Natural highs and lows

In a week when researchers at Cambridge University have found promising hints of life on an exo-planet 124 light years away, plenty of us are wondering when there might be the possibility of detecting signs of some humanity here on Earth. "Humanity" 🙄 We're gonna need a bigger microscope to unearth any evidence of compassion and benevolence around these parts. [Presses button for some Nature therapy] Feels like it's on speed-dial these days. Megan discovered this caterpillar in the garden. Our best guess is Angle Shades moth. April seems early for Mayflies. Apparently this is a Baetis sp which must've found its way to the house wall from the burn in the valley.   Two Common Cranes which recently spent some time in the county, specifically this ploughed field in the parish of Birsay. Whilst twitching the above cranes, we popped into the hide at the Marwick Loons on the off-chance that a Bittern might show. It didn't, but here's a very confiding Redshank (p...

Autumn has seemed to carry on where Summer left off, with the occasional pleasant day crowded out by a welter of wetness. At least I have been able to keep dry this week, with trips to Caithness and Shetland avoiding the worst of the rain and gales. Out and about in Orkney on All Souls Day, I found this newly-emerged moth as I was leaving a customer's property. It's an Angle Shades whose wings have not yet fully extended. I relocated it from a window frame to some sheltered vegetation.  Bonfire Night and its fireworks hold no great charm for me, but I was delighted to see this huge clump of Ivy in flower whilst on a walk in Finstown, which was a mass of exploding rockets as it provided a useful source of nectar late in the year. Nearby were a couple of Blackcaps, a male and a female, diligently foraging through the leaves and stems for food. However, before I could photograph the warblers, a muffled shout alerted me to an even greater wonder. Above us, in the branches of the tr...

Here at Natural Highs and Lows, the blogposts are currently about a fortnight behind real time, though 'real time' hasn't got a lot to write home about, thank you very much. What with expensive energy prices, cost of living increases, a looming recession and, generally, all the other wonderful benefits of the much-vaunted sunlit uplands of Brexit... well then, real time can go stick its head in a sewage outflow. Rant over, back to the past wildlife, and the last day of the long weekend in Hoy and South Walls from mid month. As was becoming customary, the day began with thick fog, so we reasoned that looking for dragons or birds would be a tough gig. Instead, we visited a Scottish Wildlife Trust site at the Hill of the White Hamars, which has a lovely walk along the Pentland Firth coast of South Walls. With our focus narrowed down to our immediate environs, we were able to bask in the glow of a multitude of wildflowers. We began a species list and, in a very short time, it ...

Living on the shores of Scapa Flow, it is quite possible that on Christmas Day I did see three ships, but I wasn't counting. Although there were two visitors to the garden, they definitely weren't Turtle Doves, but they were welcome all the same. A pair of Song Thrushes were spotted rootling through the veg patch Boxing Day morning was spent tidying an outbuilding, appropriately enough collapsing umpteen cardboard boxes to be recycled. Midst the bruck, this Angle Shades moth was found, resting on a plastic bag. Looking at the Butterfly Conservation website, it appears that this moth doesn't overwinter as an adult. The moth obviously hadn't read the latest guidance. As we enter another chapter of lockdown, this time in the depths of Winter, please remember to look after 'your' wildlife. And 'your' wildlife will look after you.