It was a dark and stormy night....

... that's how the best ghost stories start isn't it? Well no ghosts but Thursday was a VERY dark and stormy night.  Wind speeds of 122mph were recorded at Hill of Hammars in Evie on the Orkney Mainland. I have no idea what the wind speed was on Graemsay but the noise was tremendous.  I hugged Button for comfort - not that she appreciated it!

As you can see in the photo above the house had some damage. Two ridge tiles came off in the wind. Fortunately there is a waterproof covering below which will keep the room beneath dry (I hope!) but I shall have to visit a local builder's yard this week to find replacements. And no it won't be me climbing up to replace them!  The lead covering of one of the chimneys also came off in the wind - glad I wasn't around when any of this debris was flying about, particularly having seen the dents in the ground they made on impact!

I was considering sending Button up to inspect the damage as she loves sitting on the ridge but unfortunately for some reason she didn't want to leave the comfort of her bed. (I'm always amazed at how cats can traverse roof tops without a second thought about gravity....).

But the damage could have been worse, and compared to the awful weather conditions in Queensland, Australia, this is just minor stuff. 

But just before the worst force of the wind hit I witnessed an amazing sight.  OK the blurry overexposed blob in the photo is indecipherable but it was a bird of prey having dinner just below my study window! I was gazing out the window at the stormy seas (I love watching storms as long as I'm safe indoors) and I saw a bundle of feathers struggling in the wind and do a rather undignified landing. I thought at first it was one of the island pheasants, but it's movement and behaviour indicated otherwise.  Dusk had fallen and I had to get binoculars to see what was happening, but it seems that this large bird of prey had dinner in it's claws and proceeded to eat it. Sadly it was one of my blackbirds that had moved into the garden. I'm hoping the bird was a female hen harrier (they are frequently seen on the island) as I'd like to think that one of my beloved blackbirds was dinner for this beautiful rare bird.  However whatever it was it needed dinner and I watched  for quite a few minutes as it sheltered in the clumps of dead grass near the fence.  Once it had fed it sat and thought for a minute before taking off, tacking across into the wind - amazing!

Waxwings!

Stromness is covered with these winter visitors! (Thanks Jenny for the photo). They are called Waxwings (apparently their wings are not at all waxy but it's to do with the red tips looking lie ceiling wax).  They are such pretty birds and very vocal too.  There has been a sudden influx of the birds around the town of Stromness, though I haven't seen any on Graemsay. However they go for all the berries and I don't have any in my garden so that's probably why they are not visiting *me*!  But it's lovely to see such colourful birds flying around on a grey day.


Other "Nature Notes" - the BBC "Autumnwatch" programme has a team on the island of Stronsay (one of the more north easterly of the Orkney islands) and there is a live webcam of grey seals pupping running over the next two weeks (hopefully those outside the UK can get this too). So take a look at the webcame here

Bird feeders

As autumn is here I thought it time to put out some food for the garden birds.  I'm fortunate to have a lot of sparrows around, and they love picking the seeds from the pampas grass! So I bought some bird feeders and hung them in the only tree in the garden big enough to hold them - a old gnarled elder, with leaves blackened by the gales of last week.  I'm not sure how successful these will be given the strong winds, though their location is protected from the worst of the South Westerly gales.  I had to reinforce the hangers as these were most definitely NOT robust.  Anyway peanuts and seeds feeders and some "fat balls" now adorn the tree in various places.

I can't accommodate the ground feeding birds like blackbirds as anything I put down will be eaten by the hens, but I'm hoping the blackbirds etc will get some of the "spill" from the feeders, and I can throw a little seed for them in the morning while the hens are otherwise occupied with their scraps!

I remember as a child, my mother would feed the garden sparrows at 4pm every day and the birds would line up on the shed roof and if she was late would even tap on the window!  So I'm hoping my ground-feeding birds can learn a similar time-keeping discipline for the morning and arrive in time for "breakfast"!

