Natural highs and lows

Whilst contemplating the reason for the recent lack of blog posting (a bloggage blockage, I suppose), the obvious conclusion was that a lack of wildlife watching (and therefore source material) was a major contributor to the problem. The causes of this were manifold: Weather - lots of it and all quite unpleasant; Work - when able (see below); Wellbeing - we picked up a cold bug at the end of November and it is taking some shifting; Wherewithal - our stamina has been hit for six. Let me clarify that statement about the lack of wildlife watching... there's been a lack of actively going outside with the intention of watching wildlife. Meanwhile, indoors, there's been much perusal of live webcams from at least four continents. I'm not complaining, mind, as I think we would have gone mad without the distraction from the previously-mentioned Four Double-ues of the Apocalypse.  Thankfully, there have been fleeting moments of Nature's magic to lift the spirits and gladden the h...

As I type, Winter has arrived in Orkney, with sub zero temperatures, a dusting of snow and a personal preference for hibernating on the sofa. This change of weather was preceded by a weekend of gales and we had to spare a thought for any Grey Seal pups on a west-facing shore who will have had a miserable time of it. Shortly before our trip to Aberdeen, we visited the pupping beaches at Burwick in South Ronaldsay. We counted nearly 100 pups in various stages of maturity: from recently born; through the "white fluffball" stage; to moulted into a sea-worthy black pelage and about to take the plunge towards independence. Here are a few photos of the day: Pupping beaches A recently-born pup A suckling pup, piling on the pounds  A mum (on the right) warning off another mum who has strayed too close to her pup It's a wonderful bit of coastline Distant sun rays over mainland Scotland The walk also provided a bit of ornithological interest with a big flock of Barnacle Geese, a cou...

As we reach the end of 2021, I am reflecting upon a year when the weather has been anything but normal. The previous Winter wasn’t particularly stormy, then Spring was cool and dry, Summer was hot (by our standards!), and Autumn actually lasted longer than 24 hours, with the added bonus of some welcome colour to it. As I write, we’ve already had several storms of this Winter and the early December snows appeared on time. That much, at least, is usual. The birds which visit the county to breed in Spring and Summer, and those which use Orkney as a pitstop on their journeys to Southern Europe and Africa, are now long gone. Our Winter visitors have arrived: Redwings and Fieldfares tseep -ing and chack -ing their way through the shorter days; Long-tailed Ducks and Little Auks adding a frisson of excitement to our coastal walks; and Whooper Swans, Pink-footed Geese and Barnacle Geese grazing in the fields. Around our shores, the Grey Seal pupping season is now on the wane for this year, th...