Natural highs and lows

Awake early to catch a ferry to the island of Westray, I blearily scanned our bookshelves for some favourite words to read on the boat. My hand settled upon The Screaming Sky , Charles Foster's intensely personal view of the lives of Swifts. Perhaps it was because I haven't seen a Swift for over three years, or maybe it's that I am running out of time to see one this year too, as the birds will soon be heading back to Africa. The journey passed with the swiftness of soaring sentences and sojourns across Sahel and sea. Despite the continued decline in the Swift population, a situation laid firmly at humanity's door, I do enjoy reading this book. Following the installation of a replacement dish and a guided tour of my host's wildlife garden, my thoughts turned to another bird who will shortly be leaving our shores at the end of its breeding season, the Puffin. I drove to the small car park by the ruined cornmill beside the bay of Rack Wick, finding space despite the p...

We're way past No Mow May, well beyond Too Soon June and are currently in Leave it High July, so I'm wondering if Blades Gathering Dust August is a thing? Yes, we're talking about the green, green grass of home and the distinct lack of lawn at Burnbank. The edges of the front and back gardens have had a path cut, and also the area around the pond, but the even the drying green has been left to its own devices and is now a sea of Cat's-ear, Self-heal and White Clover.  The small area which we designated as meadow is a riot of Yellow Rattle and the wildflower patch is festooned with Fox and Cubs, Red Clover and Ox-eye Daisies. The hard-standing where Megan parks her car is a edged with Mayweed, whilst in the front garden the orchids have had their day and have disappeared under a canopy of Meadow Vetchling.  The rockery has benefitted from the occasional light weeding, allowing the geraniums, pinks and assorted alpines to rule the roost, but there will not be much mainten...

The last few days of Alan's holiday with us featured a run of island trips. Megan took him to Graemsay when she was wildlife guiding there, then we all went to Flotta for a day and, after that, spent the next one over in Hoy. The forecast for the Flotta trip was grim, but the rain held off until lunchtime, so we were able to see plenty of wildlife before we were soaked on the return journey. Fortunately, the community cafe was open, so we could have a hot brew and a little respite from the showers. The day belonged to Common Blue butterflies. They were everywhere, fluttering along verges and nectaring on Bird's-foot Trefoil. As the rain approached, they began to congregate in sheltered places, in ones, twos, threes, fours and fives. Megan found a few newly-emerged Six-spotted Burnet moths, and then whilst waiting for the ferry home, a Common Marbled Carpet, which had taken cover in a bike shelter. Northern Eggar caterpillar A female Blue-tailed Damselfly Three Common Blues Four...

Last week I had some work in Stronsay, so took our guest Alan along for the day, giving us the opportunity to explore an island he had not previously visited. The early morning ferry journey was spent out on deck, watching for seabirds and cetaceans. There wasn't much of anything about, which we thought was a little worrying. As it was still quite early by the time we arrived on the island, we walked along Rothiesholm beach in gentle rain, seeing a dozen or so Bar-tailed Godwit at the westerly end. As we returned to the car, passing Bu Loch, there were an astonishing 81 Shelducks, a mixture of broods of different sizes. I dropped Alan off in Whitehall Village to explore the shore whilst I went to sort out a satellite tv problem.  Meeting up again, we popped into the Stronsay Hotel for a spot of lunch before heading back out to look for more wildlife. We visited a disused quarry to check in on some Blue-tailed Damselflies, and also found several Three-spined Sticklebacks. Then it wa...

It has been brought to my attention that of late, very occasionally, my words regarding the weather in Orkney have not been as positive sounding as they might be. In an effort to rebuff this accusation (and in no way is this an indication of my guilt), here is an upbeat post about the climes in current times. Reasons to be cheerful: 1. Our garden pond is full to overflowing; 2. The vegetation in the garden is oh so very lush; 3. The slugs and snails are having a whale of a time; 4. Yesterday, at Rerwick Head, I noticed that it was an indicated 30 degrees; 5. The weather is mainly vertical, which is eminently preferable to the other option. Part of the azimuth ring from an abandoned war-time gun emplacement Alan, our guest from Buckinghamshire, is certainly enjoying his time here.

Here we are... July. How did that happen? So we had better have a June round-up of wildlifey happenings since our last blog outing. It is another insect-laden post, but with a few other things thrown in for good measure. Nearing the end of the month, we welcomed Alan, an old friend of mine from the Milton Keynes days (aka The Admiral, for those of you with good memories), who arrived for a three week holiday. Just before he drove up to the house, Megan discovered a female Blue-tailed Damselfly egg-laying in our pond. Our second Odonata species, and already ensuring that there may be more next year. In the evening, we took Alan on a wander around Stromness Loons to stretch his legs after his long drive from Englandshire. We managed to hear a Corncrake and enjoyed the light from the setting sun giving a golden glow to the wet meadows. A couple of days later, I took Alan along on my monthly Sea Plantain Leaf Beetle survey. June isn't a time of year which produces many records for the ...