The north wind doth blow

I think it's fair to say that there's been a bit of a change in the weather, after I banged on about how odd it was that Orkney's meteorology had been so settled of late. However, the rain has been very welcome for wild and cultivated plants alike, the snow maybe not so much.

The first signs of change saw the wind swing around to the north, with showers scudding through the county. There was certainly less hanging around on our walks for wildlife watching or photography.

This Bluebell is tucked in on the north side of a dry stone wall, so is shaded from warmth for much of the day. And not receiving much shelter from a northerly wind.

On our most recent walk, a few Buttercup flowers were beginning to show between all the Celandines, Dandelions and Marsh Marigolds, but I thought this Dandelion clock summed up just how I feel about missing two haircuts during lockdown.

Hooded Crows are fairly wary creatures at the best of times, but this one was conveniently perched on a gravestone in the kirkyard, and didn't fly off at the first hint of a camera.

So, now, with even less reason to be outdoors, we fell back on the old Winter pastime of doing a jigsaw, but one featuring wildlife, obviously.

The northerly breeze continued to send wintry showers across the landscape. Some we missed, some we didn't. Here's one over West Mainland.

Whilst staring intently at a jigsaw puzzle, I must admit that it isn't always the case that it stares intently and unnervingly back at you.

Even if gaps in the showers have given the opportunity, our sunsets have been a bit duller, although with the added interest of looking for ephemeral shapes in the swirling clouds. Is there a crocodile hidden away in this view?

Yesterday was a typical mid May day, referred to locally as Lambing Snow, and as someone on social media commented "Only six weeks to mid-Summer!"

There wasn't a whole lot of gardening or pond creation going on, I can tell you, although the jigsaw is coming on a treat. Meanwhile, biscuit and tea consumption have gone through the roof. I was going to say 'increased exponentially', but that would suggest a need for some diagramatical representation and think we've all had enough of misinterpreted or unlabelled graphs for the time being, thank you very much.