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And... Action!

I'm way behind in my blogging, so may need to resort to drastic measures to catch up. However, before I go all 'random images from random days' in an effort to drag myself back to the topical and current time, here's a post which should've aired several weeks ago.

The mission was a recce for a walk which my partner is guiding for the non-online, unvirtual part of the Orkney International Science Festival (OISF). The festival began last Thursday and runs until next Wednesday, with most of the events happening through the medium of the internet. However, there are daily walks in Orkney, courtesy of Wild Orkney Walks.

So, the island of Flotta... currently the home of an oil terminal which probably explains all the photos of tankers, rigs, platforms and ocean-going tugs which appeared on... ahem... another blog. Likely due to all of the fossil fuel paraphernalia (pipes, storage tanks, more pipes, flare etc), Flotta isn't the most visited island in the Orkney archipelago, but that doesn't mean there's an absence of wildlife or things to see. Hence the recce.

During the Second World War, a Naval Cinema was constructed on the island, as part of a recreation centre to entertain the sailors from the fleet anchored in Scapa Flow. Not much of the building remains now.



Now showing... The Wall

From the pier, we set off anti-clockwise around the island, and I had to stop almost immediately to take a photo of this boat with, way in the background, Hoy High lighthouse on Graemsay (the nearer island is Fara).


Flotta has its fair share of quirky...


as well as copious amounts of gorgeous heather. This is Ling.


A scurrying movement at our feet turned out to be the larva of ground beetle (I think). It had a proper shift on and was tricky to get in focus!


Beyond the island's airfield, there is a small Arctic Skua colony. These klepto-parasites of Arctic Terns (and other species) are sleek and aerobatic birds, as you would have to be to try and pinch food from a tern. They're sort of like badass Swallows.

Arctic Skua juvenile

Same bird reacting to a Bonxie flying overhead

Likely an adult Arctic Skua

From the west coast of the island, we looked across Weddel Sound towards Crockness on Hoy. This stretch of water is a good place to spot Harbour Porpoise and, sure enough, the more observant half of the team pointed some out to me.


Continuing on our way around Flotta, we found several clumps of Autumn Gentian.


After a picnic lunch at Kirk Bay, we left the coastal path and cut across to Stanger Head along farm tracks. Just shy of the head, there are a couple of pools which I hoped would have some dragon or damsel interest. Fortunately, there were a few Common Blue and Blue-tailed Damselflies present, and stars of the show were the Emerald Damselflies, including an egg-laying pair.
 
A male Emerald Damselfly

A pair of Emerald Damselflies ovipositing. He's mate guarding to ensure that the eggs being laid are the ones fertilised by him. Romantic, eh?

The return journey back to the pier was notable for sightings of a Reed Bunting, a Hen Harrier, lots of Sneezewort and a mystery raptor whose dark colours confused me. The bird was seen at distance and was flying away from us, making ID difficult. It only occurred to me later that it might have been an immature White-tailed Eagle.

Doh!

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