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Walking Group One 25th April 2024
Five hardy souls collected today at Happy Valley for the first Hill Walk of the year .The temperature was cool with a North Easterly wind blowing and a hint of rain on arrival.
Off we set heading towards Russadale Quarry, spotting a Buzzard on the way.Turning into the footpath we remained sheltered from the wind all the way to the top of the hill.
The sun was out at the Quarry and a Greenshank was feeding at the edge of the Lochan. Then it was up the Peat road to the summit with spectacular views across Stenness and Harray Lochs, plus a view of the Closed Road beyond the Watch Stone. On the other side we looked over the Flow and down towards the Oil Platform and South Ronaldsay
Then it was back down after a stop for a snack and finally a walk around Happy Valley itself. The Daffodils planted by James and others were looking lovely and the Bluebells are days away from opening. Then it was on to a well deserved lunch at the Pier Cafe, having walked 4 miles and gone up 800 feet (and down again )
The next walk will be on Friday 24th May and hopefully more hills and views.
Keep moving.
U3A Birdie Group - Nov 2019
by Tim Wright - 19:18 on 21 November 2019
Yesterday nine of us met at the Lochside in Holm despite the leader Trevor being laid up. Get well soon Trevor !
In his absence, we walked up to the Point but no further as it was windy but dry. On the loch were the usual Widgeon, Golden Eye, Long Tailed and Tufted ducks. However, a couple of Goosander were prominent. On the shore were Turnstones, Ring Plover and a distant Great Northern Diver.
We then went to the Lambsholm Quarry to look for the Blue Rock Thrush. We were unsuccessful on our short visit and it turned out it had not been see since Monday.
Finally we looked in at the 4th Barrier but no new species were seen. Our recorder Sally noted 31 different species. Then we were off to Robertson's for a warming soup and coffee. While there, a list of dates were passed around ready for next year's meetings.
So far the list stands as below
Jan 15th Trevor
Feb 19th Judy
March 18th Kate and Anne Gosman
April Liz's Trip to Grantown
May 20th Peter (?To Egilsay )
June 17th Anne and Ronnie
July 15th
September 16th
October 14th Sally
Nov 18th Tim
Dec 16th
Sally and Liz are looking for people who were not there yesterday to come forward and volunteer to lead the group on the blank dates. This is not arduous and is well within the capabilities of everyone in the group.
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