Natural highs and lows

OK, I have to admit, I needed a lot of help decoding what this chart was showing, as it was well outside my area of expertise. For a start, what's the flashing yellow LED sign mean? And is 19 degrees the angle at which to best view the LED? Or is it the declination to the celestial equator? I am not even sure that this sort of info should be in the public domain, it could cause widespread panic and disorder. Meanwhile, outside GraemeWorld, the rest of the populace were having a fabulous time, thank you very much. The heat was certainly favouring us watching insects, especially as this shrub in the garden of our accommodation was teeming with them: bumblebees, butterflies, hoverflies, moths and a squillion other tiny flies. Green Hairstreak butterfly This was a hoverfly that was new to me. The folk at UK Hoverflies identified it as one of the Genus Didea (to get to species level I would need to check the colour of the halteres) Continuing with the insect-y theme, the next day saw a ...

The past week has seen me on a bit of a thrash around the isles, with work on Eday, Stronsay and Westray. Only Stronsay provided any time for nature-watching, although my 'office' for the day on Eday had calling Red-throated Divers flying overhead. Arctic Tern, Stronsay Green-veined White butterfly, Stronsay Swallow, Stronsay By way of relaxation, on Saturday I helped out at an event for the Orkney Nature Festival, as the Orkney Field Club had organised a walk through Russadale. We had Hen Harriers and Redpolls to watch, whilst the air was filled with the sounds of Cuckoo, Willow Warbler, Wren, Blackbird and Stonechat.   Common Heath moth, Russadale Redpoll of some stripe, Russadale Dog violet, Russadale Millipede, Russadale Red Admiral butterfly, Russadale Sunday's meteorology wasn't particularly conducive to going outdoors, but we made the most of a short weather window (too short, as it turned out) to walk a little of the west coast of West Mainland. There are many m...