Wednesday 30th December

After much uncertainty over the new Covid restrictions, I worked out that being in a support bubble meant I could visit Dumfries over the Christmas period. 

This wasn't really a nature trip but I did get good sightings of a pair of goosanders in the afternoon light at the caul on the Nith.  The male's head showed hardly any sign of its normal green colour.

Female Goosander

Male Goosander

An extra bonus was the bright reflections on the water around the female, which give quite a surreal effect.

After returning home ahead of the stormy weather, we managed another beach dog walk at Cresswell yesterday.  The tide was coming in and the surf hitting the beach with some force, with some rather unusual results.  The first was a live sprat that had been thrown up on the beach.  Later we encountered a small flounder, a jelly fish and another sprat which had met the same fate but were dead.  All were returned to the sea except the dead sprat which the dog ate.

We got as far as the Chevington Burn without seeing any bird life apart from a single goldfinch and a stonechat.  But we did encounter a rather good rainbow en route.

Rainbow

On the way back there were a few birds including oydtercatchers on the move and I got a nice photo of this sanderling, which came up quite close while we stood still.

Sanderling

At home the garden is still quite busy and the latest not-so-rarity was a female chaffinch.

Tuesday 22nd December

It continues to be a period when I'm seeing more activity in the garden than on my trips out.

A trip to Holywell Dene only revealed a few tits and a walk at Wallington Hall some more tits and a single nuthatch.

Long-tailed tit

However my garden nuthatch still visits the bird table often, and several long-tailed tits often appear though generally just for short raids.  Coal tits are still the most frequent visitors, ahead of blue and great tit and the larger birds.  Wren, dunnock and blackbird have all turned up plus the 'not quite right' greenfinch (see previous two posts).  The long-tailed tits have started feeding a good deal on the fatballs, which have been neglected right through the autumn period for whatever reason unless I had removed them from the feeder and put them somewhere else.

There has also been a surprising first - a goldfinch.  Although common locally, I've never seen one in the garden before.  Overall, it seems the shorter days and the need to feed intensively around the middle of the day is the main cause of the increased traffic.  

On Saturday I did take a trip to Swinsty Loch in North Yorkshire for a socially-distanced walk with daughter and fiancé with slightly better results, starting with a good view of a red kite over the village as I set off.

The walk around Swinsty Loch is advertised as a gentle stroll on a gravel path.  Unfortunately the youngsters had decided instead on a hike through the moors to Badger Dyke Loch, which unbenown to them proved to be a tour of the local swamp grounds and quite hard on both lungs and legs.

However we did happen on this couple of peacocks on the way.

Peacocks

They were wise to shelter in the little hollow as a full-scale pheasant shoot was underway at Badger Dyke Loch.  Apart from dead pheasants we managed to see several score of wigeon at the peaceful end of the water and a handful of tufted duck on the way back down the other side.  In the fields a few fieldfare and redwing were around without showing too well.

To be honest I was slightly disapponted by the wigeon as I had thought I had spotted some pochard in the group.  At least I felt well-exercised and wholly justified in not doing any exercises at home the day after.

Monday 14th December

Some slightly strange if not exactly world-shattering happenings this week...

I'd just finished discussing the 'not quite right' greenfinch mentioned in my last post with someone by email when what was obviously a female greenfinch turned up on the peanut feeder, to be succeeded by the 'not quite right' one which fed off the decking for a few minutes with me thinking it was a chaffinch, then visiting the feeder and revealing the same plumage features I photographed last time. I haven't seen it since.

Nuthatch

A very frequent visitor to the feeders has been this male nuthatch, which has to my pleasure also started visiting the bird table and fighting off the coal tits and others.  I wondered if he would also scare off the rather aggressive robin who clearly regards the bird table as his personal possession.  On the one occasion they did meet up, the robin won somewhat against my perception that in such confrontations, the larger bird will prevail.  Maybe in this situation the redder bird prevailed but I look forward to seeing if the same result occurs the next time.

Shortly after a session watching the nuthatch and more coal tit aerial acrobatics, I was amazed to see a grey wagtail land on the bird table.  It didn't stay long but I couldn't help wondering what it was after as they don't eat seeds.  Maybe it got a whiff of the rather smelly soldier beetle larvae I've been adding to the birdfeed lately.  One awaits developments.  There was another grey wagtail around near Swalwell today so perhaps they get a bit more adventurous in winter.

The next minor shock came when I went to close the bathroom window yesterday and a queen wasp crawled in.  Apparently they can live for a year, but a wasp active in December??  I should probably have taken a photo but decided to usher it out as soon as possible as I don't want a wasp's nest in the bathroom for Christmas.

I did do an ettempted twitch on Friday as a whimbrel had been reported in the Cambois area and I've never seen one.  On returning home with so to speak empty binoculars I had to recognise that I'd been looking in the wrong area in spite of having seen a fairly clear map!  The whimbrel hasn't been reported

Young Deer

since so probably had moved on anyway.

