Blast-beruffled plumes

Severe gales and driving rain are not an unusual occurrence in Orkney, but three days of the same weather, any type of weather, very much is. So Storm Babet (or normal meteorological conditions for October) is actually a bit different - not in intensity or maximum speed, but in sheer staying power. Coming out of the east, she is hitting the front of the house full on, and we are experiencing a whole new raft of unnerving noises, bumps and rattles as we figure out just what Burnbank sounds like in a gale. We have lost at least one roof tile, but I won't be going up a ladder to investigate until wind speeds drop significantly. Living at the top of a hill, thankfully, we're relatively unlikely to experience the flooding which is causing so many problems elsewhere.

Weather from the east always excites the birding fraternity, as migrating species can be blown across the North Sea to make landfall in Orkney. Birds which are rarely seen here are suddenly there in front of you, and a frenzy of twitching ensues.

At this point, I should admit one moment of unbridled joy from last weekend, when we visited Deerness. As we approached the Mull Head Visitors' Centre, ostensibly to attend to a comfort break, a bird perched on a Rosa bush in the grounds caught our attention. It was a Waxwing, our first of the Autumn. Whatever neural pathways existed between brain and bladder were suddenly switched from pee stop to F stop, as the only stream I was producing was a steady flow of silent expletives as I struggled with camera parameters.

Back to this weekend, and how are we faring with Babet? Well, we're hunkering down at home and unsuccessfully trying to convince the cats that they don't really want to go outside. But, as they say, every cloud has a silver lining (which may explain the preponderance of baking foil in some conspiracy theories). The storm has coincided with a passage of thrushes from Scandinavia, and even our unprepossessing garden has suddenly filled up with migrant Blackbirds, Redwings and a Song Thrush. A Robin appeared briefly too, and then this morning there were three Bramblings. The low wall at the front is giving a bit of shelter from the wind, and in its lee we have placed some provender likely to appeal to hungry beaks.

All these hardy bundles of feathers, which were concentrating on feeding up after a sea crossing, were maybe a little less wary than they should be. Walking to the kitchen window yesterday afternoon, I was surprised to find the garden seemingly empty, the halved apples and strewn bird seed eerily untouched. I was just forming the thought that there might be a raptor about when a blur of wings appeared from the other side of the wall, flew over the house and across the field at the back. It was a female Sparrowhawk, lugging a medium-sized bird, so I must candidly acknowledge that it is probably one way to get rid of thrush.

Waxwing

Redwing

Song Thrush

Blackbird

Brambling

This blogpost is heavily laden with avian content, so I might as well mention yesterday's big news in MeganWorld. Donning wet weather gear, she set off to the local supermarket for a few supplies whilst I was busy working at home. Her hoped-for gap between the showers didn't materialise, or it did, but not for long enough. Seeking shelter by some trees near the harbour, Megan was astonished to have very brief views of a Kingfisher, an individual which has been seen in Stromness maybe half a dozen times in the past two months. This was Megan's first ever Kingfisher, a lifer which has been a long time in coming, and it was all the more special for being on the local patch and en route to the Co-op. She didn't stop grinning for the rest of the day, and today she's wearing a top that is a certain shade of aqua blue.