Natural highs and lows

June, despite its mercurial weather, has been quite the lepidopteran feast. The past three weekends have featured some sunny weather, huge downpours and gale force winds. You may recall that we had to cancel a wildlife walk due to persistent showers. It should be noted that this postponement was purely for the benefit of humans, the wildlife was out in the weather whatever. There follows a brief round-up of some of the moths and butterflies seen since we last spoke. There has been a steady stream of sightings of Painted Ladies in the county. This one was nectaring on our front "lawn". Prior to one of the huge downpours, Megan spotted this moth on the garage wall. How, I do not know. Grey Dagger Sheltering from the weather, this time on the frame of the patio door, a Clouded-bordered Brindle. Meanwhile on the recess of the kitchen window, a Narrow-winged Pug And the fourth Megan-spotted moth was a Wormwood Pug on the increasingly-popular garage wall.  Yesterday saw us leading ...

Firstly, a photo from the day after the last post. It had rained overnight and on going to check if the Grey Dagger and Poplar Hawk-moth caterpillars had survived the hours of darkness, we discovered this... I have no idea what criteria were used to decide that this was the place to be, but they all seemed to agree on it! Later that day, we ventured across to the East Mainland to stroll around Mull Head. The weather was kind (Summer actually showed up for a week and a half at the end of August) so, in a bohemian spirit, we walked the route clockwise as opposed to the usual widdershins direction. Corn Spurrey growing at the edge of a field Twite Wild Angelica Towards the end of the week, I had to venture to the Scottish mainland for a job in Thurso. Afterwards, there was an hour to spare before the ferry home, so I visited a woodland which I had driven by countless times but never stopped to explore. The information board at the car park hinted at several ponds alongside some of the man...

Here at Natural Highs and Lows, the blogposts are currently about a fortnight behind real time, though 'real time' hasn't got a lot to write home about, thank you very much. What with expensive energy prices, cost of living increases, a looming recession and, generally, all the other wonderful benefits of the much-vaunted sunlit uplands of Brexit... well then, real time can go stick its head in a sewage outflow. Rant over, back to the past wildlife, and the last day of the long weekend in Hoy and South Walls from mid month. As was becoming customary, the day began with thick fog, so we reasoned that looking for dragons or birds would be a tough gig. Instead, we visited a Scottish Wildlife Trust site at the Hill of the White Hamars, which has a lovely walk along the Pentland Firth coast of South Walls. With our focus narrowed down to our immediate environs, we were able to bask in the glow of a multitude of wildflowers. We began a species list and, in a very short time, it ...