Natural highs and lows

When in need of some fresh air, I can breezily recommend a blustery trip to Yesnaby on the west coast of Orkney. At the weekend, there were plenty of wildflowers on display, but even at ground level the wind was making photography difficult. My Scottish Primrose pics were all blurry, same for the snaps of Sea Plantain Leaf Beetles, and I didn't even attempt a shot of the stunning pale phase Arctic Skua which gave us a close flyby. The afore-mentioned Primula scotica is having its interregnum between the Spring and Summer flowerings, so it was even more of a challenge than normal to find any of its diminutive blooms. Predictably, after ten minutes of fruitless searching which had only yielded either old seed heads or fresh leaf rosettes not yet in bud, I looked up to see Megan waving me over to a couple of flowers. Spring Squill, Tormentil and Bird's-foot Trefoil added their vibrant colours to the floral carpet, whilst the small patch of Oysterplant was just beginning to open it...

Whilst we were over in the East Mainland two weekends ago, failing to find any damselflies, other like-minded folk were abroad in the West, with a couple of reports of Large Red Damselflies being submitted: one from Berriedale in Hoy; and one from the outskirts of Stromness. So finally, a little later than usual (yes, Spring weather, I'm looking at you), the Odonata flight season in Orkney is underway. To put this into some sort of geographical context, I checked the sightings for mainland Scotland up to and including that date... eleven species. That's more species than we actually have in Orkney during the whole Summer. Fortunately, the odo gods finally smiled upon me last Friday, when I nipped across to Hoy for work. With an hour to wait for the return ferry, I was able to check some pools in the Lyness area. It was overcast and windy, so I began with a large pool which is sheltered by a conifer plantation and a steep slope. The only things I was able to find were a Green-ve...

Last Friday was a warm and pleasant day in the county, but I wasn't well enough to make the most of it. In different circumstances, it would've been the perfect day for the first dragon hunt of the year. By Saturday, I was feeling better, and Megan dragged me out for some fresh air regardless. The day was cooler and cloudier, but nevertheless, we headed to Inganess and walked alongside Wideford Burn, taking in plenty of wildlife as we went. In fact, as soon as we left the car park, the good vibes began. A male Hen Harrier was quartering across a nearby hillside, a Brown Hare warily skirted the edge of a bed of flags, Sedge Warblers and Reed Buntings were singing from the the rough pasture beside the burn, whilst a conservatively-estimated bazillion insects were thronging in every sheltered spot. [Spoiler alert: there were no dragons or damsels.] A little inland, the burn runs through a small woodland, and this is where we concentrated our entomological efforts. Pink Purslane Br...

In recent years, May in Orkney has been characterised by cold and unsettled weather, despite it being traditionally our driest month. Thankfully, in 2020, we had a warm, sunny time of it, all the better to survive lockdown. This year is running true to form, a stuttering Spring, reluctant to let go of Winter, with no enthusiasm for rushing pell-mell into Summer. Sigh. At the beginning of the month, a walk around the bay revealed that, against the odds, a mole had seemingly tunnelled under the Pentland Firth and made landfall (landthrust?) in Orphir. However, closer inspection revealed that it was actually a black rabbit playing a game of "You can't see me!" Badly. As we had experienced in England in April, migrant birds were on the move, and this Common Whitethroat put in an appearance in the garden for a couple of days. As well as this supposedly being the driest month, another Orcadian myth has it that Arctic Terns don't appear from their oceanic wanderings until th...

We've been home from our holiday for over a fortnight and I'm seriously behind on my blogging. Well, as serious as it gets around here, which isn't very. Unless it's some ecological nightmare. Which it often is, as there's not so much good environmental news these days. When I say 'these days', I mean since the Industrial Revolution at least. Whoa! That paragraph took on a depressing life of its own. Sorry. Where was I? Oh, yes, our holiday. The last evening in the cottage was the usual mix of eating perishables from the fridge and frantically trying to remember in what order I packed the car a week and a half ago. A casual look out of the window brought all that to a juddering halt, as there was some small gingery creature tearing around the garden at a rate of knots, weaving in and out of the bushes and sending startled Pheasants in all directions. I called Megan to the window but, predictably, as soon as she arrived, all was calm, without a scamper to be ...

We were fortunate, whilst on a trip to RSPB Minsmere on the Suffolk coast, to meet up with an old friend and keen birder, JD. The nature reserve was a couple of hours' drive away, but so very worth it (despite the Cambridge rush hour, tailbacks from roadworks and getting lost a mile short of our destination). JD sent us very detailed instructions of where to meet up, which I expertly confused in that bit of my brain where I hold my map memory. Long story short, whilst pootling slowly along the wrong narrow lane with the car windows open, we scored a drive-by Nightingale in song. Eventually, we found the correct spot with even more detailed instructions... "park by the female Ring Ouzel, walk up the track to the male Redstart and look through my scope at the pair of Stone Curlews". This latter species is part of a family which is also known by the name of Thick-knees, which I'm sure in today's enlightened times would be considered body shaming. We'd barely beg...

Under half an hour away from the holiday cottage was the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust's Welney reserve. A brief look at the sightings from previous days revealed that there were several species that would make the trip worthwhile for us, even without the thought of Sunday lunch in the cafe. At this time of year, the Winter flooding of the reserve has not yet subsided, so a few of the paths were inaccessible, but not to worry, we met lots of friendly birders who were only too glad to help with identifying strange-plumaged birds and pointing out fly-over rarities. I should point out, the birds weren't actually strange-plumaged, they were just species we're used to seeing in Orkney in Winter plumage, and here they were changing into their Summer finery. Great White Egret, we managed this ID on our own Avocets, I knew this one from my recent Sanday sighting! During the afore-mentioned lunch, with breaks between courses to twitch Tree Sparrow on the neighbouring feeders, we were...