Introducing Dolores and Lola.....

 

Just over a week ago I acquired two new hens.  They are Maran crossed with a Jersey Giant cockerel (I know he sounds like an American Baseball player or similar!).  Anyway a neighbour had a surplus of hens and I wanted to increase the flock with some young birds.  I was down to 7 hens due to some recent loses and the youngest was 6 years old (oldest about 10). Egg production had understandably dropped due to the age of the hens.  I don't need many eggs but it's nice to have a few a week.  I knew the two that were intermittently laying would stop over Winter so now seemed a good time to get some young stock.

So I welcomed these two new hens, but what to name then.  Well they have black feathers with a beautiful greenish tinge, and bright red combs.  They were not unlike my Shetland Black cross that I had named Tallulah as she looked like a showgirl in a 1920s/30s speakeasy in Chicago, so I decided on similar names - hence Dolores and Lola!  Now I have THREE showgirls!

When they first arrived it was early evening and I didn't want to put them in with the other hens immediately so they went to the henitentiary.  They settled in well and started mixing early on with the other hens.  There is much truth in the term "pecking order" and these girls are in no doubt they are at the bottom!

Each night though the new girls went back to their roost in the pen.  And each night at dusk I would gently carry them into the hen house and put them onto perches.  This went on for over a week but after the poor weather on Saturday they seemed to decide for themselves that roosting in the henny house was cosier with the other hens (it's more sheltered!). So hopefully things progress well now with the flock.  One of the new girls is already laying daily!

Early September...

 

Early September we still had some lovely days, though there was definitely a "late summer" feel to everything....

Blue skies with cloud banks mostly held at bay....

Unfortunately the lovely fuschia bush and willow got battered in the winds at the weekend.  Plants in Orkney don't really get a chance to go through a gentle autumn of change.  We go from summer to high winds in Autumn blasting all the leaves black and ripping them off the branches...sigh...

Never tire of this view....

Dreich Sunday.....

 

Sunday's weather was the perfect epitome of "dreich", a wonderful Scottish word for the weather meaning dreary or bleak.  It was actually quite warm and not windy (unlike Saturday with 40+ mph winds), but it just rained constantly all day and the clouds hung low...

Hoy hills under a duvet - and who can blame them!

RIP Charlie Boy....

 

My sweet, shy barn cat, Charlie Boy, was put to sleep this week.  He was nearly 15 and had been with me for over 12 years.  Originally it was intended he would live in the house with access to outdoors just like Button.  But it became clear he was actually pretty feral.  Although he'd come from a domestic home on the Orkney Mainland it was a home with 30 other cats so the term "domestic" was used loosely!  After a week of him being terrified in the house and me at my wits end, we were both relieved when he made a bolt for an open door.  He then continued to live in the nearby barns and byres, coming for food each morning and slowly trusting me.  He always hated being picked up but would sit somewhere so I could put my arms round him to "cuddle" him,  There were times when all he wanted was breakfast and "please don't touch me" signals were clear.  But usually he waited for me each morning and learned to walk *between* my feet to his feeding station (top of an old barrel).  

He'd been his usual self, though I noticed he was thinner than normal and I had recently wormed him.  Then on Thursday when he came for breakfast it was clear something was very wrong with his stomach - he looked very pregnant!  So he was quickly bundled into a box, carriage arranged on the ferry, and a good friend dropped everything to pick him up and take him to the vets. The vet phoned soon after his arrival and it was as I feared, the prognosis wasn't good and I took the advice of my vet to do the kindest thing.

I am really sad, but he had a good life on his own terms, with plenty of food, cosy places to sleep and a fuss when he wanted.  He had a better life than many humans......  

Button will be celebrating!  Charlie was the dominant cat, I think they had a couple of bad fights where she came off worse, but generally they avoided each other where possible....

RIP my sweet boy, may your spirit run free.....

Random.....

 Hoy High lighthouse among the dramatic clouds.... and at the other end of the island - Hoy Low lighthouse!  It doesn't feature so much as I don't go down that way very often... yeah I know it's a small island but...  I will endeavour to take some more pix on a fine day...  Anyway why does such a small island have TWO lighthouses I hear you ask?  They are what are known as "leading lights" and were built to guide the herring fleet through a safe channel into Stromness harbour.  Skippers had to line both the lights up a certain way to get the deepest channel through the entrance to Hoy Sound. Hence Hoy Sound High light and Hoy Sound Low light....

Meanwhile in the garden - hebe this side of the magnificent stone dyke, over the other side fushia, willow and a cordyline.

And here they are nicely framing Hoy High light - in the foreground an Elder and fennel

Um.... two of the girls having a dust bath!

And one of them later sitting by Button's cat flap.  I have NO idea why..... but she looks quite comfortable....

Though she and I had a slight altercation earlier as I found she had gone broody among the shrubbery...

Nearly two dozen eggs!  The baggage!!!  I cleared the nest and thankfully she has given up now sitting now.  I'm not sure if ALL the eggs were hers.  Anyway once a hen starts brooding eggs she stops laying so... now she's not laying!  

And another sunset!!

Graemsay ahead! A virtual tour of the island...

 

As part of the Orkney International Science Festival there is a "virtual" tour of Graemsay!  So here are some links (available from today to 9th Sept).  This has been put together by Stromness Museum (Katy Firth), with input from Tom Muir, Bryce Wilson, Len Wilson, Stuart Sutherland (formerly of Sandside), and several others.....

Link to Virtual Tour page (1)

Link to virtual exhibition tour (2)

Link to other Festival events (all virtual!)

September.....!

 

And 2020 rolls on..... September - meteorological Autumn.  Though in Orkney Autumn generally lasts a week and we head straight into Winter.... we shall see how things go this year.  Children have been back at school for about 3 weeks now with the island children commuting on our ferry.  Still the odd case of Covid-19  popping up in Orkney.  I'm still keeping isolated for now.  Though I've had lots of socially distanced visits in the garden with friends and neighbours!  Ergo....

My cheap Tesco plastic table and chairs have languished at the back of the shed for almost 20 years now!  But they have never been so well used as this summer.  Essential supplies provided - hand sanitiser, midge repellant, and brown sauce for bacon sandwiches.  Haha!!

We've had a reasonable summer the last few weeks.  Better than other parts of Scotland.  It's been dry, little wind, and decidedly warm and sunny!  Not sure how much longer that will continue but I treasure each warm, less windy day!

The sun has moved across the sky even in the last week.  Sunset is about 20.10.  

And just a week later you can see the difference between the photo above and below!

And a setting moon over the Hoy hills....

It looks like a bonfire on top of Ward Hill on Hoy, but it's just the moon disappearing!

The moon has been beautiful this last few days... here is another picture.... It looks as though it is sitting on one of the hydro (electricity) poles!

And while we look to the skies..... a rainbow!

Elsewhere.... old buidlings....

Nature reclaiming the stones...

A life belt leaning against the old stable...