It has been lovely this summer as the garden has developed more "garden" birds appearing, and of course outside the garden are the field birds (meadow pippits etc), and the shore birds (lapwings, curlews, oystercatchers) and the sea birds.  Several broods of swallows have fledged from the barn. So the air around the house has been filled with a variety of bird calls from the different species.  It's lovely, just being 100 yards from the shore to hear such variety.

Anyway, back to the bird feeders. The packaging instructions of the bird-feeder said "Site out of range of predators" - Um........

On the plus side Button is a night prowler on the whole, so at least the birds will be free to eat in safety during the day - I hope!

Snow Cat

Yesterday was beautiful with a thin layer of snow crunching beneath footfall. Button decided I needed to go for a walk with her. She has a very demanding tone which she uses as she stands outside the door - "Get your boots and coat on and get some fresh air, woman!" So we set off to to walk along the shore. Above is Sandside Bay, with snow dusting the Hoy Hills behind - looking all the world like a Christmas Pudding with a dusting of sugar - where's the Holly?

Below Button was finding it tedious that I kept stopping to take photos. This just goes to show that she has good thermal insulation - it's SNOW she is lying on not sand!


The tide was coming in and melting the snow. Fascinating to watch......


And Button clearly thought the above picture lacked some focus - so she provided it.....


Below are some oystercatchers keeping their feet out of the icy water - who can blame them


And - er - here is Button trying to work out how she can get to the aforementioned oystercatchers...... sigh..... she is far too curious for her own good!

Autumnal musings.....

Nothing much to say at the moment. I'm afraid I'm still battling some Evil Virus that has been circulating around the island along with other colds etc. Hardly anyone has avoided one or the other. Some days I'm feeling better, then seem to relapse into feeling "wabbit" (a wonderful Scottish term for feeling exhausted and unwell and nothing to do with Bugs Bunny, nor indeed Jonathan Ross). So apart from working and sleeping I'm not doing much....sigh..... This will therefore be a rambling "autumnal musings" type post!

Time check - in Orkney today the sunrise was at 0818 and sunset is at 1537. Whereas in London sunrise was 7.30 and sunset will be 1603. Quite a difference over even a few hundred miles. That always amazes me. I mean I *know* all about the earth's curve etc etc, but still fascinates me.

It's also getting to the time of year when the "Merry Dancers" make an appearance (local name for the Northern Lights). I've signed up with "Aurora Watch" which is run by Lancaster University and I get an email warning of potential activity so I can remember to go out at night and take a look! We do get displays throughout the winter, though not on a par with those seen in about 2003 which were fantastic, with brilliant reds and greens shimmering in curtains across the sky. More recently the displays have been white shimmering lights on the northern horizon. Still beautiful, but not with the ethereal beauty of the reds and greens.

I love the quality of light at this time of year, that lights up the interior of the house with a soft sunlit glow. Those days I treasure compared to grey dark days. Though to be fair we haven't had to deal with the weather extremes of those south who have been battling appalling conditions of torrential rain. We've had lots of rain and it's very wet and soggy underfoot but otherwise it's been a pretty good autumn so far, with some intermittent gales.

A lot of birds have either migrated or fallen silent for the winter now. There are still lapwings around and various birds along the shore but very few calls are heard. I haven't seen an Oyster catcher for ages though they are resident here all year round. Meanwhile the blackbirds and sparrows have been enjoying the rose-hips from the rosa rugosa.

Georgeous George, the new cockerel, has finally found his voice. Though, um, I think he has been reading the wrong script as it sounds more like "Twit-Twoo" thank "Cock-a-doodle-do"..... he also doesn't seem to want to perch at night and instead crouches down in the corner of the hen house. I keep putting him on the perch once it's dark - oh no really please don't ask...., but he persists in sitting down on the floor. I fear for his health as the floor tends to be damp but - well short of tieing him to the perch there's not much I can do!!

The regular brown hens who have been here all summer are being really horrid to the new hens - they pull chunks of feathers out of the new girls if they so much as dare look at the food till the regular brown hens have finished! Gorgeous George seems to enjoy escorting the brown hens around, and the new Light Sussex hens tend to still stay near the hen house. I'm hoping once the new hens mature they will move about as one flock. That has certainly happened in the past.

