Natural highs and lows

Late September in Orkney and we're still enjoying blue skies, sunshine and modest breezes. Typically, I had managed to tweak my lower back, one of those annoying muscular twinges that benefits from keeping moving rather than remaining motionless, so walking was a good remedy. Fortuitously, we were due to carry out our Autumn vole transects, monitoring activity for the Orkney Native Wildlife Project. The drive to Mull Head, even as a passenger, wasn't pleasant, but once out on the moorland, my spirits raised and we set about the first transect, recording any signs of chewed bits of grass and the digestive results of said chewing. As ever, on the march between the two transects, we stopped for lunch and some scenic views. No voles here, but there is a Harbour Seal... Also between the transects, we happened upon some ONWP staff out testing their latest bit of Stoat-spotting gadgetry, a drone with a thermal camera. Never mind invasive mammals, even during the day, with this technol...

As may have been discerned from the comments at the end of the previous blogpost, we have been away on our "Summer" holiday, fortuitously discovering some balmy weather but sadly missing out on a serendipitous meet-up with Mark, the beinn bicycling bard of Blogger . Whilst he and Deb were pedalling by our home in Stromness, Megan and I were driving by their holiday accommodation near Melvich. For 2025, our holiday location was Blairgowrie, on the south west side of the River Ericht in Perth and Kinross. This was a little further south than our usual jaunts but, as the meteorology proved, was certainly near enough to the Equator for this scribe. The journey down through northern Scotland and the Cairngorms was done in several sections, with overnight stays in Dornoch and Aboyne, before finally arriving in leafy and blossomy Blairgowrie. Whenever the narrowness of the road or the speed limit dictated that we keep below 40mph, the car windows were opened and we listened intently...

Spent the weekend trying not to think about houses. As part of the decluttering and tidying, we caught the ferry to Rousay to deliver a sideboard which Megan has been storing for friends. Thankfully, it just fitted in the back of my van. Whilst on the island, we went for a walk around the Loch of Wasbister. If you're wondering whether it's a buoy or a gull... neither, it's a juvenile Shag Faraclett Head, Rousay Harbour Seals in Saviskaill Bay, Rousay Waders in Saviskaill Bay, Rousay (Redshank, Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher) Stone circles... that is, circles on stone, not circles of stone The following day saw the latest round of HPAI (bird flu) surveys, which were much livened up by spotting some Pintails out in the bay. My first sighting of the species for 2023, and pleasingly near home. A pair of Pintail, Houton Bay

When I am in need of headspace (and what with the state of the world, I very am), I gravitate towards the island of North Ronaldsay at the far north-eastern corner of the Orkney archipelago. A long weekend, accommodated at the Bird Observatory is just the thing, I find. At only three miles by one mile, somehow its smallness gently brings one's focus towards what is front of you, and only that, rather than any thoughts of the global snitstorm. So here is a selection of the wildlife and landscapes that were in front of me from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening... Purple Sandpiper, Nouster Bay The famous seaweed-eating sheep, Nouster Bay Harbour Seals, Nouster Bay (one is having a pee) Harbour Seal, Nouster Bay Lapwing, in pasture by Gretchen Loch Wren, by Ancum Sheep skull, outside the Wool Mill Waves, Dennis Ness North Ronaldsay Lighthouse and foghorn (with photo-bombing Fulmar) Note: There's lots of Fulmars on North Ronaldsay, as most of the island is coast, and they photo-bom...

Had a work trip to Papa Westray last week. Had to book the flights in advance and the weather forecast wasn't that great for the allotted day. I shouldn't have worried, it was absolutely peachy for a January day in Orkney. Lichen atop a stane dyke Double trouble Troglodytes troglodytes x 2 As the (Hooded) Crow fries Seals at South Wick Meantime, an apparently dead fly that had been sat on an exterior wall of home for a few days caused a frisson of excitement when I realised that it was in fact (a) alive; (b) not a fly; and (c) a female Winter Moth. These insects are virtually wingless so don't fly, leaving all that energetic kind of malarkey to the males. She just sits around, exuding pheromones and waits for him to show up. Or maybe she has a tiny mobile phone with a dating app like Bumble (presumably developed for bees, but hey, we're not judgemental).