Warm as coast

Since my previous blogpost, a funny thing has occurred. In tiny increments, day by day, Summer has happened. Yes, really. The upshot of this unexpected development is that there has been lots of wildlife watching, either whilst working, waiting for ferries or on days off. So here's a whistle stop tour of the last fortnight.

Training evening. Megan invited me along as another pair of eyes on one of her evening walks for clients. This had the added benefit of me being able to see what she does in her "office", which on this day was the clifftop path at Burwick in South Ronaldsay. It benefitted the clients too, as we found more wildlife to show them, whilst also allowing me to practise the role, should I ever need to cover for Megan.

A Common Rustic moth on a Ragwort flower (Thanks to HA for the ID)

Everyone wants to see Puffins (although they won't be here for much longer, as now the breeding season is over, they are heading back out to sea).

Scottish Primrose outing: When Megan discovered that I hadn't been to see Scottish Primrose this year, I was promptly escorted to Yesnaby before the second, and final, flowering was over. The maritime heath was a sight to behold, swathes of wildflowers, including the diminutive Primula scotica.

Sanday 1: A work trip to Sanday to install satellite broadband for a customer coincided with a really warm and sunny day. The job went incredibly smoothly, so I was finished much earlier than anticipated, and was able to spend some time dragon hunting before I had to catch the return ferry.

In a coastal meadow, Red Clover and Grass of Parnassus

A Kestrel hovering over a hillside, looking for prey in the undergrowth below

Blue-tailed Damselflies mating

More dragon hunting: When a day's work evaporated due to parts not being delivered on time, we took the snap decision to decamp to Hoy to survey some ponds for dragons and damsels. In the rush to catch the ferry, I forgot my camera, so Megan stepped in to save the day. Which is why there's a photo of me 🙄 

 A male Common Hawker catching some rays (Photos MT)

Sanday 2: This was the day of the rescheduled trip to Tresness. Thankfully, all signs of the mass whale stranding tragedy had been washed away by a couple of big spring tides.

In fact, the day was made rather interesting due to the tide, as access to the customer's home was a nine minute drive along the the shore. The incoming high tide meant that I had to return my car to the main island, then have a lift back in the customer's 4x4, before completing the job and walking back to my car, being careful not to get my feet wet.

Arctic Skua

Flotta: This past weekend, the Orkney Field Club organised a walk to Flotta to look at the insect life of Stanger Head. The main area of interest was around a small colony of Six-spot Burnet moths, the species' only stronghold in the county. I will save their colourful delights for another time, as there were plenty of other things to see, not least a bazillion Common Blue butterflies.

A view from Stanger Head, across to the island of Switha, and Cantick Head beyond

Up close with a Garden Tiger moth

A male Common Blue Damselfly

A female Common Blue butterfly

A male Common Blue butterfly

There were also plenty of Blue-tailed and Emerald Damselflies around several pools, but I didn't photograph any as I was too busy explaining to folk the intricacies of the plethora of subtle differences between these insects, according to species, gender, sex and age.

Phew! Well, that's us more or less up to date. Next time it's Six-spot Burnets and a Stocky Mason Wasp.