Natural highs and lows

Firing up Blogger, whenever I hit '+ NEW POST', the cursor on the new page is always stepped in by one space and I have never bothered to figure out if that's a setting in Blogger or a quirk of my computer. Therefore, as a ritual, before I start typing I hit 'backspace' on the keyboard. Then, because some habits are really hard to shake off, in a drop down menu I select Arial as my preferred font and type two capital T's at the beginning of the first line of the post (IYKYK). This is because my next step is to add the photographs I want in the post, and invariably, if I haven't set the font beforehand, once the pictures are uploaded, I will begin typing straight away and not look up until there's a whole sentence or a paragraph in Times . Perhaps it's a subconscious way of mentally switching from the now sadly all-too-mundane world of war, death and climate chaos, to instead allow me to reflect upon the wonders of the natural world? What, and further...

One day last week, we went along on a trip to the island of Wyre organised by the Orkney Field Club. We caught the ferry from Tingwall in West Mainland to Rousay and then on to Wyre. This is a place that I had not previously visited, a small island with a population of less than ten, featuring some 12th Century ruins, farming on a less industrial scale than normal and, consequently, more wildlife. We spent the day pottering the length of the place and back, exploring road verges, field edges, abandoned gardens, an old cemetery wall at St Mary's Chapel and the remains of Cubbie Roo's castle. Photographing insects and wildflowers was a little tricky due to a stiff westerly breeze (or perhaps I just couldn't see what I was focussing on due to the bright sunlight), but I have managed to salvage some crisper shots from the day. The view across Wyre Sound to Rousay An ichneumon wasp from the Genus Ophion on a Hogweed umbel We found several species of Fumitory growing in the field...