Natural highs and lows

A recent work-related trip to the island of Westray gave Megan the opportunity to tag along   to carry out a recce for Wild Orkney Walks  whilst I was attending to a couple of repairs.  The walk in question is to the Castle o' Burrian, a rock stack on the east coast of Westray, which will soon be seeing the welcome return of a colony of Puffins for their breeding season.  Once I had completed my tasks, I drove to the small car park by the ruined Corn Mill and headed north along the clifftop path above Rack Wick. Here too, in a few weeks, will hopefully be yet more Puffins. I say "hopefully", because over the Winter severe storms in the Bay of Biscay resulted in many dead Puffins being washed ashore around the coasts of Spain, France and Britain. Megan and I sat on the cliff top opposite the Castle and ate our lunch, watching the comings and goings of Fulmars, Rock Doves and various species of gulls. In the surf at the base of the rock stack, a Shag was diving for fo...

Firstly, a photo from the day after the last post. It had rained overnight and on going to check if the Grey Dagger and Poplar Hawk-moth caterpillars had survived the hours of darkness, we discovered this... I have no idea what criteria were used to decide that this was the place to be, but they all seemed to agree on it! Later that day, we ventured across to the East Mainland to stroll around Mull Head. The weather was kind (Summer actually showed up for a week and a half at the end of August) so, in a bohemian spirit, we walked the route clockwise as opposed to the usual widdershins direction. Corn Spurrey growing at the edge of a field Twite Wild Angelica Towards the end of the week, I had to venture to the Scottish mainland for a job in Thurso. Afterwards, there was an hour to spare before the ferry home, so I visited a woodland which I had driven by countless times but never stopped to explore. The information board at the car park hinted at several ponds alongside some of the man...

Maybe a bit too much alliteration in that title?  Anyway, it does lead us nicely into today's topic. Last Saturday, a week of beach cleans began in Orkney, the Bag the Bruck campaign ('bruck' being the Orkney dialect word for rubbish). The Orkney Field Club chose Orphir Bay as their designated bit of shore, with folk from peedie bairns to sprightly grandparents turning out to help remove some of the plastic pollution which has been gathering these past few pandemic years. In a couple of hours, we had amassed twenty or so bin bags full of bruck and lugged them from the beach to a designated pick-up point for the local council to collect. So focussed was I upon my wombling duties that I forgot to take any photos, but the bulk of the plastic waste was rope, string and creel gubbins. D ue to oceanic currents,   some of the detritus will have come from the other side of the Atlantic, but a fair proportion is likely to be from fish farming and creel fishing in Scapa Flow itself. ...

During a recent calmer and brighter spell of weather, we took a trip to Evie Sands in the hope of seeing a flock of Snow Buntings. These small birds are the epitome of cute and we'd heard reports that there were several dozen of them foraging on the tideline. Here's a view of the bay from the top of the beach. There were several flocks of waders present, as well as Twite, Pied Wagtail, Rock Pipits and Stonechats. This male Stonechat was a bit shy, I guess. The Snow Bunting flock were very mobile, so this was the best photo I managed, a stunning looking male. Shame about the stalk of dead grass! Wader-wise, there were numerous Turnstones, Ringed Plovers, Redshanks and simply loads of Purple Sandpipers.   And here's some footage of various Purps... At one end of the beach, a burn flowed into the bay, and I was delighted to see its interaction with the incoming tide. I have never seen a tidal bore, so although this was only a mini version, I was absolutely chuffed to witness i...

Not the most imaginative title for a post, I'll admit, but this one encompasses several topics, including the mysterious deaths of many seabirds on the north and east coasts of the UK and a day spent surveying for signs of Orkney Voles, as well as also featuring a day's birding in Deerness and several ambles around the bay at Houton. Let's begin with the strange case of the auk 'wreck'. Every Winter, usually after a severe storm in the North Sea, many dead seabirds (often juveniles) wash up on the east and north coasts of the UK. It's depressingly normal, but it's nature, and something that the species involved cope with by their breeding strategies. Recently, many auks have been seen inshore at a time when they're expected to be out in the North Sea. These birds seem to have come back to the coast looking for food, and they have been weirdly confiding, a sure sign that all is not well. Many of them have died and been washed up on beaches. Without a Nort...

One evening last week, I noticed an odd-looking finch sat on the top wire of a fence. The day's light was fading fast but the bird appeared to have an orangey-red rump, and I had no idea what species it was. Hastily fetching my binoculars, but remaining indoors so as not to spook the bird, I realised that it was a Twite which had had a very close call with a predator, losing the feathers from its rump in the process. After a while, it flew off, so it mustn't have been too badly injured in the attack. Another evening, a couple of birds fluttering about on the lawn turned out to be a fledgling Meadow Pipit being fed by one of its parents. Several days later, an early morning visitor to the Willow hedge was this male Redpoll, resplendent in his red blusher.

A trip to North Ronaldsay with work gave the opportunity for some wildlife watching whilst waiting for the plane back to Kirkwall. On this northernmost of the Orkney islands, it is always time well spent. The reed bed at Bride's Loch was mesmerising Midday light looking across the North Ronaldsay Sound to Sanday One of the many Twite from a large flock which were feeding in the bird crop at the Bird Observatory Admittedly, this one wasn't feeding, it was having a preen The bird crop itself was less colourful than a few months ago, but this Crimson Clover was still strikingly vibrant South Bay towards sunset The Harbour Seals were as inquisitive as ever [Happy sigh]