Natural highs and lows

Quite a pleasant day, truth be told. Sunny periods and showers, with much gentler breezes than of late. As I rose from bed, I peeked out of the bedroom curtains but the sky didn't look too promising. Halfway through emptying the dish washer, I noticed that there was a pinkish tinge developing, so kitchen duties ground to halt whilst I captured the moment. Mid-morning, I took a wander around the garden, to see if there was anything about. The Sedum which had been keeping all the nectaring insects in a good mood was in a sorry state. It looked like a mini version of the Tunguska event from 1908, where an atmospheric air burst of a comet or meteoroid flattened  2,150 km 2  of Siberian forest. I couldn't find any bees, however, I did manage to spot a hoverfly, perched in a sunny spot on the front door frame. I think this is a male Eristalis pertinax . Until I downloaded the photos to my computer, I didn't realise that in the second photo, he was answering a call of nature. The...

Here we are on a Friday afternoon, enjoying the fifth consecutive day of sunshine in a row. Yes, I'm still in Orkney. Let's pretend there's not a bitter easterly breeze, eh? It has been so sunny and dry and [sighs] breezy, that we have run out of things to launder: bedding; towels; and so much clothing we can actually see the bottom of the laundry basket. Unprecedented times, I tell you. Monday saw work begin on the new pond location (a subject for a future blogpost). Tuesday, a second day of sunshine, and the insects were beginning to believe in Spring! Several White-legged Snake Millipedes put in an appearance and the first hoverfly of the year was spotted, possibly Eristalis pertinax . At lunchtime, we headed out to Yesnaby on the west coast to set up a transect to monitor Plantain Leaf Beetles for the Species on the Edge Project. It was so peachy, we did two! A Yellow Dung Fly joined me for lunch, which doesn't say much about my sandwiches We saw about 40 beetles an...

In recent times, one of the more interesting ways to encourage people to think about wildlife, and so help protect it, is the No Mow May campaign. In essence, you choose a part of your garden (can be a tiny bit of it, can be all of it) and don't mow it during the month of May, allowing more wildflowers to bloom and attracting more pollinating insects. Here at Burnbank,  I am not sure that the local insects have completely understood the concept of No Mow May. Although, to be fair, neither have the wildflowers. Or perhaps it's me? Our chosen area which made the cut to be spared the cut was in the back garden, behind the garage and to one side of the drying green. It measures about 15 x 5 metres and we knew from last year, having found evidence of orchid seed heads, that there might be something interesting in there. The remainder of the back 'lawn' was mowed as normal, so that we don't need to worry about being attacked by large carnivorous beasties when bringing in ...