Natural highs and lows

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...

As we reached that time of year known as Mid-Summer's Day, it almost felt like the beginning of a period of pleasant and warm weather. We've been here before though, mesmerised by May and then frozen by February June. As seems to be the way of late, the Met Office struggle with guessing our weather, at least I hope they're just guessing because the resultant predictions aren't worth the price of a mains cable for their super computer. It could be said, this isn't the Met Office's finest hour. Still, come hail or shine, it is flight season for the winged jewels which so entrance me. A trip to a nearby pool (hmmm, still not dug your pond then, NaHaL?), brought the happy sight of dozens of damselflies: many energetic and mature adult Large Reds and a similar number of  pale-coloured wraith-like Blue-tails making their maiden flights.  The Large Reds must have been approaching their peak, the males defending small patches of vegetation at the water's edge and b...

In the middle of May, heralding the fact that Spring is getting into her stride, is the Orkney Nature Festival.  The Orkney Field Club traditionally put on an event for this festival, so Megan and I volunteered to lead a circular walk in Orphir, taking in a variety of habitats and wildlife. Setting off from The Bu , with its Norse and Medieval history, we headed down a grassy track to the shores of Orphir Bay, where waders were bathing and foraging at the water's edge. Heading east along the low clifftop, we looked at the many wildflowers by the path such as Bird's-Foot Trefoil, Spring Squill and Primrose, as well as the less obvious male and female blooms of Dwarf Willow. There were many insects on the wing, including Silver Y moths and a Painted Lady butterfly.   Spring Squill It was weeks later when I thought to try and identify this hoverfly, failed miserably and asked the lovely folk at UK Hoverflies Facebook group Identified as a female Parasyrphus nigritarsis, not that ...

I'm a bit out of sync with my posts, having blogged in the wrong order, which had seemed like a good idea at the time. I will attempt to rectify the error here with a catch-up post for the month of August to date. There was some dragonfly excitement a few weeks ago, when a good friend reported an Emerald Damselfly from a sheltered path near her home in Stromness. Whilst this species has been in Orkney since 2010, this was the first confirmed record for West Mainland. Separately and several days later, the owner of a large pond requested help with identifying the wildlife present in and around her pond. Said pond happened to be adjacent to the afore-mentioned sheltered path and has long been thought of as the source of many dragonfly records from Stromness. So now we could answer that particular question. With a small group of local (and equally intrigued) experts, a pleasant morning was spent investigating the pond and its surroundings. The place was teeming with Black Darter drago...

Since our house move, there's not been too much time for dedicated nature watching, as we instead navigate the peaks and valleys of cardboard boxes which seemingly fill every available space in home and garage.  Blogging has taken a bit of a back seat, so best I publish a 'catch-up' post to cover the days and weeks either side of the move. Immediately prior to completing the purchase (or settlement, as it's called up here), I was working in Shetland for a day. With a bit of time to kill before the ferry back to Orkney, I opted for a short wander in the hills near my last customer, rather than head into Lerwick and do battle with the hordes of cruise ship passengers from two huge vessels in the harbour. A once typical and increasingly rare Shetland scene because of the Viking Wind Farm project Bog Asphodel, a Sundew, Selfheal and Tormentil Sheep's-bit A species of Ragwort Possibly the warmest hour I have ever spent in Shetland, it was idyllic What I was unaware of, h...