Natural highs and lows

I'm way behind in my blogging, so may need to resort to drastic measures to catch up. However, before I go all 'random images from random days' in an effort to drag myself back to the topical and current time, here's a post which should've aired several weeks ago. The mission was a recce for a walk which my partner is guiding for the non-online, unvirtual part of the Orkney International Science Festival (OISF). The festival began last Thursday and runs until next Wednesday, with most of the events happening through the medium of the internet. However, there are daily walks in Orkney, courtesy of Wild Orkney Walks . So, the island of Flotta... currently the home of an oil terminal which probably explains all the photos of tankers, rigs, platforms and ocean-going tugs which appeared on... ahem... another blog.  Likely due to all of the fossil fuel paraphernalia (pipes, storage tanks, more pipes, flare etc), Flotta isn't the most visited island in the Orkney archi...

On a recent trip to Hoy (not looking for dragons this time), I was obviously in close-up mode. Weather conditions were dry but blustery, so I'm not too sure why my macro shots worked better than my scenic or panorama ones. But my photos of Rackwick Bay and the Old Man of Hoy were all less than satisfying, so here's a selection of the views that were mainly at ground level. Actually, now that I think about it, for many of the flower/insect shots, I was holding the plant stem with my other hand! Ling Bell Heather Bearberry Arctic Bearberry (and Crowberry and Bearberry and Ling) Norwegian Wasp An early instar caterpillar of the Fox Moth On the path back from the Old Man, heading towards Rackwick Bay Crowberry Goldenrod Blaeberry (Bilberry). There should've been more berries in this shot, but I wasn't quick enough with my camera before someone ate them 🙄 Hoverfly, Volucella bombylans On the return route, whilst watching a couple of Small Tortoiseshell butterflies on some t...