What was slightly strange about that trip was that on driving out of Greenside several deer ran across the road in front of and behind. I was lucky not to hit one.  Then at Cambois the only thing I did see (apart from one hovering kestrel) was a young deer happliy grazing away on what was blatantly a brownfield site.

Today I have enjoyed watching a squad of half a dozen long-tailed tits invade the garden.  Nothing strange about that though...

Monday 7th December

Having caught sight of a jay showing well on the edge of Chopwell Woods as I returned from the doctor's,  I decided to take a walk there last week.  This was also to test my theory that you see far less in the way of birdlife there than you would expect from what is an apparently attractive area.

The theory was pretty much proven.  I wandered around for an hour or two, trying to keep off the main tracks as much as possible.  Birdsong was notably absent as I went.  Eventually I caught sight of a nuthatch on a conifer and got one distant sighting of a jay in a tree.  There were a few tits singing in the trees on the way out but that was it.  Overall I think you're more likely to see deer there than a notable bird, but can't really say why.

I'd have seen more if I'd stayed in the garden, which is where I saw this female greenfinch a few days ago.  Getting the rear view first, I thought it might be a siskin, which would have been a garden first.  Something about this bird strikes me as not quite right  (too pale?) but greenfinches are certainly around although not on the feeder.

On Saturday I took advantage of some improved weather to track down the black redstart at Tynemouth.  It wasn't whwere I expected to find it. Instead there was an eider duck quite near to the shore.

Eider Duck

Eventually after fish 'n' chips I managed to locate a birdwatcher who told me where to look, just outside the pier rather than inside the harbour.  Others reported it hadn't been seen for  half an hour but when one left, it duly turned up, moving about the rocks and occasionally pursued by a jealous robin.

It was hard to get decent shots in the shade but once again "mission accomplished".  It seemed paler than the ones I have seen in Germany.

Black Redstart

Black Redstart

An additional bonus was a rock pipit patrolling the same area.

Rock Pipit

With some time available I moved on and did a walk from Seaton Sluice to St Mary's Island where there was at least a hundred lapwing at the water;s edge just afyer low tide.  I looked for golden plover among them but instead found these waders at distance. 

Waders

Thursday 26th November

The coal tits continue to raid the bird table in numbers and the robin tries in vain to chase them off.  They are very agile and quick and flight and have become a bit of a favourite.

On Wednesday I followed the twitchers again to see if I could get a decent view of the crossbills at Rising Sun Country Park  Not knowing where they were, I followed the Brown Trail and looked out for conifers,

A slight diversion to a small pond just South of the car park revealed four or five gadwall at closer range than the ones I saw at Holywell but shortly after I met a couple of birdwatchers who said they had found the twitchers but the crossbills had disappeared.  I thought they meant permanently.

Gadwall

However I continued with Plan A, figuring that there seemed to be a good deal of conifers around so that the crossbills may just have been displaced to a slightly different area of the park.

So I walked on not seeing anything of note apart from a couple of suspected fieldfare/redwing until near the end of the path I encountered the twitchers who told me that the crossbills had been there until about three hours ago when a sparrowhawk flushed them and they hadn't been back since.

I decided to come back another day and was heading dor the car park when I saw a chap with binoculars peering into some deciduous trees at the edge of a farm field.  Sure enough it was the crossbills warily edging along the woodland border.  

Crossbill

It was a typical lucky encounter - the right bird on the wrong kind of tree in the wrong location.  Having a last minute success when I had effectively given up looking is however something that has happened to me quite a number of times now.

Yesterday we did another joint bike ride in the Mitford area.  I was just relating the story of having spotted a heron at the top of a tree and failing to photograph it when we saw a heron at the top of a tree in exactly the same place.  Once again it made off when the camera came out.  

Averaging 10.3 mph we didn't notice much more until a lot of honking near Dinnington revealed the presence of a large number of geese in a field.  I took a couple of photos to check for pink-footed geese but it seems they were all greylags.

Friday 20th November

An interesting few days have elapsed recently.

On Tuesday a friend and I agreed to make the best of limited time by combining a coastal bike ride with a checkup on some birdwatching spots.  The first spot was Seaton Sluice where astonishingly a swift has been sighted.  I arrived with the news that it had supposedly moved on to St Mary's Island and that I hadn't seen anything noticeable while checking the proposed locations en route.

We decided therefore to give Seaton Sluice a miss and head straight for St Mary's, where we didn't see much of note on looking into the nature reserve apart from a few teal and possibly a couple of tufted ducks - albeit more than I saw on the way up.

We rode slowly along the causeway as I was hoping to possibly see some snow buntings but no sign.  There didn't look to be much on the rocks either but when we dismounted to cross over to the island, what should fly straight over our heads but the aforementioned swift!  Heaven knows what it is doing here when it should have flown to Africa two months ago.

