Natural highs and lows

This weekend saw the second of two trips this Summer by the Orkney Field Club to the island of Hoy in search of dragonflies and hairy caterpillars. The weather was much kinder to us than a month ago, with plenty of sunshine and a pleasant breeze, which kept the midges at bay. Speaking of bays, here's where we began the walk after a boat journey from Stromness and the community bus from Moaness to Rackwick. Rackwick Bay, Hoy From the car park, we walked along the back of the dunes, finding Fox Moth caterpillars, my first ever (although they're common enough) Shaded Broad-bar moth and a new site for Six-spotted Burnet moths (indeed only the second site for the county). Shaded Broad-bar moth A Red Ant on a Grass of Parnassus flower Six-spotted Burnet moth Fox Moth caterpillar After second breakfast (or first lunch), our intrepid group wandered into the dunes where we found dozens of mining  plasterer bees and three Black Darter dragonflies. Mining  Plasterer Bee (later edit: BR h...

For the last weekend of National Dragonfly Week, I had organised a low-key walk on the island of Hoy, asking any members of my local dragonfly Facebook group if they would like to join me. Several of them did, so Saturday late morning and early afternoon were spent at a couple of pools on the slopes of Wee Fea hill, west of Lyness. The weather was overcast with a cool breeze, not ideal for dragon hunting, or perhaps that depends upon your point of view. Certainly the temperature was too low for there to be much flying activity, but diligent searching in the emergent vegetation of the pools produced six species (4 of damselflies and 2 of dragonflies). Additionally, the diffuse light helped the colours of the insects stand out. One of the gang (not me!) found a roosting male Common Hawker dragonfly, and everyone had the opportunity to watch it at close quarters and take photographs. This species is renowned for being a tireless flyer, not resting when the sun is out, so this was a very s...