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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 - June 2023
by Merryn - 07:20 on 03 June 2023
Burray Hill Botany Walk 30th May 2023
We met at the car park beside Burray Hall. There were twelve of us and we made our way along the road past Burray Primary School. A small woodland has been planted by the school and amongst the trees were Cowslips and Sweet Cicely, one of the first umbellifers to flower. We continued past the field of Bere Barley where, in the corner of the field we saw a patch of Charlock, a plant that used to make cornfields yellow in the days before modern herbicides (according to my plant book). A cuckoo bee was feeding on it but still seemed to be rather cold and not very active yet. Further along, on a grassy patch of waste ground beside the road, we identified Yellow Rattle (not in flower), Red Clover, Lesser Trefoil, Common Mouse-ear, Meadow Vetchling and Ragwort.
We walked on, up the hill, and saw lots of Marsh Orchids in the fields and on the grass verges. These are beginning to come into flower all over Burray. We have some in our garden. Other flowers identified were Bush Vetch, Silverweed, Creeping Thistle, Red Campion, Cleavers and Garlic Mustard. A tall plant with purple veined leaves and a purple stem caught our eye and there was some discussion about its identity. Was it Foxglove, as first thought, or could it perhaps be Burdock or Mullein? It was not yet in flower. I shall go back to see what the flowers are like. We settled on Foxglove. There were several more growing by the road and track up the hill. A leaf was taken for further study and identification.
At the top of the track was a small patch of stony waste ground where Meadow Vetchling, Speedwell (veronica), stunted Heath Woodrush and Slender St John's Wort, (hypericum pulchrum) were growing. No flowers yet. We spent a while looking at the St John's Wort which was identified as 'slender' by the single stems of leaves.
Walking up to the top of the hill we saw several ferns. The leaves had almost finished unfurling. They were identified as Broad Buckler, Scaly Male Fern, Male Fern (non scaly) and Lady Fern. Beside them was a patch of Crowberry Moss with Sorrell growing through it. Small plants of Lousewort with its pink flowers, Bird's Foot Trefoil and Dog Violet dotted a few areas by the side of the track.
By the time we reached the very top of Burray Hill we realised that there was not enough time to walk out to the potentially interesting boggy bit. Some folk opted to walk back to the car park and others explored the rough ground where Bog Bilberry and Pig Nut were discovered.
Charlock
Foxglove ?
Slender St John's-Wort
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