Natural highs and lows

About a month ago, I received two separate reports from reputable observers of a small dragonfly which was red in colour. The Orkney list of resident Odonata does not include any size of red dragonfly (although we do have Large Red Damselfly). These reports came from two different islands, which lessened but didn't totally discount the possibility that what was seen was the same insect. With only brief views and no photographs to go on, an identification could not be given. For context, at that time throughout the UK, there were various species of dispersive dragonfly being reported, some possibly of UK origin, many more likely to have been migrants from Europe or North Africa. One of these species was Red-veined Darter. Meanwhile, slightly closer to home across the Pentland Firth, Caithness and Sutherland (like much of the UK) do have a resident species of red dragonfly, the Common Darter, but none have ever been reported from Orkney. I chalked this experience up to "Gah!...

The past week or so has seen some fairly wild weather for Summer, with Storm Floris bringing winds gusting up to 75mph, followed by a few days of localised heavy downpours flattening any garden vegetation still standing and the spirits of every gardener. Some wildlife can cope with this sort of weather, some can't, so it was with some trepidation that, yesterday, we carried out August's monitoring survey of a nearby pond at a private site on the edge of town. Usually, and for no specific reason other than convenience, any site photographs are taken from the water's edge, effectively looking across the pond. I tend not to have the owner's property in the frame as a matter of privacy, so that you, dear reader, normally have a view of Brinkies Brae, the hill behind the site. For a change, and purely because after the survey we were looking for more insects in the lee of a tumbled-down wall, here's a different view, looking across the small plateau where the pond is sit...

This weekend saw the second of two trips this Summer by the Orkney Field Club to the island of Hoy in search of dragonflies and hairy caterpillars. The weather was much kinder to us than a month ago, with plenty of sunshine and a pleasant breeze, which kept the midges at bay. Speaking of bays, here's where we began the walk after a boat journey from Stromness and the community bus from Moaness to Rackwick. Rackwick Bay, Hoy From the car park, we walked along the back of the dunes, finding Fox Moth caterpillars, my first ever (although they're common enough) Shaded Broad-bar moth and a new site for Six-spotted Burnet moths (indeed only the second site for the county). Shaded Broad-bar moth A Red Ant on a Grass of Parnassus flower Six-spotted Burnet moth Fox Moth caterpillar After second breakfast (or first lunch), our intrepid group wandered into the dunes where we found dozens of mining  plasterer bees and three Black Darter dragonflies. Mining  Plasterer Bee (later edit: BR h...

Here's a bit of a round-up of natural history snippets from the first half of July. For 2025, I have added another bumblebee survey to my volunteering for the Species on the Edge project. The target species is the Great Yellow Bumblebee, although this Beewalk has yet to deliver one of those. The area is known as Stromness Waterworks, and I plotted a 1.7km route beginning at a track junction below the dam head. From there, a stony track leads west uphill onto heathland, then I turn northwards onto a rougher track which separates the heath from agricultural land. These two tracks have verges with plenty of wildflowers and the occasional garden escapee where soil has been dumped, all of which are good foraging for insects. Where a moorland track diverts to the north east, I follow it along a ruined stane dyke to the point where I took this photograph, behind me there is plenty of Wild Thyme and Bell Heather. The final section tracks south back across the heath, where the wildflowers h...

There were some days of decent weather in August but, sadly, not many of those were when  I was free to drop everything, don my wellies and head off to look for dragons. Thankfully, the last weekend of the month offered up a Saturday of suitable meteorology and we headed to a nearby site, armed with hope, expectation and a picnic. This pond is on land owned by an adjacent B&B guesthouse. Late last Summer we were invited to survey the waterbody and it was an absolute odonatological revelation, so this year we have tried to monitor it in a more rigorous way. I should say that I struggle to find sites to monitor in Orkney, not from any lack of intent on my part, but mainly due to ornithological considerations. Many pools, or the habitat they are located in, are breeding sites for rare birds and so are effectively out of bounds until at least August so as not to disturb their nesting attempts. Don't get me wrong, this is a good thing. Birds with extra protection include Red-throate...

Pedantic? Me? Yeah, a bit, probably. When it comes to having photos in date order in a blogpost, it is less stressful when everything is photographed with the same device, so that the file names are sequential. At least approximately, depending upon how many I have deleted for not being in focus, those that do not actually have the subject in them or are of my feet. Mostly, this is so (the order thing, not the accidental photos of my feet) but if I've used various cameras and my phone to take the images, they will all have different file prefixes courtesy of Panasonic, Canon and Apple. In this situation, I would usually renumber everything with a digit in front of the prefix so that the photos appear in the order I would like. Yes, you're correct, I could sort the images by date and time, which would help, but I am not reliable or quite pedantic enough to have each device on the same time zone. Some automatically follow daylight saving time, others don't and could be set to...