OrcadesDays

By Orc2009

Bluebells and wee fairies

This is in Happy Valley, a wooded garden in Stenness that is run as a community garden. I got he bus to the bottom of Bigswell road and walked up to the garden. Then up the road a little and off to the right on a track up Russadale. Cuckoos were reported here and soon I heard two males calling in competition. Conditions were poor with a strong wind and low cloud which constantly coated my specs. There was a pair of stonechats in the bushes, the male was carrying food so there must be a nest with chicks there. That's good because this species crashed in Orkney after two consecutive snowy winter about 4 and 3 years ago. The stonechats are only now recovering. I saw fairies at this spot before and photographed them but am sure they were different. A previous generation I suppose. I don't know how long they live but imagine may are taken by birds of prey or fly into power lines and so forth.

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