Natural highs and lows

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...

This is by far the most tenuous Nature Notes post yet, but bear with me. A much-anticipated trip south to Inverness finally came to fruition, despite a fraught few days immediately prior to the journey when the ferry broke down for 36 hours.  Fortunately, on the allotted day all was well, and we sailed serenely across the Pentland Firth, followed by a leisurely drive through Caithness and Sutherland. En route, we stopped off at Golspie for a bit of early Autumn colour, then Skelbo for a picnic lunch. At both sites we found the increasingly-misnamed Southern Hawker dragonfly, a woodland species which is expanding its range northwards, and one has to wonder if it will make it to Orkney before too long. The trip was occasioned by a fervent desire to see Elephant Sessions, a  band who seamlessly blend trad, funk and electronica. W e decided to make a long weekend of it and risk the company of 998 other music lovers at a sellout gig  at the Ironworks in Inverness. I could be w...

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...