Natural highs and lows

In recent times, one of the more interesting ways to encourage people to think about wildlife, and so help protect it, is the No Mow May campaign. In essence, you choose a part of your garden (can be a tiny bit of it, can be all of it) and don't mow it during the month of May, allowing more wildflowers to bloom and attracting more pollinating insects. Here at Burnbank,  I am not sure that the local insects have completely understood the concept of No Mow May. Although, to be fair, neither have the wildflowers. Or perhaps it's me? Our chosen area which made the cut to be spared the cut was in the back garden, behind the garage and to one side of the drying green. It measures about 15 x 5 metres and we knew from last year, having found evidence of orchid seed heads, that there might be something interesting in there. The remainder of the back 'lawn' was mowed as normal, so that we don't need to worry about being attacked by large carnivorous beasties when bringing in ...

It's still Summer in Orkney! I know this because it is raining. Vertically. So what better time to have a brief catch-up on wildlifey happenings in this neck of the woods since the last post nine days ago (and definitely not just because I was called out for not having blogged for over a week. Honest). Amongst all the hoverflies, bumblebees, social wasps, butterflies and moths nectaring in the garden, we have been keeping an eye out for the occasional potter wasp. This isn't just because they're wonderful little solitary wasps, but also because they're stalked by the rarely seen (let alone photographed) Ruby-tailed wasp, a parasitoid of the potters, who lays her egg alongside the potter's egg, and her larva consumes the host egg or larva and all its stored food resources. We haven't spotted a Ruby-tail so far. On the subject of social wasps,  oddly, they're the ones that folk think of as antisocial come late Summer. Stocky Mason Wasp, Ancistrocerus oviventri...

One of the bloggers I follow is B of Coastal Ripples from Jersey, the largest of the Channels Islands. At a rough guestimate, that's about 675 miles (over 1000km) south of Orkney, so from a seasonal perspective it is always interesting to see what's happening nearer the Equator. B's photos of the landscapes, architecture and wildlife around her are wonderful, not least when she and her husband go on holiday to other scenic places. I don't know where B finds the time, but she partakes in several blog series each year, a skill requiring a great deal of dedication and stamina, especially where there's one post a day for a whole month. I could not possibly hope to emulate this, but am very much in awe of her perseverance and inventiveness. B is also part of the monthly "Through The Garden Gate" series begun by S of Down By The Sea. Once a month, we are treated to what's happening in the garden, what's blooming and how vistas are changing. Now, I'm ...

A few weekends ago, after several days of dreich weather, Orkney mainland was bathed in some late afternoon sunshine. Cabin fever was soothed with a trip to Happy Valley. A Hen Harrier quartering the fields, much to the annoyance of many small birds A Vapourer moth caterpillar sunning itself on a Hawthorn leaf A sawfly A hoverfly, Rhingia campestris The following weekend, during a temporary lull in lawn mowing, I found another hoverfly, Leucozona lucorum , nectaring on an Ox-eye Daisy. Through late Spring and early Summer, there were a pair of Goldfinches in the garden, the male often singing from the top of one of the alder trees in the hedge. This isn't something that usually happens, they're more of a Winter visitor to the bird feeder, so we wondered if they were actually nesting in the garden. Activity seemed to centre on this Fuchsia, but we were loathe to disturb them, despite our intense curiosity. When, eventually, a few days had passed without either sight or sound of ...

The late May bank holiday proved to be an outlier on the Bell curve, as it was mainly warm and dry. We'll take that, I think. A pootle around the garden with my camera set to macro mode proved fruitful. Tree Wasps basking on a window sill A hoverfly, Rhingia campestris Cocksfoot Moth A hoverfly, we're still ruminating over ID Stocky Mason Wasp, Ancistrocerus oviventris A hoverfly, Leucozona lucorum In fact, the weather was so insect-friendly, it brought on a trip to the Stenness hills where I was shown my first damselfly of the year. Large Red Damselfly Towards evening, the front door step was the location for another homely wildlife encounter. I just hope it wipes its feet properly. Flat-backed Millipede