Natural highs and lows

A belated Happy New Year to one and all. Yesterday, some sort of hibernating response kicked in, brought on by a northerly gale and horizontal hail showers. I did not leave the house. Megan did leave the house, clocking up a creditable four and a half miles through blizzards, and beginning her bird list for 2026 with a respectable 29 species. I managed five species from the lounge and kitchen windows. After a night of snow, today we awoke to a calmer and whiter scene. View from the kitchen window View from the lounge window Mid-morning, Megan received a text from a friend (Sam) who lives near the harbour. Sam had nipped to the local supermarket for a few groceries and spotted a Kingfisher. As you do.  This news instigated a flurry of activity as we hastily donned outdoor clothing and made our way carefully down the hill to the harbour. Luckily for us, the Kingfisher was still present as it was busy feeding, perched on the edge of the harbour wall and scanning the pool below for pre...

A few of our day trips were to wildlife sites about an hour away from the cottage, not too far to travel, whilst at the same time being an exploration of locales for future holidays. One of these sites was the national nature reserve at Tentsmuir, on the east coast, where we visited Morton Lochs on the warmest day of our trip in the hope of some early-emerging dragons. No such luck, unfortunately, but we were rewarded for our dedication with several flybys from a Kingfisher. We also drove most of the way to Tay Reedbeds, but with temperatures in the mid 20s, we didn't fancy a 6km walk on dusty tracks, opting instead for an ice cream in a nearby village, followed by a meandering route back to the cottage and an  appointment at patio o'clock. An Orange Tip nectaring on apple blossom Grey Heron A reflective heron Probably our most adventurous day was another gorge walk, this time at the Birks of Aberfeldy, where the Moness Burn tumbles its way through a beech wood. We found severa...

Severe gales and driving rain are not an unusual occurrence in Orkney, but three days of the same weather, any type of weather, very much is. So Storm Babet (or normal meteorological conditions for October) is actually a bit different - not in intensity or maximum speed, but in sheer staying power. Coming out of the east, she is hitting the front of the house full on, and we are experiencing a whole new raft of unnerving noises, bumps and rattles as we figure out just what Burnbank sounds like in a gale. We have lost at least one roof tile, but I won't be going up a ladder to investigate until wind speeds drop significantly. Living at the top of a hill, thankfully, we're relatively unlikely to experience the flooding which is causing so many problems elsewhere. Weather from the east always excites the birding fraternity, as migrating species can be blown across the North Sea to make landfall in Orkney. Birds which are rarely seen here are suddenly there in front of you, and a f...