Natural highs and lows

One day last week, we went along on a trip to the island of Wyre organised by the Orkney Field Club. We caught the ferry from Tingwall in West Mainland to Rousay and then on to Wyre. This is a place that I had not previously visited, a small island with a population of less than ten, featuring some 12th Century ruins, farming on a less industrial scale than normal and, consequently, more wildlife. We spent the day pottering the length of the place and back, exploring road verges, field edges, abandoned gardens, an old cemetery wall at St Mary's Chapel and the remains of Cubbie Roo's castle. Photographing insects and wildflowers was a little tricky due to a stiff westerly breeze (or perhaps I just couldn't see what I was focussing on due to the bright sunlight), but I have managed to salvage some crisper shots from the day. The view across Wyre Sound to Rousay An ichneumon wasp from the Genus Ophion on a Hogweed umbel We found several species of Fumitory growing in the field...

Humans, eh? They're everywhere, destroying habitats, polluting environments, creating a mass extinction event and shitting on the doorstep of the very biosphere which allows them to exist.  And yet, it is humans who have the nerve to coin words like 'vermin', 'pest' and 'weeds' to describe other species which have the temerity to impact upon our lives and are deemed harmful or undesirable.  We're a plague (Early readers of the post will have seen this typo'd as 'plaque'. That kinda works too). Killing or consuming all in the insatiable desire to be... what? More wealthy? More happy? More entertained? More vain? That's our mores, right there.  Admittedly, a small number of humans recognise the stupidity of all the wanton overconsumption of resources, but this ship's gonna take more than that tiny number to turn around. Maybe the iceberg could envisage what was coming and decided to strike first? But enough of the rant, I have a confess...