Country diary: rich purple heather marks a year on the island

Stromness, Orkney: New floral familiars - devil's bit scabious, grass of Parnassus, eyebright - make me feel less of a stranger Just as the low-lying pastures of the west mainland are starting to look a little tired and washed out, Orkney's upland moors have been intensifying to a glorious technicolour. Amid dry grasses glow the sunshine-yellow embers of summer - tormentil and hawkbit - as hawkmoth caterpillars of livid, almost radioactive green hump between stems as they search for a safe place to overwinter.Most dominant of all are the rich purples, with which the high ground is ablaze. The heather is in bloom in all its various guises: the hanging lanterns of cross-leaved heath in mauve and amethyst; tiny, needle-petalled ling in pale, pearlescent tones; and classic bell heather in a rich and regal plum. Continue reading...