Natural highs and lows

One of the bloggers I follow is B of Coastal Ripples from Jersey, the largest of the Channels Islands. At a rough guestimate, that's about 675 miles (over 1000km) south of Orkney, so from a seasonal perspective it is always interesting to see what's happening nearer the Equator. B's photos of the landscapes, architecture and wildlife around her are wonderful, not least when she and her husband go on holiday to other scenic places. I don't know where B finds the time, but she partakes in several blog series each year, a skill requiring a great deal of dedication and stamina, especially where there's one post a day for a whole month. I could not possibly hope to emulate this, but am very much in awe of her perseverance and inventiveness. B is also part of the monthly "Through The Garden Gate" series begun by S of Down By The Sea. Once a month, we are treated to what's happening in the garden, what's blooming and how vistas are changing. Now, I'm ...

These opening paragraphs are going to have to ramble on for a while, as the first photograph is of a spider, and I wouldn't want to make you jump without at least giving you a bit of a warning. If it helps at all, it is a super close-up, taken with me kneeling on a boardwalk and reaching across and down to the water's surface, so that my fingers were only a few centimetres from the spider. Just in case we don't all know, I am not good with spiders, so if I can put on my brave pants to stare down an arachnid and  take a photo , you can probably manage to view it from the safety of your device screen. Just ignore that tickly sensation which has suddenly begun behind one of your ears. Happily, the remaining nineteen photographs on this blogpost are a lot less scary, some are just plain cute, and the whole shebang encompasses the last four days of our Nethy Bridge holiday and a broad swathe of wildlife. But back to the first image, the beast in question is a Raft Spider, sat on...