Saturday 30th June

Baby blue tits

I got a couple of hurried shots of two baby blue tits on the feeders as mentioned in the last entry, though on several occasions there have been as many as five or six.  Since then I have been on a wildlife holiday in Bulgaria and am still mulling my way through the several hundred photographs I took over the seven days (watch this space - entries coming soon).

On my return I was surprised to find that the peanut feeder was not completely empty.  I also re-encountered the speckled wood butterfly when two members of the species pursued each other in a tight circle for a good ninety seconds as they passed through the garden.  Presumably it was a courtship routine.

Tuesday 19th June

Speckled Wood

A brown butterfly finally turned up in the garden.  I got a distance shot of it with wings closed and reckoned it was probably the by now frequently sighted speckled wood, an impression deepened when one turned up and displayed on the garden furniture (left).

Blue tits must have fledged very well this year as they are turning up in groups on the feeders, distinctive in their light yellow plumage and as yet light head markings. Remarkably, this seems to have lessened the visits of the greedy jackdaws.



Yesterday I went on an extended walk in Chopwell Woods, when the speckled wood was again much in evidence and I reckoned I saw 15 - 20 over the 3.5 hour period.  I also got good views of a jay and a buzzard, as well as saw a small number of spotted orchids and,

Comma

somewhat to my surprise, what turned out to be a mayfly.

But the best was saved for near the end when I saw this comma butterfly warming itself on a stone, certainly the first one that I've seen since I was a boy.  They had been reported at Mabie Forest but I never managed to see one on my visits there.  I knew they were more common in North East England as people I have met  reported seeing them in their gardens - but a personal landmark nevertheless. I was pleased I waited for the sun to come out again when it disappeared for a while.

Meanwhile the bumblebee of the week has definitely been the tree bumblebee, which has been turning up in the garden in some numbers though the photo is also of one I found in Chopwell Woods as it at least managed to stay still for a while.

Mayfly

Tree Bumblebee

Monday 11th June

Female nuthatch

Of course the day after I complained about the jackdaws yobbish behaviour putting off other birds, a nuthatch turned up on the peanut feeder for the first time, a female.  It hasn't stopped me cutting down on the bird food over the past couple of days, though partly because I've been out most of the time.

I did a bike ride along cycle track 10 to Stamfordham and enjoyed the flatter landscape in the area.  There were some flowers just past Seaton Burn that I at first thought were orchids and haven't managed to identify, again lots of skylarks singing and most pleasingly a male redstart that appeared in some oaks just west of Stamfordham. Plus some sort of maple I wasn't totally sure about.

I held off reporting this as I knew that the Prudhoe U3A Nature Watch trip to Hawthorn Dene near Easington was coming off today, a venue that is known to be rich in wildlife because of the magnesian limestone geology (dolomite).

This inevitably lead to a profundity of less common flowers being seen and frankly I really did find it more or less impossible to keep up with the sightings.  We certainly saw some bee orchids and some mouse-ear hawkweed but eventually all the new names just swamped me. I stuck to what I know more - butterflies and birds.

And there was indeed a fair bit to occupy the attention in those areas.  Having not yet seen a blue this year, it was pleasing to see at least twenty common blues at different times and get a decent picture.  I saw my first small heath of the year and managed to get a picture of a dingy skipper (though it was very dingy) as well as a chimney sweeper moth.  I don't think I've seen as much flower meadow in one place for a long time.

Common blue

Chimney sweeper

Dingy dingy skipper

Ogling female kestrel

We did actually manage to get a glimpse of a skylark and an excellent view of a female kestrel, which some people thought was eyeing us up so it could move in to hunt in the same area once we passed on.  I was particularly pleased to see a whitethroat passing through.  There were also sand martins, a few swallows and pipits, a fulmar and a reed bunting.

The general consensus was the area will produce even more sightings in a couple of weeks in view of the delayed summer.

Maybe I will return.

Monday 4th June

I did finally get out to the Spetchells again last Monday, but only in the evening after the sun finally came out around teatime.  This was after some debate about going after green hairstreaks at Dipton Woods near Corbridge but that will probably need to wait 'til next year now.

Female red-tailed bumble bee

At Spetchells the mining bees were not much in action so presumably they retire early.  I did manage to see three each of speckled wood and dingy skipper as well as a common carpet moth and another single skipper - presumably a large skipper but I would have like a photo as not entirely convinced.

I also checked out a couple of trees I couldn't immediately identify - and still can't... and finally caught up with the female red-tailed bumble bee.

Since then the weather has been unreliable and not much has happened.  I am beginning to worry that the jackdaws are dominating so much in the garden that the more interesting smaller birds are becoming reluctant to visit.

It has struck me meanwhile that the dingy skipper was a first sighting.