Firing up Blogger, whenever I hit '+ NEW POST', the cursor on the new page is always stepped in by one space and I have never bothered to figure out if that's a setting in Blogger or a quirk of my computer. Therefore, as a ritual, before I start typing I hit 'backspace' on the keyboard. Then, because some habits are really hard to shake off, in a drop down menu I select Arial as my preferred font and type two capital T's at the beginning of the first line of the post (IYKYK). This is because my next step is to add the photographs I want in the post, and invariably, if I haven't set the font beforehand, once the pictures are uploaded, I will begin typing straight away and not look up until there's a whole sentence or a paragraph in Times.
Perhaps it's a subconscious way of mentally switching from the now sadly all-too-mundane world of war, death and climate chaos, to instead allow me to reflect upon the wonders of the natural world?
What, and furthermore, evs.
Today's offering at the altar of Artemis features news of our latest Beewalk in Stromness and photos of a contemplative hour pottering about the pier in Eday as I waited for a ferry home.
The happy alignment of a free afternoon and a spell of sunny weather meant that we could fit in a bee survey this week. Pottering along the verges of our transect at Stromness Waterworks, we were amazed by the number of wildflowers in bloom. As we progressed around the site, we recorded 23 individual bees of four species foraging on eight different plant species. On top of that, Megan spotted a Blue-tailed Damselfly in a wet flush that I hadn't previously considered a year-round water body. Having another pair of eyes along certainly made a difference, as she also spotted some Autumn Gentian and Mountain Everlasting in flower, as well as this resting Common Blue butterfly.
After we had both taken photographs of the butterfly, we wondered why it was motionless and face-planted into the vegetation?
Zooming into our photos, we eventually cottoned on, it was someone's lunch.
The following day, I was working in the island of Eday. It was very hot (for Orkney) but with just enough breeze to keep the horseflies at bay. Once the job was completed, I checked a nearby pool for any Odonata and managed to find a couple of Blue-tailed Damselflies. However, walking through thick vegetation also revealed where all the horseflies were, so I drove back to the pier to await the ferry home and spend an hour or so in a cleg-free environment.
Between the pier and one of the jetties, a bait-ball of fish were shoaling in the company of some Moon Jellyfish, which made for a pleasant photograph.
On the side of the pier facing open water, more Moon Jellies and some larger Lion's Mane Jellyfish were drifting by. With the warmer weather, there are lots of these about at the moment, so I was not tempted to cool off in the sea.
At this time of year, the pier usually has a few Kittiwakes hanging around, possibly as a consequence of the nearby fish farm.
I'm fairly sure that at any time of year, every pier has at least one Great Black-backed Gull. They are enormous, and it's quite amazing what they will happily snarf in one beakful. It's enough to give any small creature the heebie jeebies, or at least the GBBGs.
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