Hoopoe hoodoo

This post is a bit of a mish mash (admittedly, that phrase could be used to uncritically sum up all of my literary output), which starts off a little gruesomely but then brightens up somewhat. 

At the end of last month, a morning's recce at the Ring of Brodgar for one of Megan's walks saw us bathed in pleasant sunshine and in buoyant mood. Between the Neolithic stones and the shores of Stenness and Harray Lochs, there's a nature reserve looked after by the RSPB, which can be excellent for birds, wildflowers and the occasional Otter. It being late Summer, there were a few migrating waders around, and still some flowers in bloom, but our eyes were drawn to a profusion of moth caterpillars feeding on Angelica and Ragwort plants. Whilst watching one of these larvae, a female ichneumon wasp appeared. After sizing up her target, she used her long legs and even longer ovipositor to avoid all those bristles and lay an egg inside the unfortunate caterpillar. Yes, a parasitic wasp, whose offspring will grow inside the unsuspecting host, eating only the least important bits until it is time for them to pupate. To be fair, without parasitic wasps, we'd be knee deep in caterpillars.

Back at the ranch, here's a pristine Small Tortoiseshell butterfly nectaring on Ragwort.

We had hoped to venture to North Ronaldsay at the weekend, but the weather and tidal conditions meant that the boat excursion was cancelled. Fortunately, the ferry to Westray was still running and also had a space for our car, so we braced ourselves for 40mph winds and headed there.

Just before we berthed at Rapness, three Risso's Dolphins swam by

On the west coast of the island, these waterfalls were struggling to live up to their name

The waves at Grobust

We found some shelter and sunshine at Mae Sands, as well as Turnstones and Sanderlings

Close-up of an Eyebright flower

Later that evening, upon our return home, we discovered that during the afternoon a Hoopoe had been seen on the golf course at the opposite end of the town. Megan has never seen a Hoopoe, despite several attempts and twitches. Not one. Not ever. Anywhere. That wasn't about to change then. I've only ever seen one, which was in Orkney several years ago.

The next morning dawned sunny and warm, and this local Rook was happy to pose for a photo

When the news broke that the Hoopoe was still in town, we dropped everything and had a very carbon neutral twitch by walking the two miles to the golf course

 Hoodoo h-undone.