Anne's last plate

My apologies for not describing the finer points of Anne's last plate - the first of the Freshwater/wetland section.

Top left is Marsh Marigold at the northern end of the Loch of Swanney.
Top middle is Ragged Robin on Swona.
Top right is Water Mint on the Loch of Harray looking to the Stenness kirk.
Bottom left is Meadowsweet on the Wideford Burn in St Ola.
Bottom middle is Great Willowherb at Brodgar.
Bottom right is Cuckooflower/Lady's Smock at St Andrew's Mill.

The Orkney Book of Birds - pocket edition

The Orkney Book of Birds is now available as a pocket edition. Nothing from the original book has been left out, indeed Orkney's world of birds changes constantly and we have been able to include a species list, thanks to Paul Higson, that is current up to 31st July 2011.

Signed copies are available from myself (Tim) or from Tracy Hall's website priced at 9.99 sterling
www.watercolour-artist.co.uk/bookofbirds.htm

Wetland flowers

Here's the first wetland or freshwater plate.  I've enjoyed painting this one, although once again it has taken a little longer than expected.  I find the plants growing in this habitat to be particularly characterful - often with quite striking flowers and/or leaves.  Some, like the Marsh Marigold, shown below, have quite architectural leaves and seem very robust whilst others like the Ragged Robin, also featured in this plate, appear very fragile and delicate. 

Some of these flowers have been unfamiliar to me.  I found this a little surprising because although I'm not a botanist I find it hard to believe I could have walked past the flamboyant blooms of the Great Willowherb without acknowledging their existence! (Great or Greater Tim? - you'll need to correct me).  Perhaps the somewhat inaccessible nature of the habitat means that some of the species are less frequently seen unless you go out looking for them?  Whatever the reason, I look forward to the next plate which includes one of my favourite flowers of wetter environs, Marsh Cinquefoil.

Bog Asphodel in autumn

A trip up into the West Mainland Hills walking along the Harray and Rendall border. The autumn colours of the hill; the palest by far are the bleached leaves and dry flowers of Bog Asphodel, known as Pulderuck in

Orkney.

Pulderuck's view of Ward Hill and the Cuilags on Hoy

It's worth remembering them from our all too short summer.

This is part of the carpet of Bog Asphodels that sweeps down into Spretta Meadow just south of Yesnaby. The picture below illustrates the whole sweep. 

The leaves and stems are bleached in autumn. By late December they rise white as bones above the moor.

Crowberry

Crowberry is such a widespread plant in Orkney and at this time of year is in its best autumn colours.

Here is the draft text for Orkney's 'Heather Berry' and you can see how important this common plant was for everyday life.

Crowberry (Empetrum nigrum)                         Heather berry

Wireling

Crowberry family

Height to 40cm; flowers April to June, fruits June to September. Very easy to find.

Very widespread and abundant in Orkney (25/28); frequent and widespread in upland Britain (1162/2852), absent from the Midlands and southern England.

The Yorkshire name is Wireling – a succinct description of this tough and wiry stemmed, evergreen relative of heather. Across Britain it is a shrub of the uplands, far more abundant in Scotland than in Wales or England. In Orkney it can be found on acid soils countywide but appears to prosper on the heaths that are close to the sea. In fact it is not uncommon to see plants clinging precariously to the cliff edge with brown, burned leaves due to the constant buffeting by the wind and persistent drenching of salt spray. The leaves are glossy green and linear with rolled back margins which make the underside impossible to see. The flowers are tiny and composed of six tiny and separate pink sepals. The female plant bears the berries which turn from green to black.

For centuries in Orkney, Crowberry was high on the list of useful and indispensible plants. Archaeological excavations at Skara Brae unearthed small pieces of rope twisted from the stems of this shrub. Indeed we know that it served a similar purpose in the North Isles right up to the beginning of the 20^th century. From ‘ropes’ it is a fairly small step to ‘baskets’ and for maybe 5000 years Crowberry was integral to the manufacture of cubbies, luppies, skep and kaisies, all of them woven containers of different types and capable of performing different functions It provided a purplish dye and another of its merits was that it was edible – hence its Orkney name Heather berry. However, the small black berries make for poor eating so that extremely large gatherings are needed to make jam or jelly. In the raw state, the fruits are gritty, with stones bigger than flesh, and tasting of turpentine. The Norse name Kraekling sums it all up, the berry was suitable only for crakes or crows.

     Clinging to the smallest patch of peaty soil. This one flourishing in the confines of the top of a fence stab.

                                              Look carefully and you'll see the berry 'fit for a Crow'

Anne's latest plate

Just to explain Anne's latest brilliant plate. As she says it's the last of the plates that depicts the wildflowers of the 'Dunes, links and dry grasslands'.

Top left - Ragwort at Scrimpo on Rousay
Top right - Hardhead at No4 barrier, Burray
Centre - Red Clover at Warebeth, Stromness
Bottom left - White Clover at Scapa, St Ola
Bottom right - Bugloss at Noltland on Westray

PS: Scrimpo is a super little sandy beach on the northeast side of Rousay.

Links 5

At long last, the final links plate is completed.

Now we move on to the Freshwater section.  I'm really looking forward to this - so many interesting and characterful plants to paint; Marsh Cinquefoil, Flag Iris, Ragged Robin.....