Category Archives: Something different

Back to Bumble Bees

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I took your advice and went into our garden yesterday evening, in the late sunshine, looking for more bumble bees to photograph.  It was much easier as they were slower.

There is a huge pile of comfrey plants which the bumble bees love and I spent my time trying not to get in their way while they buzzed into all the flowers.

I was captivated while they flew their figures of eight around me and the flowers.

I must admit that I do love their fuzzy little bottoms.

Later in the day, I returned to my comfrey patch and my bumble bees.  I like bee-watching. There is something relaxing about watching someone else work very hard!

It had been raining in the afternoon, too.

Now I think I have identified my bees as being the “Northern White-tailed Bumblebee”
(Bombus magnus) – This is a common visitor to gardens and crofting land throughout Shetland, except Fair Isle. It is the earliest species to appear in Shetland in spring, and can be seen anytime between April and September. The Northern White-tail is a very neat, clean-looking species. It has a black thorax, with a single yellow band at the front. The abdomen has another yellow band, and a white tail; hence this is Shetland’s only ‘double banded white-tail’. – Shetland Amenity Trust.

Bombus Magnus is a very fitting name, I think.

Oh, those little fuzzy butts!

Congratulations to Daisy!

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I’ve been on tenterhooks all morning looking at my phone waiting for a text or a call….

Daisy was having her viva (short for viva voce – a spoken oral examination, typically used to defend a doctoral thesis (PhD) or other advanced academic qualification).

And, at 13.30, just as I was typing into Google, “how long is a viva?”, I received the phone call informing me that we must all now refer to Daisy as Dr Daisy!

Apparently, and I wrote it down, she has a PhD is Veterinary Research and Equine Nutrition.

I can’t even begin to tell you just how proud I am of Dr Daisy.  This is a huge achievement for her.

It has not been an easy path but she has succeeded due to all her own hard work.

The bit that really tickles me is that Daisy is the first female Doctor in our family, ever, which is bloody amazing.  I am incredibly proud of her.

(and am obviously wearing my proud Mum t-shirt).

And I hope Daisy is now celebrating her socks off!  Well done Dr. Taylor PhD, MSc, BSc.

Turning Good(ish)

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I was looking back trying to remember how old Pepper is.

According to Google (it does have it’s uses), Pepper arrived in Shetland in 2021 as a just-weaned puppy so, by my maths, she must be 5 years old now.  I know, where has the time gone?

Pepper was never brought here to replace in my heart the gaping hole left by BeAnne Duvet, but she has managed all on her own to wheedle her way in by herself.

I would love to say Pepper’s behaviour has improved, but I would be lying and many a neighbour has announced they’ve only just recently had a visit from her totally unbeknownst to us.  It is a constant battle.

But we have successfully managed to stop the early morning vanishinments as Pepper is now on a long dog lead at night tied to the foot of the bed. I tell her it’s because she is a criminal and she happily wags her tail and agrees!  By stopping her constant egress means we can leave the cat flap open for Monster’s nightly comings and goings happy in the knowledge that Pepper is still with us. She honestly doesn’t mind and has resigned herself to a life of being a prisoner if she has first dibs on the bed. It’s a fair trade.

Meanwhile Monster has developed a terrible habit (we are on Day 3 now so it is classed as a habit).  He lies on my pillow in the early morning and then prods me with his barely sheathed claws while purring exceptionally loudly.  Once banished from the bed, he then retaliates by making loud puking noises instead.

But at least we’ve won the Pepper battle – sort of.

Them’s the Breaks

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I’m not really how sure to describe my day.  Mostly waiting. The weather’s not been great (cold, occasionally wet and very, very windy) and I’ve been expecting to hear about the horsevan’s fate too.

I wasn’t brave enough to phone the garage so I procrastinated beautifully by doing other things instead to keep myself busy.

I didn’t want to hear the inevitable.

So, I picked some rhubarb out of the garden and made a rhubarb and ginger cake, which is not bad, even for me – cakes are not really my thing but I was trying to use up eggs, of which we have loads.

Then I pickled some duck eggs – the ducks are in full laying mode at the moment – and tried one from my previous batch – not bad, if I don’t say so myself.  I am very partial to a pickled egg.

Then with some more eggs, I made a quiche, which we ate for lunch. Again, I’ve eaten worse!  We are now down to only 6 eggs and that is quite an achievement.

Then into my shed to make another hand-felted Shetland sheep while trying very hard not to think about the van.

After that, I went poo-picking in the continuing “moderate gale from the north”, which is becoming increasingly irksome to all.

And then I finally phoned the garage.  Unsurprisingly, the van had failed, and deemed unfit to go again.  Dammit.  A little part of me was surprised since it had driven into town very easily but the other part of me was not surprised since it is over 14 years old and was rather “pasta la besta”.  Ho hum, them’s the breaks.

My Westside Tour

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We had a visitor and I asked her if she would like to go for a drive to see a little of the Westside of Shetland, ie all the places I think are pretty spectacular.  The weather was vile.  Most of our photography was from the warmth and shelter of the car.

So we started with the Dale of Walls beach, which is set in a perfect little cove with Foula in the distance dead centre.

Then to Norby beach in Sandness.

Lots of lovely colours and we had a quick walk and then the weather descended into sleet.

If you think it looks cold, I can confirm that it jolly well was.  We had the beach to ourselves most of the time too.

Sandness hill in the background from Norby beach.

Loch of Norby

Bousta, Sandness

A bird of some description. It was huge – I thought was an otter at first.

Peats stacked, ready to dry out.

Looking over Brindister Voe to the east. Every single wind turbine was switched off.

My favourite kirk – West Burrafirth Chapel

It was sadly closed and slowly falling to bits.

More scenery.

These are Horizontal Mills – there are three of them.

From Canmore – “The Norse, or horizontal, mills ….. are typical examples of a once-common type of water mill found in Shetland, Orkney and Lewis. The mill used one wheel (tirl) with blades mounted on a horizontal plane, driving a single pair of grindstones. This simple design meant that multiple mills could be built on a length of stream, with a family or small partnership each owning their own mill.”

So, if you come and visit and you want to see some of my favourite local places, this is where I will take you.