Literate herring, this way.

Friday, 28 August 2026

Orkney reprise (briefly)

For various reasons we needed to go to Orkney, this would be the first time we've gone back to the isles since May 2024 when we left.

The Old Man said hello!

It had been dull and grey, but the Sun broke through as we went by.

There were few seabirds as we crossed, and it being windy these were not good conditions for looking for cetaceans. When we arrived in Stromness there were a lot of Arctic Terns, about 500 or so on quite distant shingle banks, but no skuas. When I first arrived in Orkney, almost 17 years previously, to the day, Stromness was a flurry of avian activity with Arctic Skuas all over the place.

Equally concerning was an apparent decrease in Fulmar. On the cliffs near the Whalebone were few chicks.

We stayed in an off-grid house, it was comfortable and it worked fine.

The Blue-cheeked Bee-eater was present on North Ronaldsay all the time we were there, but I had neither the time, nor really the inclination to go and twitch it.

We saw Risso's Dolophins and a few Harbour Porpoise on the way back home, but otherwise my cetacean watching and birding were restricted to what we might bump into. No moth trap either as we didn't have a vehicle for all the time we were on the isles.

I did find a few interesting plants, and identify a few things I'd failed to identify whilst living in Orkney.

In no particular order a few views and a few beasts and plants...

The Brough of Birsay, a favourite place.

Rather poor eclipse pic

Evie beach

Flett's Pond, where we put the hound's ashes.

View from The Whalebone, where there is no longer a whalebone.

A smart, pure Hoodie, now no longer classed as a distinct species, a good decision IMHO

Aphrosylus celtiber, the find of the trip, new for me and new for Orkney I think.

Leiobunum rotundum, female above and male below, not sure I'd recorded this in Orkney before.

Sitona obsoletus, loads of these around the house.

There were huge numbers of Rabbit everywhere, even more than two years ago. A range of colour forms were seen.

Musk Mallow, something I'd not seen before.

Woundwort sp, but I did sort out Marsh Woundwort and the hybrid whilst I was there.

Most of the time was spent meeting folk, many thanks to all for their hospitality and time.

And quite quickly it was time to leave.

Leaving Stromness, again...

Saturday, 22 August 2026

A short wander and some light trapping CCW

On Thursday evening I led a Weekly Wander at the Community Woodland, this post is mostly to show folk who came along and others interested in Comrie Community Woodland what was found and what was attracted to the light traps we set that evening.

Car loaded with light traps and other entomology paraphernalia

I started off by explaining how the light traps are used, and then demonstrated a bit of sweep netting and a bit of bush bashing. These activities produced a lot of Lygus (probably all ruligopennis) a couple of Lasioglossum bees (probably calceatum, but determination pending), some Plagiognathus arbustorum, a very small weevil (to be determined) and a 14-spot Ladybird which I forgot to photograph. The wanderers very kindly helped lug all the gear up the hill to the trap site.

Plagiognathus arbustorum (photographed at home a few days earlier)

Lygus probably rugulipennis (photographed at home a few days earlier) - both the above are true bugs, Heteroptera

Lasioglossum calceatum (probably), a male. Common Furrow-bee.

The furrow-bee will be new to the site list when it is identified as none have been recorded previously. Earlier in the day when I'd been prepping the wander I'd come across a couple of Bombus lapidarius which surprisingly had not been recorded at the site previously.

Bombus lapidarius - new for the site and for myself (a really quite common beast and as bumblebees go striking looking).

Traps were positioned and by the time we got up the hill it was pretty much time to turn them on, however, I then discovered an electrical hitch with the Heath trap which meant it could not be started. However, 20 minutes re-wiring the crocodile clips a bit later on, after the wanderers had departed, resolved the issue, thankfully. Especially, after the help from everyone getting the kit in place.

Of course I forgot to take any general photographs, but here's a list of the light trap captures and some things from earlier in the day - a photo of my notebook, so forgive the mis-spellings and scribble. Two traps were used a Heath with a blue LED (H-LED listed first) and a Robinson with a green LED and a circular blue actinic (R-LED/Act, listed second after - ).

Notebook page Here are a few of the more interesting beasts captured. A look at the site list here - https://panspecieslisting.com/view-list.html?list_id=55781

Should enable a view of what was new from this excursion, about ten species I think, including Silver Birch Betula pendula which had been omitted as I'd not recognised it as native to the site.