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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.
U3A Botany Group - August 2022
by Ian - 08:13 on 25 August 2022
Botany meeting - Lochside 23-8-2022
What a wonderful day to be out “botanising”; 20 degrees Centigrade and a sufficient breeze to keep the midges at bay.
Lengthy discussions took place as we tried to sort out the Catsears from the Autumn hawkbits and the Hawkweeds. And, if that wasn’t easy, trying to differentiate the Horsetails, the fields, marshes and the hybrids wasn’t straightforward either.
Fortunately, some plants didn’t tax us in the same way. The 3 Heathers, (Ling, Bell and Cross leaved heath), 4 Bedstraws ( Cleavers, Marsh in full flower, Ladies and Heath, the last two now past their best), 3 Ferns (Male,Lady and Broad Buckler), and 3 Willows (Tea- leaved, Eared and Creeping).
While not everyone gets excited about grasses, sedges and rushes, a fine selection was on display. Purple moor grass,Tufted hair grass, Common and Purple Bents, Cocksfoot, False Oat grass, Red, Viviparous and Tall Fescues, Mat grass, Yorkshire Fog and Perennial Rye grass. Green-ribbed and Common sedges, as well as Jointed rush, Greater woodrush and Common spike rush were also seen.
Right down at the loch shore there is an extensive bed of Common reed, Shoreweed,( a member of the plantain family), Water horsetails, Burr reed, Bog bean and Sea arrow grass.
On such a lovely, sunny day as this, some flowers were really looking their very best with Rosebay willowherb and the heathers offering great swathes of purple across the landscape.
Tormentil, Slender St John’s wort, Meadow vetchling, Common and Rayless Ragwort, one solitary hybrid Monkey flower, Sneezewort, Yarrow, Angelica, Water mint as well as Creeping and Marsh thistles.
Other flowers / plants are now past their prime like Meadowsweet while others such as the Clovers, Yellowrattle, Violets, Flag Iris, Buttercups, Cow parsley, Marsh pennywort, Common sorrel, Broad leaved dock and Hogweed could be identified only by their leaves or seed heads.
We should mention how much we appreciate John’s contribution to our meetings. Without his presence we would not have been shown Bladderwort, a carnivorous, aquatic plant, sadly not in flower at this time of the year, nor had our attention drawn to the patch of Marsh Woundwort and how to distinguish it from the more commonly seen Marsh/Hedge hybrid. We hope he also enjoys and learns something when he’s with us!
Rosebay Willowherb
Ling Heather
Devil's Bit Scabious
Ragwort
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