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.