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Walking Group One 25th April 2024
Five hardy souls collected today at Happy Valley for the first Hill Walk of the year .The temperature was cool with a North Easterly wind blowing and a hint of rain on arrival.
Off we set heading towards Russadale Quarry, spotting a Buzzard on the way.Turning into the footpath we remained sheltered from the wind all the way to the top of the hill.
The sun was out at the Quarry and a Greenshank was feeding at the edge of the Lochan. Then it was up the Peat road to the summit with spectacular views across Stenness and Harray Lochs, plus a view of the Closed Road beyond the Watch Stone. On the other side we looked over the Flow and down towards the Oil Platform and South Ronaldsay
Then it was back down after a stop for a snack and finally a walk around Happy Valley itself. The Daffodils planted by James and others were looking lovely and the Bluebells are days away from opening. Then it was on to a well deserved lunch at the Pier Cafe, having walked 4 miles and gone up 800 feet (and down again )
The next walk will be on Friday 24th May and hopefully more hills and views.
Keep moving.
Botany Group - August 3rd
by Kate - 22:13 on 05 August 2021
Botany Group August 3rd 2021
Five of us met at the cemetery car park at the Bu, Orphir at 2pm on the 3rd August. It was a fine day with a light breeze, overcast at the start of the walk but half way round, the cloud cleared and the sun shone and it turned into a very pleasant day. We set out along the cliff path from the cemetery, normally a wet slippery walk, but today it was bone dry. The cliff walk had a large variety of late summer flowers, maybe a little washed out because of the drought. But there were beautiful stands of Devil’s-bit Scabious, Scots Lovage and areas of Ling heather mixed with Bell heather in perfect bloom. Along the way we were accompanied by a profusion of common blue and meadow brown butterflies. Again we all looked at the differences between Catsear and Autumnal Hawkbit.
The species found on the cliff path are as follows: Creeping Thistle, Marsh Thistle, Spear Thistle and Perennial Sow Thistle, Sea Mayweed, Orache, Silver Weed, Cow Parsley, Hogweed, Angelica, Scots Lovage, Broad-leaved Dock, Lady’s Bedstraw, Meadow Vetchling, Kidney Vetch, Bird’s-foot-trefoil, Tufted vetch, Yarrow, Cat’s-ear, Devil’s-bit Scabious, Sea Plantain, Ribwort Plantain, Tormentil, Red and White Clover, Sea Ivory, Ling and Bell Heather,Creeping Willow, Sorrel, Yellow Rattle, Ragwort, Violets, Corn Spurrey, Sneezewort, Autumnal Hawkbit, Hybrid Woundwort.
Returning to the car park we found that the all the road sides up from the Breck have recently been strimmed and mown. However there were some flowers left, most notably the last remaining Pink Purslane which normally covers the road edges down to the cemetery. A brief detour through the wood found only Red Campion and Bramble in flower. Both the burn in the wood and that at the Bu were still running, but only just.
The species found retuning from the Breck are as follows: Red Campion, Yellow Flag, Horsetail, Hard Fern, Marsh and Great Willowherb, Bush Vetch, EyeBright Arctica, Butterbur, Meadowsweet, Bramble, Sticky Mouse-ear, Redshank, Pink Purslane, Selfheal, Cleavers, Pineapple Mayweed, Marsh Marigold, Watercress, Water Forget-me-nots, Monkey flower, Groundsel, and Smooth Sow Thistle.
Lichen
Scots Lovage
Ling
Devil's Bit Scabious
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