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 ...

Friday saw the first of three days spent across in Hoy and South Walls, a short 30 minute ferry journey from home. Low cloud and rain made for challenging wildlife watching, but the mission was to explore some pools which were new to me. Usually when visiting Wee Fea, the hill to the west of Lyness, it is to the southern slopes and some very accessible pools alongside a track. However, I knew from a few islanders that there were other pools at the top of the hill, so we set off into the low cloud, limited in visibility but buoyant of mood. Trudging off piste through the heather and peat cuttings was more aerobic exercise than I have been used to of late, but it wasn't as if I was going to overheat. The first few bog pools we found were bereft of dragons, though populated by plenty of pond skaters. Is that a thing? Could there be a negative correlation between skaters and dragons? A project for next year perhaps. Once we reached the the ridge at the top of the hill, the pools began ...

Normally, at this time of year, I would be leading a wildlife walk, showing folk the wonders of dragonflies and damselflies, as well as any other natural history we happened upon. For 2022, what with the weather, work and a woeful lack of preparation, it just hasn't happened. Yet. Thankfully, I did receive reports that some dragonflies were finally on the wing, so for the first day of NDW, Megan and I made the trip to Hoy to enjoy their company and some bracing fresh air. The Martello Towers at Hackness and Crockness, on the approach to Lyness Incidentally, this ferry trip was the same route undertaken by Ralph Little for the recent series of the BBC's 'Who Do You Think You Are?' He drove past wir hoos!! Once ashore at Lyness, we made our way inland, soaking up the sights and sounds of Nature as we climbed up Wee Fea. Tysties Teenage Tystie Large Heath butterfly One of the Forget-Me-Nots Bog Asphodel Upon reaching the most easily-accessible bog pools, we were soon findi...

Well, there you go... or at least here's where I went. It's a week since I last posted, but that post only covered up to June 19th, so a bit of a catch up is required, methinks. The bridge at Kylesku (am I the only person to pronounce that Kyle-esk-yew?) The return journey to Orkney allowed for an afternoon's visit to a nature reserve at Invernaver on the north coast of Sutherland to look at flora on the site's dune systems. A couple of the highlights from the visit included the gorgeous Purple Oxytropis and some Six-spotted Burnet Moths (plus their cocoons). Several days after returning to Orkney, an evening walk at Yesnaby was a gentle slide back into local wildlife. Grass of Parnassus, Scottish Primrose and Sea Milkwort were in flower, Common Blue butterflies were on the wing (as were the midges), some Puffins were seen on a distant cliff ledge, and the subdued light engendered a mellow feeling of contentment after a fortnight's full-on wildlife watching through ...