Saturday 8 June 2019

Hoy highlights

Here's a fairly eclectic collection of images from a recent trip to Hoy:

Garden Tiger moth caterpillar on a pine shoot

Birds'-foot Trefoil, Butterwort, Lousewort and Milkwort by the roadside

White-tailed Eagle nest...

as seen from the Dwarfie Stane

Female Stonechat

Male Stonechat

Wind-blown Ivy on a shed roof?!
There was a brief sighting of a damselfly, but it disappeared before I could identify it, which is a poor show, I know. Fortunately, the cafe near the pier was open and a particularly fine Date Slice retrieved the situation.

9 comments:

Coastal Ripples said...

Love the wind blown ivy :) looks like an amazing place. Date slice too. B

Mark said...

I think the Composer,late Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (Max) lived on the isle of Hoy. I can see where he drew a lot of his inspiration.

Imperfect and Tense said...

Hi Barbara, I am only guessing about the reason for the ivy's shape, but a search on the internet seems to show that the shed does not have 3 chimneys. So, wind-blown was (to my mind) the most logical choice, if we discount the idea of a thrill-seeking topiarist. Each island of the archipelago has a different vibe (do you find that where you are?) and Hoy is like a mini Shetland.

Imperfect and Tense said...

Hi Mark, I believe he did have a property on Hoy, near Rackwick beach. This bay is a place which could draw out some creativity from the meanest of philistines. The stones on the beach play havoc with one's sense of perspective :o)

Coastal Ripples said...

Yes all the Channel Islands are a little different. Never been to Alderney but I gather there are very few trees there thanks to the Germans in the war. Also very windy there. I’m sure the ivy is wind blown. We have similar trees that are very close to the sea and the wind has crafted their shape.

Spadger said...

Nice selection of pictures

Spadger said...

I'm still curious as to why Ivy would want to stand on a shed roof anyway. Does she not know what the weather is like in Orkney? I hope you was able to talk her down.

Imperfect and Tense said...

There's a further conundrum here. The photo shows three up-stickings, when everybody knows that IV is the Roman numeral for four.

Spadger said...

This is true - how very puzzling. Maybe the other had already climbed down before the picture was taken. But it's nice to see she is certainly a fine upstanding woman.