Sunset

Last night was a spectacular sunset. The photo above was taken at 22.50!  I'd missed the earlier actual setting of the sun which was about 22.20 but the sky stayed a wonderful colour for some time to come. The white in the middle of the picture is cow parsley - it flowers much later in Orkney compared to in the South of England. I love this plant, it always reminds me of my old pony, Badger. We would arrive back in the stable yard with him dragging an entire plant, complete with roots, proudly in his mouth! It was always just at mouth height for him and he could never resist and tasty cow parsley plant!

Tonight there is due to be a lunar eclipse but after a lovely sunny day it is now clouding over - sigh. So it's unlikely we will see much in Orkney.

Meanwhile, I found one of my hens had died during the night. Poor thing. She was one of my Light Sussex hens, large with beautiful soft feathers. She had seemed to be unwell for a while in that she wasn't hanging about with the other hens but often on her own. No idea how old she was - I've lost track of the ages of my hens - they remain in glorious retirement here long after they have stopped laying! It's the least I can do for producing an egg a day for most of their lives.

However the hens were soundly told off the other day. I had put some bedding plants still in their boxes out in the garden to "harden off" while I was away in Westray.  I came back to find a lot of the plants had been "nibbled" and the hens had even eaten the polystyrene! I dread to think what THAT will do to them (or the eggs!).

 Needless to say, the hens completely ignored my scolding as they carried on even when I had planted the tubs up!  And yes I do blame the hens and not the cockerel - he just seems to follow on behind, rather than "leading the way"!