With a title like that, this could be a very short blogpost, as it's not currently the weather for adult dragons and damsels, neither here in Orkney and certainly not in Northern Italy. However, against the odds, I shall attempt to segue some summery fluttering with a snowy scene in the mountains of Cortina.
Currently, we're watching the GB curling team (ok, it's Scottish really) take on Czechia in their third game of the Mixed Doubles. I know that the Winter Olympics haven't officially opened yet, but such is the nature of a large round-robin competition, things have started early.
Whilst we're more used to seeing Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat in Scotland's colours, rather than the red, white and blue of Great Britain, curling is very much a sport synonymous with the area further north than Hadrian's Wall.
In times past, curling was an outdoor sport with over 2500 sites recognised in Scotland, either natural lochs or specially-constructed ponds. Nowadays, with a warming world, and a more regulated sport, the game has moved indoors. However, some of those old ponds which fell into disuse were subsequently the ideal habitat for dragonflies and damselflies.
In the last decade or so, I have been fortunate enough to visit a few of these water bodies in Perthshire, so here's a couple of reposts of damselfly photos.
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| Tucked away in Glen Lyon, Keltneyburn Nature Reserve preserves an old curling pond (Bing Maps) |
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| Large Red Damselflies |
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| Above Logierait, between the Rivers Tummel and Tay (Bing Maps) |
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| Northern Damselfly |
But I'm getting ahead of myself, it's still very much Winter. Patience, Nahal, patience.
Curling is such a cool sport. When Loch Glascarnoch was drained for a hydro scheme some Curling stones were found, some had dates on - oldest being 1631! I wrote a poem about it somewhere, i'll have to dig it out.
ReplyDeleteWow! That is cool too. There was an article on the Beeb News website this morning about the some of the current crop of Scottish players: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq5ypxgl1l0o
DeleteA little taste of summer seeing those dragonflies. Curling takes me back a few years when I watched the olympics as a child. Curling fascinated me for some reason! B x
ReplyDeleteAye, the chance to take a break from the dreichness was impossible to resist. More rain this week, so thank goodness for your photos of the sun!
DeleteYes, the GB team is very much a Scottish team which is why it's fun to see how they do. It's been disappointing so far but we'll get something at any rate on Saturday night.
ReplyDeleteAccording to my dad there used to be a curling pond in the Aberdeenshire village I come from. It is now a wildflower garden so I'm sure there will be much wildlife and perhaps Dragonflies there.
Keeping everything crossed for Saturday night!
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