Natural highs and lows

Our recent trip to Aberdeen for the Niteworks gig meant a couple of nights away from home. Outward bound, we sailed on the ferry from Shetland which called in at Kirkwall en route to Aberdeen. Leaving the ship the next morning, it wasn't until we were having breakfast in a cafe with a view of the harbour, that I noticed the huge mural on a building by the docks. This is " I am the keeper of magic " by Jasmin Siddiqui, a 12 floor tall mural adorning the Union Point building featuring a girl cradling a unicorn.  At this juncture, I recalled that the unicorn is Scotland's national animal, and wondered if this type of art was a branch of pointillism? After a leisurely breakfast and some clothes shopping, we checked into our hotel early to deposit our rucksacks into a room, before heading out to explore a bit of the city. Our previous visit to Aberdeen had been three years ago, and although back then our room looked out over Union Terrace Gardens, they were in the middle o...

Sunday afternoon saw us pottering out and about, armed with binoculars (Megan) and camera (me). Despite a chilly northeasterly breeze, a brief sunny spell tempted us to walk across the brae to the other end of town in the hope of seeing a few migrating birds. As it turned out, we only managed a brief view of a female Blackcap, which I helpfully failed to photograph. Leaving the narrow lanes behind, we ambled downhill through flagstone alleys until we reached Alfred Street, then headed homeward along the main street with its cobbled strip. In Victoria Street, we were pleasantly surprised to find the delicatessen open on a Sunday afternoon, so we popped in for a cup of hot chocolate to warm ourselves up, as well as a couple of pistachio cannoli. It's important to support local businesses.  Stepping back outside, we sat down on a helpfully-provided bench to drink our hot chocolate, listen to small flocks of Waxwings trilling overhead, and gaze across the street at an art gallery. Cert...

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...

Jings, March has flown by in a flurry of... well, mainly snow. I have ventured outside occasionally, but half of the photos below were taken from indoors. It was so cold that even some Fieldfares were tempted from the surrounding fields into the garden to forage. They were very flighty, possibly due to the local Blackbirds not being so keen to share the apples we put out. The seed feeders were busy with House Sparrows, Greenfinches, Starlings, the occasional Robin, a Rook and these Goldfinches. Meanwhile, beneath the feeder, Dunnocks, Rock Doves, Blackbirds and an even more occasional mouse helped themselves to spillages. The Hoy Head departing Houton bound for Lyness as another snow shower rolls in. The Rock Doves are waiting for a few messy eaters to show up (yes, Starlings, I mean you). Venturing out along the bay between wintry showers, wrapped up warm against the bitter wind. I seem to have spent the month never far from a hot beverage. The Hoy Head again, this time approaching Ho...

A few weekends ago, after several days of dreich weather, Orkney mainland was bathed in some late afternoon sunshine. Cabin fever was soothed with a trip to Happy Valley. A Hen Harrier quartering the fields, much to the annoyance of many small birds A Vapourer moth caterpillar sunning itself on a Hawthorn leaf A sawfly A hoverfly, Rhingia campestris The following weekend, during a temporary lull in lawn mowing, I found another hoverfly, Leucozona lucorum , nectaring on an Ox-eye Daisy. Through late Spring and early Summer, there were a pair of Goldfinches in the garden, the male often singing from the top of one of the alder trees in the hedge. This isn't something that usually happens, they're more of a Winter visitor to the bird feeder, so we wondered if they were actually nesting in the garden. Activity seemed to centre on this Fuchsia, but we were loathe to disturb them, despite our intense curiosity. When, eventually, a few days had passed without either sight or sound of ...

Firstly, a Happy New Year to one and all. Yesterday was a bit of an education, and not just because I kept referring to it as New Year's Eve and being exasperatedly corrected to "Hogmanay!" As a person born outwith Scotland, it has always been a bit of a puzzle why Hogmanay is a bigger thing here than Christmas. However, I now know that this is due in large part to the Reformation in 1560 and Presbyterianism. From the mid 16th Century until well into the 20th Century, Christmas celebrations were banned. In fact, in Scotland, Christmas Day did not become a public holiday until 1958, and Boxing Day wasn't an official holiday until 1974. Scots being the canny folk they are, they transferred their celebrations to New Year's Eve (sorry, Hogmanay) and New Year's Day, which were secular occasions and not governed by the Church. Right then, what did I get up to on New Y... 🙄 ... Hogmanay? The weather forecast looked much better than for New Year's Day, so a gentl...

My general preoccupation with the weather which, it should be said, is quite distinct from my raging climate anxiety, has also been much troubled of late, as the Met Office have struggled to accurately forecast the level of precipitation in our little corner of Orkney. Day after day of reasonable forecasts, suggesting sunny periods between varying shades of cloudiness, have descended into gloomy, wet and windy weather. On many levels, it hasn't been their finest hour.  Today, though, the meteorologists haven't put a soggy foot wrong, the forecast is on the money from the start. We're having rain, persistent and heavy all morning, turning into blustery showers in the afternoon, as the winds turn from the south to the west and ratchet themselves up to gale force come late evening. Hatches, as they say, are being battened. Thankfully, earlier in the week, I was able to take a short break to the Scottish mainland, which was suitably full of Autumn colours, wildlife and music. A...