Sunday 1st September

Long-tailed tits have made a couple of further brief appearances on the feeders.  Disappointingly, the flowering of the buddleia I replanted after it collapsed in the side passage has only attracted a few whites.  The weather has been quite windy, so visits from painted ladies, speckled wood and others have been fly pasts.

Last Friday I did a slow ride along the Derwent to the gym and back.  The idea was to look out for some interesting areas that might provide sightings.  Perhaps it was a little too late in the year, but it produced distinctly limited success. Just after the cycle tracks split there was a good stand of thistle where there were half a dozen painted ladies nectaring. A little further downhill a several oaks have been planted, which might make it a good area for purple hairstreaks once they have grown a bit.

Stopping along the Derwent above the site of the Crowley dam, a kingfisher went by in a flash, notable for the fact I haven't seen one for a long time, probably several years.

This Friday the Naturewatch group went to Cresswell Pond, Druridge Pond and finished briefly at Hauxley Reserve. At Cresswell there were a few ruff though not in summer plumage and, in the distance, a number of scaup. Most birds were far away sheltering from the wind but some nearby lapwing occasionally demonstrated their flying skills. There was a suggestion of a lesser yellowlegs, but I doubt if this will be confirmed.  To me it looked like a sandpiper.

Tree sparrows - and company

We didn't stay long at Druridge where it was very exposed - but not before seeing some black-tailed godwit and a couple of massive red admirals sheltering in the nettles. At Hauxley there was a good number of tree sparrows visiting of feeders and a few gadwall visible from the cafe, at first confusing us by their dark appearance in the mixed light. I was pleased to be the first to spot a deceased yellow underwing moth, a little egret and a single meadow brown on tree foliage, the few other butterflies being speckled woods. From the west hide we could also see more gadwall, some shovelers nad some brightly coloured little grebe.

These were just the sighting that caught my attention.  There were several others.

Little Grebe

Large red admiral