Natural highs and lows

Whilst contemplating the reason for the recent lack of blog posting (a bloggage blockage, I suppose), the obvious conclusion was that a lack of wildlife watching (and therefore source material) was a major contributor to the problem. The causes of this were manifold: Weather - lots of it and all quite unpleasant; Work - when able (see below); Wellbeing - we picked up a cold bug at the end of November and it is taking some shifting; Wherewithal - our stamina has been hit for six. Let me clarify that statement about the lack of wildlife watching... there's been a lack of actively going outside with the intention of watching wildlife. Meanwhile, indoors, there's been much perusal of live webcams from at least four continents. I'm not complaining, mind, as I think we would have gone mad without the distraction from the previously-mentioned Four Double-ues of the Apocalypse.  Thankfully, there have been fleeting moments of Nature's magic to lift the spirits and gladden the h...

The past week has seen me on a bit of a thrash around the isles, with work on Eday, Stronsay and Westray. Only Stronsay provided any time for nature-watching, although my 'office' for the day on Eday had calling Red-throated Divers flying overhead. Arctic Tern, Stronsay Green-veined White butterfly, Stronsay Swallow, Stronsay By way of relaxation, on Saturday I helped out at an event for the Orkney Nature Festival, as the Orkney Field Club had organised a walk through Russadale. We had Hen Harriers and Redpolls to watch, whilst the air was filled with the sounds of Cuckoo, Willow Warbler, Wren, Blackbird and Stonechat.   Common Heath moth, Russadale Redpoll of some stripe, Russadale Dog violet, Russadale Millipede, Russadale Red Admiral butterfly, Russadale Sunday's meteorology wasn't particularly conducive to going outdoors, but we made the most of a short weather window (too short, as it turned out) to walk a little of the west coast of West Mainland. There are many m...