A grey but mild mid February morning. Now I know (and especially as far north as we are) winter is by no means over, but there is a feeling of spring in the air and I will take that for now. We’ve had a mixed week.
Pleasure – I went over to a friends and dug up saplings that were growing in her lawn and needed removing. She had kindly left them since the summer so we could do it at the right time. The ground was very wet and they came out easily with good roots leaving her lawn unmarked (and are now planted here). It took no time at all so we spent the rest of the morning drinking coffee and eating cake 👍👏🍰☕️.
Pain – The next think was 😢 we saw little piles of scales down the field in different places around the pond. Now we’ve had a heron coming in, but he would swallow the fish whole and would definitely not go into the trees. We sought advise and our suspicions were confirmed – an otter. The young leave mum at this time as she is getting ready to breed again and they tend to wander, trying to find their own territory. We think he has had all the fish which is very sad and a great shame (they were doing so well) but everything needs to survive. Otters seem to be a success story here in Orkney at the moment so thats great.
Anyway out for a wander round this morning with the little dog I took a few snaps of the buds appearing and the small signs of new life starting, all the time serenaded by a bull frog. Enjoy.
