Nearly a sunset...

Today we had a day on Hoy with some of the entomologist from the Orkney Field Club, all of which were male! We were picked up by Julian at 7.15am and crossed on the 7.45am ferry to Moaness. The warden of the RSPB reserve on Hoy, Tracy, was waiting to join us, so at least I had a bit of female company. A minibus took us across the island, and we then walked up to Berriedale, the only area of ancient woodland in the Orkneys. I'm afraid Pete and I were a bit disparaging when we saw it, as it looked more like a small area of scrub. However, it was very atmospheric, occupying a narrow gorge which was filled with midges, the only place where we were really bothered by them.

Initially Julian had planned four locations for collecting, but he'd dramatically underestimated how slow entomology is, so this was rapidly changed to two! We trekked back across the heathland to the minibus, where some excitement was provided by one member of the party falling spectacularly into a pond. And I missed it!! Luckily he wasn't hurt, just cold and wet, but clean dry clothing was miraculously produced from the various backpacks, and we hung his wet clothing out to dry on the bushes.

While the entomologists visited the Whaness Burn, I walked up the hill to the Dwarfie Stane. This is a huge block of hollowed-out red sandstone measuring about 8.5 metres (28 feet) long, and is thought by some to be Britain?s only example of a rock-cut tomb. It's thought the chamber was carved out sometime between the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age. Basing their dates on similar tombs found in the Mediterranean, archaeologists have settled on a date of around 3,000 BC. What makes the Dwarfie Stane remarkable is the fact that the massive stone was hollowed out using nothing but stone, or antler, tools, muscle power and patience. There's a picture of it in my Blipfolio.

We returned back to Stromness fairly early, so after a bit of rest and food,Pete and I headed out into the long Orkney evening. We visited a Scottish Wildlife Trust reserve just down the road, an area of disused peat diggings, with pools containing marsh cinquefoil and lesser bladderwort. It was quite exciting to walk over, consisting of a floating mat of mosses that was liable to give way at any time!

We took an unintentional detour on the way home and ended up in a car-park overlooking Loch Harray. By this time it was almost dark, but the sky had a rather unearthly coppery-purplish glow which was reflecting nicely on the Loch. I'd been hoping for a spectacular sunset alll week, imagining a beautiful silhouette of the Ring of Brodgar against it, but I realised this was probably as good as it was going to get! So I blipped it!