, so there's a whole Spring that will be new to us, and we can't wait. This morning we were woken from our slumbers at 06.45 by a Blackbird singing, the first time we have heard one here. Hopefully this is payback for keeping him in apples all Winter. The Blackbird had obviously decided that today was the day to begin defending a territory from rivals and to start wooing the ladies. I chuckled to think that... well... it is St Valentine's Day. In a household where Nature is the defining feature and a shared passion, here's our riff on the theme and a nod to the local endemic wildlife. All credit to Ruth for her decoupage The second bird we heard calling whilst we were still in bed was an Oystercatcher. Although a few of these waders do remain here during the Winter, numbers are now swelling, so it won't be long before the flocks on the shore begin to disperse around the county as birds scout nesting sites. It was a

Winter wonderland

A strange thing happened. On two consecutive days, it snowed overnight during a period of calm weather. I can attest that waking up to a soundless and fluffy white Orkney is a surreal and magical experience. Mocha, despite her adventurous nature, was not wholly convinced by this new state of affairs. Her attempts at negotiating her way through six inches of snow were rather comical as, for a fraction of a second, the delicate surface crust would hold each gently-placed paw and then give way.  The following morning, the view to the rear was of "bruised and sullen storm clouds", which was rather photogenic, as well as being a cheeky crib from the lyrics of Rush's Jacob's Ladder . Whilst to the front, dawn continues to edge her way northwards along the eastern horizon. Either that or our neighbour's barn is on fire. Fortuitously, whilst rummaging around in our garage/shed, I had discovered an old battered snow shovel propped up in a corner. With this implement, I was

MacAch!

A wildlife park in the Scottish Highlands was in the news recently when one of its macaques escaped into the surrounding countryside and was at large for six days before being recaptured in someone's garden with the deft use of some left-over Yorkshire Pudding . This story left me rather despondent and speechless, of which more shortly. Fortunately, or perhaps not, the same couldn't be said of the internet, which instantly offered up a host of memes, including this prime example shared by the BBC from Facebook. When it comes to zoos, wildlife parks and natural history museums, I must admit to being rather conflicted. Whilst I understand that educating people about Nature has an important part to play in combating both species and habitat decline, and I know full well that captive breeding programmes and their resulting re-introductions can benefit critically-endangered species, I still have huge reservations about the concept and traditions. In the case of zoos and parks, it i