Saturday 20th April

Not so much evidence of smaller birds coming to the garden this week, but I was treated to the spectacle of a magpie devouring a vole on the back fence, cleverly using a bit of climbing ivy to hold it on for some time. While driving down to the Derwent Valley a couple of days ago, I saw another one eating horse manure.  I know that they do this but hadn't observed it before.

What had been a pretty cold spring so far drew gradually to an end on Wednesday so I decided to take the bike out to Prestwick Carr as I thought it might be a possible venue for the emperor moth.  It took a while before the sun to break through and there wasn't too much to see at the observation platform apart from a begging chaffinch, a willoe tit on the feeder and a tree sparrow or two.

Comma

As soon as the sun did come out butterflies started to appear. They were in flight so it was hard to identify but I think I saw enough to suspect they were painted ladies, as well as a couple of small browns circling skyward.

Having missed a turn off down a mud track leaving Ponteland, I happened on a couple of comma butterflies.  At first I thought they looked very fresh, but the one that landed looked distinctly tatty.  On refinding the route there were several more, perhaps as many as twenty.

Later on heading for Stamfordham Road, a small tortoiseshell and a peacock appeared, the first I have seen of either this year.

Before all that,  I encountered a bit of a mystery. I clearly saw a yellowhammer perching on a hedge opposite Ponteland Golf Course.  It disappeared before I could get the camera out and I got this (below) instead.  Someone has suggested a sparrow but I saw it as being the same size as the yellowhammer.  Another bird on the same hedge turned out to be a thrush. A discovery of this dead moth (below) found in the summer house made it two mysteries in one week, as I can't identify that either.

Mystery 1

Mystery 2

The day after (18th April) the first male orange tip of the year sailed across the garden.