Natural highs and lows

I'm sure that I have mentioned previously that there are houses being built around us. Obviously this will change the variety of wildlife we see in and from the garden, but we're hoping that we will gain a few creatures as well as inevitably losing a few. In my usual slapdash way, I have been documenting, in the form of a photo diary, the construction of the house directly behind us, colloquially known as Plot 1 until the new owners give it a name. Neither the house nor the diary are finished yet, but the latest photo was taken yesterday evening, so I hope you will excuse my jumping the gun in showing you progress so far. I think you will understand why.

Blogging has become a bit of a bus driver's holiday at the moment, with my work days spent in front of a computer screen, editing and formatting technical manuals. It's not all bad, mind, as at least I can stay in the warm and dry. However, despite the Spring-like temperatures further south, any inclination of Orkney's thermometers to creep into double figures is thwarted by the windchill. But, whisper it quietly, t his week we have had a few sunny days, so yesterday, whilst Megan was recce-ing a new island for her wildlife walks, I took an hour off work to carry out the first bumblebee survey of the year. Bumblebee Conservation's BeeWalk is a national recording scheme and March probably works a whole lot better for the south of England than these frigid shores. Although bumblebees are insulated with lots of hairs, this month is certainly a tough gig for a bee. And to be fair, also for this surveyor. I took three different coats so that I could choose which one to wear ...

One afternoon, a couple of days ago, a lull in the gales tempted me outdoors for a spot of gardening. Muscles which hadn't been used in several months were cajoled into action as I pottered about in the mild air, spurred on by some actual sunshine. Between bouts of activity, I wandered around the garden collecting fallen cones from a neighbour's trees, the afore-mentioned gales having distributed the empty cones far and wide.  A few brave plants have emerged from the ground, their flowers adding splashes of colour here and there. Crocus Daffodil Dwarf Iris Some cones Lupin leaves and dew drops A Hellebore I'm not certain that we knew we had The object of the exercise, however, was to backfill the hole we'd dug a year ago, when we thought that the front garden would be the location for a pond. Remember this photo from Spring 2024?  Spring 2025 Excavating activity will presently begin in the rear garden. Meantime, when the weather's dreich and we're stuck indoors,...