Evening sunshine.....again....

This was the view from my "back door" the other night, a beautiful soft reflective light. I love evenings like this!  We've had a period of fairly settled weather of recent days, but of course it is now midge time!  Evil little blighters that bite wherever they can find access!

Here's a link to a YouTube video taken on the small island of Egilsay (one of the Orkney Islands) of some swallows over a pool catching midges.  I have plenty of swallows here AND midges - they need to eat faster!!

Wildflowers on Graemsay...

OK the above is NOT a wild flower.... it's a dog otter, or so I am reliably informed by Tim Dean, who took the photo in the burn at Quoys on Graemsay. I've seen evidence of otters around Sandside bay, but never actually seen one of these shy creatures. Tim was out last week collecting info and photographs for his Orkney Book of Wild Flowers. Take a look at his website here for more information on wildflowers on Graemsay, with wonderful names such as eyebright, twayblades, creeping willow, Sneezewort, Shepher'ds purse, and lousewort!

Full moon over Hoy Hills

Last night there was a clear sky and a beautiful full moon. Above is a photo taken of the moon hanging over the Hoy Hills. This was at 5am in the morning.... I am not normally acquainted with this time of day, but suffice to say Button The Cat is entirely responsible.  I heard her yowling in the hallway downstairs, that kind of Mother Cat - "Come here Kittens I have food" kind of yowl..... this gets me out of bed faster than any alarm clock as I want to prevent her delivering - um - breakfast in bed!

Anyway she presented me with a dead mouse and was very pleased with it. I explained that 5am is a little too early for breakfast for me and suggested she ate it herself, opening the front door to let her go and eat it on the step.... and that's when I saw the moon and why I was, again, standing outdoors in my pyjamas taking photos....

Having devoured the aforementioned mouse, Button then demanded breakfast  - clearly that was just a snack....sigh....

Gale Force 7-8

Just to show that it isn't always sunny in Orkney....here is a photo of a windy day in summer....note the leaning bushes.....sigh...and yes this is SUMMER.....

I've rescued my flower tubs and put them in the shed and have apologised to my peas and beans - they weren't expecting THIS when they came out the packet of seeds...... not sure how long this will last.  And of course it's hay making and silage cutting time - not much of that happening at the moment. Though as you can see in the photo above the neighbouring farmer managed to get one field of bales made this weekend.

It's such a shame as this week is Agricultural Show Week for many of the isles and parishes, with the West Mainland Show in Dounby on Thursday and the County Show at Kirkwall on Saturday.  I hope the weather cheers up for everyone. So much work goes into the shows!

Here's a YouTube short film of a County Show Day of a year or two ago. It's an agricultural show - so if you're a vegetarian or don't like seeing livestock then fast forward through!  The narrator has a real Orcadian lilt. Click here to watch

Summer sunset

These photos were taken this evening at different stages of the sunset. I just *love* sitting watching the sun setting across the water. Tonight there was not even a breeze to stir the water, just the currents and the tide. Beautiful!

It's been a lovely warm sunny day after a week or so of gloomy weather. I had a visitor today. C was on her first visit to Orkney and came over to Graemsay for the day. We had a lovely time just pottering around (we decided that "pottering around" was an excellent thing to do). We pottered on both the beaches, looking at shells and flowers, and pottered down at the kirk looking at headstones (and marvelling at the ages of the inhabitants - many lived well into their 80s and that was at the end of the 19th, beginning of the 20th for many of them - not an easy feat when crofting often meant eeking out an existence with a little land). We pottered around the garden too.

Anyway to round off a lovely day -here are the sunset pictures, with the sunset beginning and then culminating in the picture above. I think the clouds help make sunsets special and unique.  And last night apparently the Northern Lights could be seen over Orkney. Sadly they appeared way past my bedtime so I missed them this time.....

Evening sunshine...

After a number of very grey cloudy or foggy days it's lovely to see the sun again!  It's been a busy week with work and visitors. Then this morning a quick shopping trip to Stromness across the water, then more work and preparing for another visitor tomorrow.  So entertain yourselves with these pictures!  Sorry I'm not writing more OR responding to comments.... hopefully I'll catch my breath soon......

Looking across the fields at Sandside up the hill to Windbreck.

Making hay....

though not much sun shining!  This summer in Orkney, as in the rest of the UK has not been one of the best.  "Unsettled", "changeable" are words you hear on the weather reports. Therefore it's not been the best of growing seasons either.  In April it was very warm, then it's been fairly cool, right down to darned cold, some sunshine, but not that much rain. 

Anyway the hay was being cut from my field behind the house ready for winter fodder for a neighbour's cattle. But cutting of silage is slow and these last few days there have been quite a lot of rain showers, so not ideal cutting weather.  We now also have the "haar" (sea mist) hanging around, so although it's pleasantly warm you can't see more than a few yards ahead!  Ho Hum... that's British weather for you!

Although we are in the far north of the UK we are fortunate to have the Gulf Stream which keeps our temperatures "moderate" in Orkney, even in the winter.  But a little more of "summer" would be nice too!