Natural highs and lows

Today is April 23rd. Today is not Errol's birthday, neither is it the day of his death. This is because Errol is a swamp dragon, a fictitious character in the book Guards! Guards! by Sir Terry Pratchett. Errol is a small, lazy swamp dragon who falls in love with the huge, female Noble Dragon which terrorises the citizens of Ankh Morpork in the afore-mentioned tome. Errol woos her by evolving his internal plumbing so that he can flame backwards, effectively becoming a jet engine (the parody is that Sir Frank Whittle, inventor of said engine, was rejected by the RAF due to his diminutive stature). Errol by Paul Kidby Coincidentally, the other day, Megan and I visited the Tay Reedbeds , an RSPB reserve on the banks of the Tay estuary. We parked by a church in the village of Errol and followed a waymarked trail through farmland, down to the shore, full of hope at the prospect of possibly seeing Bearded Reedlings. Alas, despite much gazing, we did not. However, there were plenty of ot...

At the beginning of the week, a work trip took me to the island of Westray. The repair didn't take too long and, with no midday sailing available, I had a lengthy wait until the return ferry.  As the weather was mainly dry and sunny, I opted to fill the time with a couple of walks, one on the west coast of the island and one on the east coast. Despite 20 years of either holidaying or living in Orkney, I had never walked the four mile circular route around Noup Head, with its lighthouse, coastal scenery and seabird cliffs. It was time to put that right. I parked in the designated place next to Backarass Farm and followed the waymarked route through a few fields down to the coast. Heading north, I was aware of the constant to and fro of Gannets collecting nesting material and returning to their colony at Noup Head. Fulmars glided back and forth along the cliff edge, seemingly revelling in the joys of a stiff breeze. I spotted a few new species for the year: Bonxie (Great Skua), Kitti...