I put my hat away.

It's the time of year that I used to find the hardest thing about living here, it not getting dark, at least, not properly dark. Now it doesn't seem to bother me, although I think it does incline me to be more active into the early hours.

Strangely, in the late spring and summer I stop taking landscape photos, too many other photos I guess, or a lack of the light I like. Today, in the hooley, at a favourite place to photograph the sea, Marwick, I did manage a few clicks. It was almost impossible to photograph anything else, the wind was buffeting the hound and I all over the place.

Kittiwake with Razorbill going by, we lay on the floor behind a rock to take this.

 

The auks were engaging in tricky manoeuvres near the cliff, feet spread as rudders. My hat had gone into the camera bag at an early moment, else it would be bobbing in the waves, or across the fields and away, no telling really, as the gusts swirled this way and that.

The trees we have allow me to place my light traps in the dark, otherwise the catch woud be low indeed. The wind continues into the dark, no trapping tonight, indeed, I'm only trapping once a week in any case as the things other than moths take a while to identify. Well, the moths are tricky enough. Tackling a few pugs of late, we don't get many, but they are tricksy. Strangely I've managed to get the hard ones right, and then made a bollocks of the easier Narrow-winged.

Narrow-winged Pug, another one, this stayed put for some examination and decent photos.

Two Common Pugs.

Two Grey Pugs.

 

Confusing blighters. But I do rather like them. The markings on the abdomen and thorax are usually helpful.

A new macro moth is a good day, NFM and therefore NFS Scalloped Hazel (I can't remember seeing one in the past at any rate). It would not stay still, so I got only rubbish images.

Scalloped Hazel.

I'm plugging on with the beetles, my best route to the 365 target (a new species for me for every day of the year). They can take a time to identify and then photograph properly. I don't seem to ever learn that checking picture references first is a good route to ID, although it has to be said I am getting quite expert with the Unwin key to Family, a key I used to hate and now find very useful. Today I spent some hours messing about with tiny Nitidulidae, 2mm long. I got there easily enough, and then via Mike Hackston's excellent online keys I came to genus Meligethes. Now Mike hasn't completed the Meligethes key, but it is published nonetheless. It is missing a few species. I repeatedly went to couplet 4 and then headed down the proverbial rabbit hole. In the end I just looked at the pictures, Meligethes aeneus, the Common Pollen Beetle, I don't think there are any ID complications with this so far north.

Melagethes aeneus, Common Pollen Beetle.

Another wee beast that I struggled with this week, having spent the day clearing out our boiler room was this, which crawled across the kitchen table as I sipped my well deserved cuppa.

Anthobium punctatum, Woodworm.

Safe enough to presume this species, strictly a gen det job, but the confusion species is hundreds of miles south. I might check our Ivy in the garden at some point though. I have seen this before, and I'd forgotten it. It has very oddly formed antennae, presumably so it can fold them away when it is destroying someone's house, shed or furniture; wildlife revenge.

A highlight of the week was watching Red-throated Divers with their newly hatched chick, just brilliant.