Natural highs and lows

You may recall, dear reader, the frisson of excitement at our discovery of a caterpillar of the Elephant Hawkmoth in our garden, chomping its way through willowherb leaves. Then began the "Where is it?", "Here it is!" game as we lost and found it umpteen times over several days. In an effort to track its movements, I found some short bamboo canes and marked the places that it had been seen. These traced a gentle curve across the rockery and all then seemed calm once more. That is until two days ago when we discovered that there were actually two caterpillars, one by Stick 2 and one by Stick 3. Double the fun, double the willowherb chomping. Yesterday, they were both in the vicinity of Stick 3, and we wondered if there might be a territorial dispute over a particular willowherb stem. Thankfully there was not. Both caterpillars are growing quickly, at least half as long again as when we found the first one 12 days ago, so they may be quite close to pupating. Gauging t...

Last weekend, on a whim, we decided to head to Yesnaby on the west coast to see if we could find a Frog Orchid. These small orchids are not as showy as their blousier cousins, and can be difficult to spot on the coastal heaths which are regularly blasted by gales and the Atlantic Ocean, keeping the vegetation lower than more sheltered environments. Having parked the car, we set off northwards into what was quite a significant breeze and diligently searched the Hill of Borwick to no avail. We did, however, find a few Scottish Primroses still in flower as well as some other nice things... Primula scotica with phone for scale A Stocky Mason Wasp Ancistrocerus scoticus nectaring on some Water Mint A Great Yellow Bumblebee nectaring on Devil's-bit Scabious We wandered back towards the car park to continue our search for orchids further south. After much crawling about on the ground and plenty of general chuntering of a needles and haystacks variety, we eventually managed to find one F...

In our wildlife garden, weeding isn't a task that I usually worry about too much, save for the occasional bout of removing seedheads from the pernicious species like docks and ragwort. Indeed, at the moment, the ragwort flowers are serving up nectar for many insects such as hoverflies and moths, as well as providing a hunting ground for harvestmen. However, lately, both Megan and I have commented that the rockery needs a bit of a tidy-up, prompted by many of the geraniums going over, the bed not looking as glorious as in the Spring and some of the generalist wildflowers getting a bit big for their boots roots. One recent afternoon, I rounded up a trug, a kneeling pad, gloves and a pair of secateurs from the garage and set to the "W" word along the edge of the rockery by the path to the front door. The usual rule applied, I had to identify each individual removee before I yanked it from the soil, both to exercise my ID skills and to ensure that I wasn't too gung-ho wi...

Whilst carrying out July's bumblebee survey near Stromness waterworks, we came across a small pale moth. It wasn't a species with which we were familiar, but ObsIdentify was certain that it was a Smoky Wainscot. We did check the area for any panelling which was smouldering away, as these days one can't be too careful on dry moorland. Smoky Wainscot, Mythimna impura Upon returning home, before we had even made it through the front door, we discovered another small moth on the house wall. This one turned out to be Scoparia subfusca . Scoparia subfusca Over the next few days, a steady stream of other leps made an appearance at Burnbank as we pottered to and fro around home and garden. Large Yellow Underwing, Noctua pronuba Larch Tortrix, Zeiraphera griseana Dotted Clay, Xestia baja Common Rustic,  Mesapamea secalis. .. or is it? Yes, it wouldn't be a moth blogpost without a bit of controversy, would it? Another moth which fits the description is Lesser Common Rustic, Mesap...

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...