Natural highs and lows

A small aside in a recent blogpost has taken on a bigger meaning with the passage of time and the subject being discovered by social media. Do you r emember the sighting of the blue and yellow macaw from the day we moved to Stromness? We occasionally saw it again over the next few weeks, but then Blu (as he's known) seems to have found a publicity agent. Here's a link to BBC Radio Orkney's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/radioorkney/posts/pfbid02dPFxkyZYiG8aYdFJGEMA2AffregaGnCWhAf1bwToddsWtJxEawtSDFxLgR9dj9Pml And the subsequent interview on one of their morning news bulletins: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001q4gf  Then, Blu hit the big time with the main BBC News webpage, after inadvertently interrupting a football match and turning around the local side's fortunes: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-66615132 You could not, as they say, make it up.

We've been busy trying to choose colour schemes and soft furnishings for the lounge and the guest bedroom: bright red, grey, dark red and orange for the former, giving a Summer turning into Autumn feel; whilst for the latter, blue, grey, green and a  wildflower pattern which, now that I've written those words, sounds bizarre but I think it's probably a landscape thing... A mid-August evening This rainbow was weird A walk on the west coast on the following day Grass of Parnassus Frog Orchid Scottish Primrose Wheatears A walk around the old Stromness Waterworks Oddments from home A young Pied Wagtail Mist on the Orphir Hills Since the last photograph was taken, the weather has been unremittingly dreich, but it's not just rain we've been soaking up.

I'm a bit out of sync with my posts, having blogged in the wrong order, which had seemed like a good idea at the time. I will attempt to rectify the error here with a catch-up post for the month of August to date. There was some dragonfly excitement a few weeks ago, when a good friend reported an Emerald Damselfly from a sheltered path near her home in Stromness. Whilst this species has been in Orkney since 2010, this was the first confirmed record for West Mainland. Separately and several days later, the owner of a large pond requested help with identifying the wildlife present in and around her pond. Said pond happened to be adjacent to the afore-mentioned sheltered path and has long been thought of as the source of many dragonfly records from Stromness. So now we could answer that particular question. With a small group of local (and equally intrigued) experts, a pleasant morning was spent investigating the pond and its surroundings. The place was teeming with Black Darter drago...

Perhaps space isn't the first thing one thinks of when contemplating Scotland. Sure, there's loads of the stuff in the Highlands and Islands, with more breath-taking vistas and stunning scenery than you could shake a Saturn V at, all with the least amount of human-centric infrastructure. But, no, I was thinking of outer space, and although I guess Scotland has the same amount as everybody else, the country doesn't immediately spring to mind if, for instance, you wanted to go into orbit. But even the briefest of internet searches (we're not known for our conscientious diligence here at Natural Highs and Lows), shows that there are five (or V, if you prefer) Scottish spaceports in development or planning, located in Shetland, Sutherland, Argyll, Prestwick and North Uist. There are also whisky distilleries in each of those places. Coincidence? I think not. And you thought that the uisge beatha was only jokingly described as rocket fuel? In the news this week, a Scottish s...

Amongst the many new or different experiences we anticipated upon moving home, there are also some randomly-scattered instances of pleasant surprise. For instance, back at Houton, corvid activity mainly involved Hooded Crows and Ravens, their calls of caws and cronks echoing around the hills and rooftops. Here in Stromness, the majority of corvids are Rooks and Jackdaws, who roost in the town but commute daily out to far-flung pastures to forage.  These journeys are generally northwards in the morning and southwards in the evening, so at some point not long after dawn, I am awoken by the sounds of their various raaks and chacks as small flocks of both species pass overhead. Because I am invariably snuggled under a duvet at this time of day (at least until later in the year when dawn is at a more civilised time), there isn't a photographic record of these sojourns. You could say that I am avoiding catching corvid. In the evening, towards dusk, the birds return from their day in ...