Cats a tonic

The following day dawned... foggy... not ideal for a dragonfly walk. But, by the time we arrived at Lyness to meet the ferry and six folk keen to see dragons, the cloud had lifted sufficiently that we could at least discern the outline of the hillside for which we were headed. Phew.

I explained to everyone that this year's walk was three weeks later than normal, so I couldn't really predict what we would find. And then there was the weather... no sun, no heat, but at least there was almost no breeze. A perfect combo for insects, as long as those insects were midges.

Climbing up the gentle slope from Lyness onto the hill of Wee Fea, there was plenty of wildlife to see, which was most pleasing and a huge relief. Whilst the event was free, there's always a bit of performance anxiety! 

Fly Agaric. "Just needs a wee door in the front" quipped one of our number

A caterpillar of the Northern Eggar moth

A male Black Darter

It's not often that we see ants swarming, but this winged individual was part of one of two swarms seen over the weekend. And a precursor to thunder.

A caterpillar of a Knot Grass moth

A caterpillar of a Fox Moth

I think this is a caterpillar of a Broom Moth

All in all, we managed to find five species of dragonfly or damselfly, only one less than the usual tally for the site we visited. As mentioned above, this walk was three weeks later than normal, so some damselfly numbers were low, perhaps due to being past peak season, or it could've just been the weather. We only saw single figures of Common Blue and Blue-tailed and no Large Reds at all. However, Emerald Damselfly and Black Darter numbers were through the roof, we're talking hundreds, as these late season species are coming to the fore. There were a couple of fly-bys from Common Hawker dragonflies too.

After the walk attendees were safely on the ferry for their journey home, we pootled back to Longhope to watch the Risso's Dolphins again. Happy sigh.