Natural highs and lows

A late start this morning, the sun was already well above the horizon when I finally stirred. It is Saturday, I guess, but it meant that I missed an opportunity to photograph dawn. As soon as I had fed Mocha, I put an apple out for the thrushes and a couple of Blackbirds immediately materialised out of nowhere. Photo: M Taylor Indeed, there were a few more species around than usual. A pair of Dunnocks hopped along the garden wall and into the undergrowth, the local House Sparrow flock put in an appearance (perhaps someone's feeders hadn't been filled) and a Collared Dove investigated what the Blackbirds were up to. Brief sightings of a Robin, a Wren and a pair of Pied Wagtails were then overshadowed by the first appearance this Autumn of a Blackcap. It was a male, with the eponymous headgear, and Megan immediately sliced up another apple in the hope of tempting it down onto the ground to feed. Alas, it seemed content to search the few remaining Sycamore leaves for insects rathe...

It has been so calm in Orkney today, in stark contrast to the weather farther south and what is due for here at the weekend. We  were up early, me to catch up with one of the jobs postponed from yesterday, and Megan to head to Burwick in South Ronaldsay to guide some tourists along the clifftops above the Grey Seal pupping beaches. Here's a few photos taken around dawn, including a very faint sun dog in the 3rd shot (just to the left of the flying bird). Working outdoors was much more pleasant this morning, with the repair completed in weak sunshine. Back home, there was a cable to run from the lounge, through the loft, and into a corridor, so that the broadband router can return to its usual place in the centre of the house following the installation of full fibre. Fortunately, I was able to use an old aerial cable as a pull-through from the lounge and then the now-redundant phone cable as another pull-through into the corridor. It only remains for me to terminate the ethernet cab...

It's rather a blustery day, with driving rain, not ideal for working outside with power tools. I rescheduled the day's visits, returned home and settled down to some admin tasks. The Winter thrushes are still moving through, still mainly Redwings, and one eventually deigned to hop about our garden. After lunch, Megan counted at least 150 in the field across the track, with more flocks arriving all the time. As Storm Boelo is bringing 70+mph winds on Sunday, we took the opportunity, during a break in the showers, to move our garden furniture into the garage. Hopefully the garage will be ok! Other storms are available for folk farther south. So the weekend will likely be spent indoors, keeping cosy and warm, probably with my nose in a book and fortified by a conveyor belt of tea mugs. The to-be-read pile is simmering nicely. Unsurprisingly, it's heavy on natural history. The George Monbiot book is my unfinished holiday reading, having sat in the pile for years. I don't kn...

For a couple of weeks now, thrushes have been arriving in the UK from their Scandinavian breeding grounds, hoping for better weather here during the Winter. Birders in Orkney have been studiously counting flock sizes, which have occasionally been in the thousands, but this mainly happens on the east side of the archipelago rather than on the west where we live. However, today we noticed the first few Redwings of the Autumn in the field over the track, and a couple of different Blackbirds in the garden. Apples were immediately deployed, halved and deposited in plain sight, just a short glide from our neighbour's trees.  By lunchtime, it was only the Blackbirds which were confident (or hungry) enough to hop about the front garden. My understanding is that the all-dark individuals are from Scandinavia The resident Blackbird The flocks continued to arrive though, now with a few Fieldfares among them, but no sign of any Song Thrushes yet, or the Holy Grail of Thrushdom, a Ring Ouzel. Re...

Today is International Sloth Day, and as I'm feeling a bit under the weather, I think I can appreciate the sentiment. Funnily enough, one of the recent cards I received did feature this somewhat less than energetic creature. I can't think why. One evening at the end of September, I completely forgot about a Zoom meeting for the staff and area coordinators of the British Dragonfly Society Scotland. I was mortified, despite not having many species of dragon and not much to add at such meetings. I mention this because one of the actions to come out of the evening was to look at 10km (hectad) squares with few or no records to understand why this should be. I must point out that the world of biological recording relies heavily on squares of varying sizes to understand the distributions of plants and animals, which then informs conservation actions. For instance, before I moved to Orkney, I helped the Buckinghamshire Dragonfly recorder (aka Alan) with 10km square data for the BDS Atl...

Sunday was a peach of a day, worthy of sitting outside with a morning cuppa. A few hardy bumblebees, wasps and honey bees busied about the flowers which remained in bloom. There weren't many leaves left on the trees when I took a wander around the garden. I popped down the hill to post a card and it seemed as though the whole population of Stromness was mowing or weeding or generally tidying up, making the most of the lovely weather. We still have quite a lot of cobbles left from our pond project. Megan's dad has been helping to reduce the pile as he reclaims one end of his pond from encroaching vegetation and creates a pebble beach. After lunch, I dropped off another load for him.    This morning, as I went to and fro between the utility room and kitchen with Mocha's meds and then breakfast, I couldn't help but notice the dawn. So here are some more gratuitous sky photos. The early start was because Openreach were due shortly after 8am to connect us to full fibre, a jo...