And here is a picture of Button, as Rosie wanted to see her markings more closely. She is a very pretty cat with lovely soft fur. She was a rescue cat from Westray (via Cats Protection) and has been here a whole year now. She is very entertaining (apart from when she brings home her lunch - still alive).

A lovely autumn day...

Woke up to sunshine, NO WIND, blue skies, mild temperatures ...... oooh bliss. A bit of a respite from the Autumnal wind and rain that we have had in Orkney for the last few weeks. A chance to throw open the windows and let some fresh air into the house!

And above is a Heron on one of the old buildings near the shore. As you can see below s/he was also taking the time for a little preening activity (wish I had a longer zoom lens...)


Must get out into the walled garden today and lift the remaining "tatties". I've also got some "early" onion sets to plant and am hoping just to tidy up the veg plot before winter.

Swallows!

These young swallows have clearly fledged but aren't yet self sufficient. They've been sitting on the conservatory roof beneath my study several days in a row, waiting for their parents to bring food. You can still see the young birds "gape" mouth. Bless..... I wish them well on their journey this year.......


I took the pictures through the window (and yes it needs cleaning....) so the photos are a bit hazy but didn't want to open the window and scare them off!


There is still a swallow sitting on a nest in the old barn, not sure if she has chicks yet - I hope so as I would have thought it was getting a bit late for hatchlings if they have to fly south in September?

I've seen a hen harrier around again - though not close enough to get any photos. And the other weekend (when, of course I had no camera with me) there were two Basking Sharks in Burra Sound - the ferry stopped for a few minutes to let them get clear. They are huge animals but beautiful. It feels a real privilege to see them on my own "doorstep" so to speak.

Let it snow, let it snow, let is snow.....!

Well OK they are forecasting snow on the "hills" and I don't think Graemsay constitutes a Hill of any great height anyway. But it is still very chilly in comparison with last week. Brrr. Though snow is no stranger to even the South of the UK in June so one shouldn't be surprised we may get some snow flurries this far north. I may have to put duvets over my veggie patch. The poor wee peas and broad beans that have just stuck their heads above the ground will be retreating beneath it again at this rate.

I've mainly been busy with work this week, but the farmers have been out ploughing and sowing seed for winter feed crops, as well as lambing and finishing off calving. It's lovely to see the fields populated with livestock again. Though it never ceases to amaze me how the lapwings and oystercatchers managed to raise their chicks with the cows and calves, or sheep and lambs across the fields. And the birds *choose* to lay their eggs among the livestock - there are plenty of places on the island "animal free". It seems as if they are trying to make life difficult for themselves!

Yesterday on the way to the afternoon boat I saw a wee Oystercatcher chick in the road. It was running for all it was worth straight up the road. Three adult oystercatchers were having hysterics in the air, and one was on the ground doing the "broken wing" trick to deflect me, the perceived predator. Eventually the chick got to the verge and stuck it's head in a clump of grass - but with the rest of it showing! I was really concerned as the road gets busy (for Graemsay) at that time on a Friday with folk collecting kids from school, going to the boat for groceries, or going over to town for the evening and I wasn't sure the chick would survive playing "chicken" on the road. So I decided I needed to take direct action and pick it up and place it through the fence on the edge of the field. I try and avoid handling wild bird chicks in case it causes the parents to abandon them, but the oystercaters were screaming in my ears as I did it and were quick to land near the chick when I retreated, so hopefully it will be OK and anyway it's chances of survival were increased by removing it from the road at that time! It was a dear little thing - just a ball of fluff with some spots on and a black pointy beak. I could feel it's little heart racing as I gently lifted it up and placed it through the fence. It promtly started sqeaking so it's parents were in no doubt where it was. Today I haven't seen the chick but the Oystercatcher's are screaming "Here comes the Giant" when they see me (even 4 ft 9" constitutes a giant in some circles it would seem) so I'm assuming they still have the chick!

