Sunday 23rd September

Painted lady

It's that time of year again.  Summer has gone but it's a little soon for the winter visitors.  What has pleased me most over the past couple of weeks was the arrival of a painted lady on the diminutive sprig of buddleia I imported from Dumfries in March, when I scarcely believed it would flourish at all.  Before it finally gave up the ghost a few days back it was also visited briefly  by a small tortoiseshell, so that all four common nymphalidae have appeared on it and I view that as quite an achievement.

There should be a good deal of buddleia around by next September.

Deer?

Apart from that it has been bits and bobs, a red admiral here and there and a continuing abundance of speckled wood including one in quite low temperatures today.  I did do a visit to the bird hide at Gibside and saw more or less what you'd expect to see around feeders - tits, nuthatch, woodpecker and grey squirrel.

This animal did however give me a bit of a scare when I saw it out of the corner of my eye.  It must have been because the antlers are real.

Monday 10th September

The last few weeks has produced various bits and bobs though nothing really spectacular.

Towards the end of August there was another visit from the long-tailed to the feeders tits and in fairly big numbers,  I reckon there are seven of them in the photo.

Long-tailed tits and others

Also in the last week of August I tried a bike ride to Prestwick Carr where short-eared owls can sometimes be seen.  I didn't see them but there was a peacock and a red admiral and a number of green-veined whites feeding on the remains of some thistles.  I hadn't seen any for a while and so wondered if they are double-brooded, which it seems they are.  On the next clump of thistles there were more whites but they were almost exclusively small whites, as if some sort of segregation was going on.

Sequoia

On Friday 31st there was a Naturewatch walk along the Devil's Water near Corbridge.  There wasn't much in the way of birdlife around but we got a fair view of a comma sunbathing and there were some funghi and unusual trees.  One was identified as a sequoia.  Apparently treecreepers like to roost in the crevices of the trunk, though I don't suppose they were responsible for leaving a shoe there.

Last Monday I went back to Dumfries.  I spent some time looking for salmon leaping the caul, which I never saw in all my time there and still haven't.  Waiting at the station, I was quite amused by this train-themed flower display (below).  I've no idea what the dangling maroon flowers are but they're very effective.

On Sunday at Riding Mill, my reappearance on the cricket field and early dismissal lead to me sighting a large number of lapwings flying over the fields in the distance.  You couldn't make them out properly from a photo taken on my mobile but there were moments when I reckoned there must be a couple of hundred of them in the air - a far greater number than I can remember seeing before in my adult life.

Flower Train

Today there was another Naturewatch walk from Hagg Bank to the most Eastern of the Spetchells.

Our first sighting was a couple of improbably large pumpkins in the allotment.  By the pond there were three herons resting in the same tree and a few house martins overhead.  Possibly sand martins too, but I couldn't be sure in the conditions.

On a cool, sunless day it was a bit surprising to see speckled wood butterflies out and a couple of blue dragonflies. Also more funghi.

As we got to the chalky areas, we started to find the rarer plant species.  As ever, I couldn't really keep up but there were definitely some yellow wort.  Apparently the italian alder here were frequently used to replant old mining areas as they are fast growing and resistant to noxious soils.

Walking back to the car park at Wylam, we noticed a man fishing with the assistance of a dog.  I don't suppose that it helps the catch much, and if so, that it is permitted by the local Anging Club.

Huge pumpkins

Funghi

Fishing with dog