Natural highs and lows

When we attended the Valtos gig in Edinburgh in September, Megan was full of cold and couldn't really enjoy the experience. So a pre-Christmas jaunt was organised to see the band again, this time in Inverness at a new venue An Seomar (The Room). Due to my advancing years, I qualify for free bus travel, so with the addition of a couple of ferry vouchers, we were able to make the journey on public transport at a much-reduced cost. All credit to the Scottish Government for these initiatives. Rather than awake at some ungodly hour to catch the 06.30 sailing from Stromness, we opted to make use of the B+B facility on the boat, checking in at 21.30 the night before sailing. This allowed for a few leisurely glasses of wine and nibbles in the Magnus Lounge before retiring to our cabin for the night.  Following breakfast and a smooth crossing of the Pentland Firth, we had a short wait at the terminal in Scrabster until our bus arrived for the journey to Inverness. Scrabster sunrise twixt bo...

Did I allude to a lazy morning in a recent blog? Well, it happened. One of those days when one's get-up-and-go has got up and gone. Umpteen mugs of tea did not bump-start my mojo, but hey, we were on holiday, so it's all good. Instead, we eventually sauntered down the hill to the Nethy House cafe for an early lunch, before tromping off into the woods for an afternoon of wildlife watching. En route to the cafe, a Red Admiral and a Small Tortoiseshell were nectaring on a roadside bush. We managed a few photos of the former, but a passing car spooked the latter before we could commit it to pixels. Still, these were our first flutters of the year, and it felt like an energy boost for us too. After an excellent lunch at the cafe, we wandered back over the eponymous bridge, past the village shop and followed a sign for the Speyside Way. This path took us by some sports pitches, then between the Millennium pools where, in a month or so, there will be loads of damselflies and dragonfli...

It is said that whilst on holiday there's the chance to do things differently, maybe staying up late and sleeping all morning, or skydiving, or eating and drinking oneself into an absolute stupor. We may have had the odd lie-in, and the occasional meal out, but the one thing we had less of on holiday was sky. No, we didn't go caving or exploring a nuclear bunker, our 'different' is habitat, rather than habit. At home, there are not, as yet, any trees in our garden, so the views are quite unrestricted, less for buildings and neighbours' planting. Consequently, the birds we see in, or from, our garden are not the usual garden birds. In fact, as I've been typing this paragraph, a Great Skua flew by, pursued by an irate Curlew. So our holiday indulgence is trees, and if possible a river. The cottage we were staying in is very much in the category of 'can't see the wood for the trees', mainly Scots Pine and Birch, and the birdage is so very different from...

With the coming of the new year, thoughts of Nature turn inevitably to lists. Records of sightings from the previous year are sent off to the appropriate county recorder, and if one happens to be a county recorder, then there's the job of checking the data for accuracy before uploading to the relevant recording scheme. Less officially, there's the matter of the household bird lists: species seen during the year (anywhere); species seen in Orkney; species seen on patch (a notional area loosely defined as "Did we walk from home?"); and species seen from home (aka the garden list). Megan's quite competitive about these, me less so, but if I ever manage to be temporarily ahead, I milk it for all it's worth.  I was roundly trounced (again) for 2023, but on a positive note, my year total for species seen was a personal best of 179, up 10 from the previous year. And so to 2024. The Ramble on New Year's Day kicked things off nicely, but there's always a bit of...

Contrary to all expectation, there have continued to be a few occasional balmy (for Orkney) days at the beginning of November. Here are some photos from three walks of varying distance and location. There's a comfortable three mile loop close to home, along single track roads which allow us to circumnavigate the Stromness Loons. I should say that 'loons' refers to marshland, rather than to any opinion of local mental stability. In the shelter of a bridge over a small burn, a Beech tree was hanging onto its leaves as only a Beech tree can. By one of the many ditches running through The Loons was a Grey Heron A couple of Hen Harriers seemingly uncomfortable sharing the same bit of sky A Fieldfare in a roadside garden November wouldn't be November without a trip across the Churchill Barriers and down to the southern tip of South Ronaldsay to marvel at the wonder that is Grey Seal pupping time. We set off from the car park at Burwick in a rain shower, but thankfully this so...

Here are a couple of videos of wildlife taken during the Lochinver week. First up is a Drinker Moth caterpillar seen on the road through Glen Canisp. I have never knowingly seen the adult moth, but occasionally come across the caterpillars at this time of year, even if it's only in the beak of a Cuckoo (as they're a bit partial to a big caterpillar). As I finished filming the video, a car approached along the single track road, so I stood back to let it pass. I had to hold my breath as it went over the caterpillar, but it was all ok, phew.  This next video was filmed on a window sill of the cottage we were renting. Blue, Great and Coal Tits had been seen coming to the sill, as well as Chaffinches and Redpolls. So I put the camera out and retreated back indoors, controlling start and stop on my phone via WiFi. This is an edited version to miss out all the pauses and shots of a tit's arse as it lands on the camera and then hops down in front of it.   The next couple of videos...

A short break on the Scottish mainland was made possible by the fact that Orkney and the Highlands were both (at time of travelling) in Scottish Tier 1 of the Covid regulations. And in this neck of the woods, the travel restrictions are backed up by the full force of the law. Woods, as well as rivers, were on the agenda, and some calm dry weather helped too. But definitely fleecy trews temperatures. Not long past dawn, the mist is still lifting from the valley of the River Helmsdale Loch Fleet, a rest halt brought about due to a rolling road closure for the transportation of wind turbine blades. Three v-e-r-y long vehicles indeed. Frost on Bramble leaves, near Skelbo Frost on a frond, near Skelbo Tarbat Ness and lighthouse There was much excitement upon spotting this exotic creature. Not many Blue Tits in Orkney Crested Tit. It was very mobile and difficult to photograph... Coal Tit The crispest shot I managed of a Crested Tit. If only it had been looking the other way Another Coal Tit...