Orkney had Royal visitors this week, with the Duke & Duchess of Rothesay (as Charles & Camilla are known in Scotland) visiting Kirkwall and Stromness. I wasn't in town on Monday when they arrived which was just as well as traffic struggles in the tiny street as it is without additional interest from Royal watchers. They met folk from the Lifeboat and the Ladies Lifeboat Guild in Stromness as well as visiting one of the Renewable Energy Centres in the town and Charles & Camilla spent time talking to the small crowd in the street. At least the sun shone for the occassion.

I think the folk of Stromness were somewhat bemused by all the security precautions taken for the Royal visit. One of my friends had a "bloke on a fast bike" sweep past her car as she was down at Warbeth beach dog walking on the day of the visit. Clearly checking out that she and her Shetland collie weren't a security threat!

Orkney will get another royal visitor next week when Princess Anne will visit some of the lighthouses in her role as President of the Northern Lighthouse Board. She visited Graemsay about 12 years ago but is going to the Northern Orkney Islands this time.

The Queen and the late Queen Mother have also visited Orkney at various times. The Queen Mother owned the Castle of May in Caithness just across the water from Orkney, so visiting was just a short hop away.

The other event this week was the Eurpoean elections. However polling day passed us by on Graemsay as we use postal votes as we don't warrant a polling station, there being so few of us.

And we had our own elections on the island last weekend, as it was our Community Association AGM and the committee was re-elected. We also agreed on a programme of events for the year which includes the Harvest Home (which incorporates Halloween!), Christmas party and some quizzes and games nights. So that should be ample opportunity to sample "home bakes". I have tried to get myself elected as chief taster of home bakes to ensure they are up to standard, but there would be too much competition and to be fair we'd need a committee and then there would be no home bakes left for anyone else. Apparently I'm the only one who doesn't see that as a problem ;-)

Of Spring, Sunsets and Sunday

I've had a fairly relaxing Sunday today, got up late, did a few domestic things, worked a little, and sat and mused looking out at the misty landscape while drinking copious quantities of tea! This morning was beautiful, though misty, but warm and I planted some more seeds - "Love in a Mist". But I needed a break from gardening as I overdid things a bit yesterday with some digging, and general sorting out of the garden, so I contented myself with inspecting the plants emerging from Winter. I just love this time of year. Here are some photos of the willows, plus I am delighted to see that the "Forget-me-nots" transplanted from a friend's garden in Kent have survived the winter and are growing healthily in the rear border.











Button is out most of the day now. I do fear for fledgling birds later in the year though - sigh. She has already got her eye on a sparrow's nest in a wall in one of the old farm buildings. However there is a healthy population of sparrows around - they line up waiting for the hens to finish with the scraps I put out for them in the morning, then the sparrows fly down and finish off what's left (I always put out extra for the wee birds!).





And this last week we have had some beautiful sunsets. I can just sit in the conservatory and watch the sun drop below the horizon. Just magical.

Goosey Goosey Gander.....

(Photo from web of Greylag Goose)

For several days now I've had a lone greylag goose in my field behind the house. I've named him "Bill" in memory of a pet goose I had when I was five. Bill II seems quite happy in the field, eating grass and grubs or whatever geese eat, and he has his very own pond plus the company of lapwings, oystercatchers, curlews and various field birds. But I have no idea why s/he is alone. I'm hoping once Spring comes Bill will fly North and join other flocks of geese. Although I wouldn't mind another pet goose!

When I was five I won a raffle at a local fete. The first prize was a goose, and my dad, who bought the ticket, was expecting a dead, plucked and dressed goose to arrive on the doorstep. Um... so it was a shock to my parents and a delight to me to find a LIVE one turning up. I named him Bill after my best friend at the time. Bill (the goose) lived in the shed in the garden and I led him round the garden on the dog lead. Dad built a pen for him, but Bill clearly had other ideas and kept escaping to the allotments behind the house which meant Dad and brother, Pete, had to keep chasing the goose, providing many hours of entertainment for the neighbours.

