Wednesday 22 July 2020

Natural surprises

The thing about this interest/hobby/obsession is that you never know what's next. So a glance over the bridge at Palace and a rare sight, at least for me, an Eel.

Anquila anquila.

The only time I've seen these recently has been as they've disappeared down a distant Grey Heron gullet, so this was a treat. As a child and teenager I used to fish for them, very tasty fried in butter in a biscuit tin lid (I wouldn't do that now).

We wandered on to the beach, admired the many adult Dunlin, Grey and Common Seals and then headed back. Glanced over the bridge again. This time there was a Brown Trout and, delight, a shoal of Minnow, an Orkney tick.

Minnows.


Brown/Sea Trout.

Today we went to Yesnaby. It's a favourite place and we have some spots we habitually wander around. There is a large Primula scotica colony that we regularly visit in spring (but not this year). I'd thought I wouldn't see them in flower this year, although there is a second flush. One particular area away from the main colony we have searched in the past and failed. Today, without thinking about the plant we stumbled across eleven, that was kind of exciting, they are a wee gem.



Primula scotica.

This morning the moth traps yielded a nice surprise, in the last trap, after checking all the egg trays, in the bottom was a pug. I didn't expect much, but I like pugs, and had caught Ling Pug earlier, fairly regular here. Once in the pot, I realised this was something new, Foxglove Pug, excellent!

Foxglove Pug NFS.

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