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