Saturday 21st April

A burst of nature activity recently, brought on by good weather and a scaling down of domestic activity.

On Thursday I went on a Meet Up walk along the river near Hexham. This was the hottest and sunniest day of the week and I at last saw a few butterflies - a red admiral, a peacock, an unidentified white and a couple of small tortoiseshells mating while I fumbled with the camera.  Near the road bridge to the west, there was a healthy colony of sand martins on the opposite bank.  Chiffchaffs are of course everywhere now and there was a single swallow and a couple of goosander, which also seem to be all over the place this year.

Chiffchaff from below

Roe deer

The new garden has continued to be interesting. A jay briefly alighted on the back fence as I went into the kitchen and a female woodpecker fed on the fatballs this morning.  Technically chiffchaffs have not been in the garden but they have been in the trees that overhang it, picking up insects, as above. This is the first time
I've managed to get any sort of picture of one.

Yesterday my daughter visited and we did a longish walk in Chopwell Woods to satisfy the demands of her pedometer.  It didn't result in anything spectacular apart from a few roe deer and grey squirrels.  The deer were obviously quite tame and there were a couple that were happy enough to have their photos taken even though they had clearly seen us.

Back in the garden today, a red kite circled low over the decking, the colour showing well, but another camera fumble meant the chance of a snap was gone.  This happens to me repeatedly but hopefully the abundance of opportunities in the garden will help me get slicker..