30 Days Wild : 6

Day 5

Day 6 of 30 Days Wild and we remain  busy in the house. DIY is leaving little time to go out and about and to be honest the weather is not all that conducive either. Shopping had to be done whatever the other demands on our time and so I took my camera with me and kept my eyes and my ears open for small moments of wildness.

Beautiful Decay

Outside the shop this morning, I was casting my eye about for something wild that I might write about today. One of the many things that registered on my consciousness was the pile of pallets resting in a corner and the grass and wild plants growing up through and about them. It got me to thinking about decay and entropy. We always consider wildlife to be just that, about life but it is about death and decay too. The organisms that bring about the breakdown of plant, animals and organic items have their own lifecycle and are perhaps as “wild” as you can get. Many readers might consider such things ugly but there is beauty in decay.

Yesterday’s trip around the island included a poke around an abandoned cottage. It clearly has not been under Human habitation for years but it now provides a habitat for many other organisms. The inner walls were completed covered in algae, the roof was painted orange with lichen colonies, bird nests were evident in the wormy rafters and bluebells showed through the nettle bed surrounding the front door. I might not have considered posting this image yesterday but after today’s piece of thinking I offer you a micro habitat for heaven only knows what fungi, algae and insect beasties! Perhaps a return visit with a microscope or magnifying glass might be in order.

Family Bible

Family Bibles were treasured possessions. It seems odd that this one was left behind to rot. The important part – the front pages with the names and dates of Births, Deaths and Marriages has gone, the remaining pages being left to Mildew, Algae and Spiders.

I am going to post more photographs of the cottage soon.

Who has seen the wind?

With a wind speed of 25 mph, gusting to almost 40 mph when we went out this morning I was not keen on lingering anywhere with my camera for long. I experimented with a slower shutter speed, trying to capture the movement of the grass and weeds in the cold breeze.

Wind in the grass

  Who has seen the wind? Neither I nor you: But when the leaves hang trembling, The wind is passing through. Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I: But when the trees bow down their heads, The wind is passing by.Christina Rossetti   I am not sure that Ms Rossetti ever visited Orkney, where trees are mostly absent and the wind does not pass through gently…

Lumpy bumpy

Coming home from the shop, I spotted this weak Mammatus cloud formation over Bea Loch. We stopped the car and I jumped out to take a few photographs. We do not often see Mammatus and almost certainly never when I have a camera handy.

Mammatus cloud

It was a weak formation, not particularly spectacular, and dissipated quickly. See Wikipedia for explanation and Google for some stunning images of good formations.

Orkney has huge skies and real weather. My view from the window is never the same twice, with the ever-changing clouds to look at. I never tire of just standing and gazing.