Wednesday 16th October

I went to Holy Island last Friday in the hope of seeing some of the passage birds that had been turning up over the previous few days. In fact there wasn't much about.  The first and the commonest bird I saw on the island was the starling.

Turnstone

In pleasantly bright weather but a strong wind, I did manage to identify a couple of rock pipits on the stoney beach as well as some oystercatchers and turnstone.  On the pond near the wildlife centre, all the birds were sheltering under their wings but one may have been a whooper swan.

Two whites sighted during the day remain my latest butterfly sightings to date.

I spent quite a lot of time foraging in the dunes at the North of the island, which proved completely unproductive though I did see this rather large caterpillar.  Referring to a suggested expert indicates it will one day become a fox moth.

Fox Moth Caterpillar

On the way back to the castle, there were some teal visible, sheltering against the weeds on the far side of the other pond.

Wheatear

It's strange how the most interesting sighting often occurs when you have given up looking. I had decided to visit the priory when I spotted an interesting little bird feeding by the wall on the main road.  At first I thought it was a water pipit in summer plumage but the general consensus is that it is a wheatear.  All I can say is that the wheatears I have seen were much more strongly marked but there are photographs of them online that look similar.  It certainly wasn't shy as a water pipit is supposed to be.

Yesterday the Naturewatch Group visited Belsay Gardens, where again the birdlife was a little furtive. Over time I did manage to identify three nuthatch, several coal tits and blue tits and a song thrush. The best sighting was a couple of goldcrests working their way through a hazel bush that so fascinated me that I left my waterproof trousers behind. I also got a glimpse of a disappearing red squirrel.

Obviously it was a cultivated rather than wild environment but I was rather impressed with this particular variety of rhodedendron barbarus, which apparently comes from Northern Asia.

Rhodedendron Barbarus

Wednesday 9th October

Understandably, things have been much quieter since returning from holiday and a 50% plus drop in temperature as summer draws to a close.

On resuming birdfeeding activities in mid September, there were a series of visits from a group of long-tailed tits and on one occasion I happened to count as many as eight clustered around the bird feeders. It didn't

Small Tortoiseshell

however take long before the jackdaws started visiting again.

Around this time, some of my newly-planted buddleia's last flowers produced a couple of fine, large specimens - a red admiral and a small tortoiseshell. The photo doesn't give a fair impression of its size.

Recently, I've continued to keep careful note of butterflies, wondering when the last sighting of the year will occur.  There was a red admiral and two speckled wood in the garden on 28th September and three speckled wood yesterday.

Egret

Today there was another red admiral on a bike ride near Lanchester and two more speckled wood in the garden once I got home. 

On the way back from Lanchester, I stopped to chat with some fishermen at the little lake at Annfield Plain, who had been catching some carp. I suddenly noticed that a heron wading on the far side was in fact an indeterminate egret. I guess they must be pretty much anywhere where there is water if they are this far inland.

Earlier in the day, I was pretty sure I heard a chiffchaff calling briefly.