Natural highs and lows

As I write this, snowflakes are gently falling out of a sombre sky, carpeting the ground in fluffy mounds and making the garden look like it is having a duvet day. Eponymously, there are highs and lows to this state of affairs: vertically-falling snowflakes are much preferable to the horizontal hailstones we've been having for days now; whilst main roads are passable with care, side roads and tracks are treacherous; I am working from home today, so don't have to drive anywhere; because my car refused to start and is awaiting recovery to a local garage; for once, our garden looks as pretty as everyone else's. Instead, there's been some serious work admin-ing going on: invoices issued; bills paid; website updated; email folder looking slimmer than it has for ages (unlike me, after the feasting of the festive season); and, the navigation of an RAC online procedure that isn't really geared up for reporting a breakdown on a small Scottish island without a dedicated patro...

I have not been as diligent with the Nature Notes series as I had hoped, or perhaps I haven't felt the need for any filler posts because there's been plenty of wildlifey happenings to report? Either way, it's time for episode 3. Apparently, one of my superpowers is 'not thinking things through', which in the lexicon of such attributes isn't perhaps the one most likely to lead to a lucrative movie franchise. Although the comedic opportunities could be huge... So if we can agree that the main aim of the series is to highlight the meshing of natural songs or calls with human music, and also considering that my main wildlife focus is the group of insects comprising dragonflies and damselflies, then I have a bit of a dilemma. Actually, not a bit of a dilemma... the whole dilemma, in its entirety and without the slightest scuff. Dragonflies do not make any vocal utterings as far as I know, what with 80% of their brain space being taken up with processing the visual i...