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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 Moth Group - 27 August 2021
by Peter Slater - 09:14 on 29 August 2021
Seven members of the group gathered at Vagaland, Stromness, to go through the moths caught in Peter’s trap the previous night. It had been a clear, calm and dry night, but the catch was not huge, possibly because the bright street lights (and ferry!) close by had been nearly as attractive as the light trap. The variety identified was also not particularly great perhaps because we could not identify quite a few of those in the trap. Two species, chevron and square-spot rustic, were identified from photos later on. As we become familiar with the commonest and most distinctive species we will be able to concentrate on the more tricky ones. As with the first meeting, three weeks earlier, the large yellow underwing was by far the most numerous to be caught, but some of those caught last time did not feature on the list and we also added a few new ones.
The complete list was as follows: Pink-barred Sallow, Autumnal Rustic, Large Yellow Underwing, Rosy Rustic, Dark Arches, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Common Rustic, Ingrailed Clay, Square-spot Rustic, Chevron.
With thanks to Barbara and Jenny for the photographs.
Autumnal Rustic Chevron
Pink-barred Sallow Rosy Rustic
Square-spot Rustic Kate and Peter hard at work
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