However the day came when it was decided by my parents that Bill had to go. So a local neighbour who was a butcher came and "did the deed" while I was at school. I was really sad to see Bill go. However completely unknown to me, Mum served up "Bill" for Sunday lunch. To this day my sister reminds me that I ate my friend Bill the goose! In my defence I didn't know! And I did keep the pillow stuffed with his goose down feathers for many years afterwards. AND I've never forgotten him. Anyway I'd better reassure Bill II that he is not destined for the same fate (fete?!).......

Fortunately Bill is too big ( even if he may be injured) to fall prey to the local cat population, of which Button is one. I found the remains of a dead lapwing in one of the barns, so I don't know if that was Button, Charlie Boy or one of the other many Graemsay cats. Sigh. I am rather worried about the wild bird chick population this summer.

Well I am just off to Stromness. Haven't been able to escape the house for a whole week but most of the snow has disappeared on Graemsay and so I shall venture forth to buy more provisions (in case of further snow) and to meet up with friends for lunch. I am already hallucinating about a cafe latte and wondering what else is on the menu!

More adventures with cats.....

Had problems uploading to my blog so haven't updated for a few days. Anyway have had further adventures with the new cats - including losing Jasper for two days! Well I knew where he was - he was in the byre among the hay but chose not to come home in time for tea, then the weather blew up into a Force 9 Gale and he sensibly stayed put in the barn. I found him this morning, none the worse for his adventure, though very hungry! He is now snoozing downstairs.

Button was disappointed to see him reappear as she had enjoyed having the place to herself. Last week Jasper went from stalking her to attacking. As soon as he sees her he runs up to her and a full scale battle ensues. It's very tiresome and doesn't seem to be getting any better. So I have to keep separating them so I can get on with work, life etc!

Friday night I was over in Stromness at the Film Club - watching "The Scent Of Green Papayas". It had won several awards - a Vietnamese film (think it was a french film crew), very gentle story, beautifully filmed, stunning photography. But somehow it failed to touch me - I just didn't connect with any of the characters and there were several events in the film that just didn't get explained. The ending was so ambiguous that I had to watch the final scenes again when I got back to my friend's house for the night and we ended up surfing the net to try and decipher the meaning! We gave up in the end......

Anyway we had a good turn-out of about 18 folk, which was good going as there were several other "art" events on the same night.

I was also over for physio during the week - the final session. My back feels a lot less painful now so hopefully things are improving. Though I'm supposed to be careful lifting things - not easy when we only have a passenger ferry and everything has to be carried on and off! Still I'm trying to be organised and get shopping sent over from Stromness grocers etc. And folk help, but I hate having to be dependent on others as we all have our own shopping etc to carry.

I've also realised that the dreaded Christmas is round the corner and am trying to get organised. I'm definitely in the "Bah! Humbug!" category. Have never really enjoyed Christmas - though used to enjoy the time off work. We won't get boats for 4 days over the Xmas period so I shall just hibernate! I used to go and visit family but it's rarely weather for travelling so to save hassle I prefer to stay at home and visit family and friends in the summer time!

I've just come back from checking around Sandside to see if there was any damage from the storm force winds last night. The wind and rain were so noisy they woke me up. It has been extremely windy since Friday, but fortunately by mid-day the wind had died down and it has been a reasonably pleasant afternoon - very bright. I meant to go out and take some photos but have been working today - one of the advantages of working from home I can be flexible with my hours. And of course by the time I thought to go out - it got dark!

I've been watching flocks of Lapwings swooping around over the field at the back of Sandside. They are amazing birds and give an amazing airborne display. I also heard geese calling today but didn't see them. I wasn't sure if they were on Graemsay or Hoy. When I stayed at Longhope (south end of Hoy) there were thousands of geese around and someone was employed to shoo (yes that's shoo not shoot!) them off the land - well of course they just moved on to another field! But they do make a mess of the pasture so they were not regarded kindly by the local farmers. A few at a time wouldn't be too bad, but in large numbers they become a problem.

I've got a new recipe for soup so think I shall go and experiment. If it turns out well I'll post the recipe!