Wednesday 1st July

A not surprisingly unspectacular report after the ecitement of a fortnight ago.

Went on long bike ride to Dalry last Wednesday but did not pay attention to birdlife much as needed to keep time and somewhat birded out after my visit to Provence.  This was a pity in a way as there was clearly a good deal of activity.  Surprised to notice yellowhammers just North of Dumfries and a diving brown shadow over the moors may just have been a merlin.  Also observed a red kite getting mobbed by a crow.

River Aln

What was perhaps more telling was again the almost complete lack of butterflies on a day with periods of good sunshine.  All I saw was four small whites approaching Drumwhirn Forest.

The same was apparent on a walk up the River Aln in Northumberland on Tuesday.  This time the sun was consistent but there were only a couple of pairs of meadow brown and a fleeting skipper or fritillary.  We did at least manage to establish that the river holds some fish, as if the three herons we saw were not enough proof.  All web references suggest game fish only but we found a slow section between two weirs that looked very likely to contain coarse fish.

Back at home, there was a very large bumble bee in the front garden with a totally black body and a white tail.  I assumed it was a white-tailed bumble bee but cannot find any illustration to match it.