Preparing to feed seal pup

As soon as we started to move, some walkers pointed out that the Seal Rescue Service van was trying to get past us and we arrived at the lighthouse in time to see the seal being fed so it could be released back into the sea.  This didn''t look too pleasant as it involved one guy sitting on it while it was effectively force fed by the other.

Meanwhile the story amongst the spectators was that someone had reported it as having been abandoned and injured although the Rescue Service had found nothing wrong with it.

Eventually it was able to flap over the rocks into the water, where we think its mother may have been waiting for it Difficult to say though as seals were popping their heads out all over the place.

After this unexpected excitement we cycled on to Tynemouth but got there too late to see the black redstart that regularly visits as the tide had come in and covered the pierside rocks.  However two out of three ain't bad...

On Thursday I decided on and out an out twitch and made my way again to Morpeth, where, contrary to my last post, hawfinches have been turning up again.

At the time this seemed a frustrating experience.  The birds were definitely there and I could see them moving about with the naked eye but it was obvious that the other twitchers there were much better at picking them out and were getting close-ups in their big telescopes and photographing them.

I ended up taking photos on the off chance, so it was quite fortuitous when I managed to get four of them in the same shot.

Spot the Hawfinches!

They are of course pretty elusive and my attempts to get shots of individual birds fared little better.  As darkness moved in and people started to pack up the large telescopes, I got a clear sighting of one bird in a separate tree but the light was by now too tricky to show up much detail.

Elusive Hawfinch

Hawfinch at dusk

Overall though a much better session than my earlier visit to Sizergh Castle. 

Things have been happening in the garden too.  The coal tits have been visiting the bird table in numbers again, much to the anooyance of the resident robin.

And today there was a visit from a bullfinch to the neighbours' garden in search of berries - the first since early this year.

Bullfinch

Sunday 15th November

 A variety of bits and bobs have caught my attention over the past week or so.

A bike trip to Stamfordham didn't reveal much except for a few long-tailed tits and a fleeting sighting of a reed bunting.

A considerable surprise this week was to see a couple of pigeons getting fruity with each other in the birches behind the garden.  Surely they didn't think Spring had already arrived?  It's been pretty mild.

I often wonder where all the food on the bird table goes to.  Usually it disappears when as soon as I turn my back and I tend to blame the jackdaws.  The other day I got a pleasant surprise when I witnessed  eight or ten coal tits visiting in quick succession and departing each time with a few seeds.  At one point there was half a dozen strung out between the clothes on the washing line.  Usually it's just the odd one or two.  Maybe I'm too hasty in blaming the jackdaws.

Last weekend I was in Dumfries and went with the family to RSPB Mersehead.  The weather was questionable and sightings limited as a result.  My son wanted to see the barnacle geese, which was as ever not a problem to arrange.

Barnacle Geese

From Bruaich Hide we could see a few teal and wigeon and one of the former was preening itself to reveal the green underwing patch.  Unfortunately we had to wear masks which steamed up my glasses and when the young ones went outside for a clearer view, everything took flight.

We moved on to Meida Hide where there was just a few greylags but in time for the starling murmuration, which was pretty impressive and lasted for a good half hour.

Murmuration

I knew there was a murmuration at Mersehead but I thought it was considerably smaller.  Comparing it to the one at Gretna/Rockcliffe, I noticed that the birds flew in a broader formation.  It was almost as if they were hoovering up smaller groups of starlings.  At Gretna, the formation was higher and did not cover such a wide area.

On the Monday I checked out St Michael's Churchyard for waxwings.  As suspected, there weren't any yet though the yewberries have started to ripen and blackbirds were eating them.  I was interested to see an unexpected nuthatch climbing up one of the walls, and later a song thrush.

On Thursday I took a bike ride from Kirkley to Abbey Mill near Morpeth, where hawfinches had been sighted several days in succession.  I was very conscious of the sod's law of binoculars, which postulates that if you don't take binoculars, you will see something of interest in the distance.  Sure enough approaching Saltwick, I reckoned I could see some visiting throstles feeding in the fields at about 300m range.  Depending only on my camera, I took a few shots to see if I could identify them later - only to then find I'd picked out a group of starlings!  From what I could make out from views in flight, I reckoned that the winter visitors were pretty much entirely fieldfares.  Probably most redwings are still feasting on berries.

As to the hawfinches, my main aim was to establish precisely where they had been seen.  After a bit of a wander I managed to find the twitchers who were looking for them. They reported that there had been no sightings so far.  My immediate instinct was that the hawfinches had moved on and, sure enough, no further sightings have resulted.  I hope it wasn't my high-vis cycling jacket that scared them... or maybe it was the high-vis leggings of the lady joggers who also passed through.

On Friday I did a walk at East Cramlington Nature Reserve with a friend in the hope of finding some crossbills.  In the event  it turned out to be more of a survival exercise as we ended up on a muddy track next to a drain.  Afterwards we took a look at the well-stocked bird feeders nearing dusk, when I was surprised to see an unexpected bird coyly visiting the feeders.  At first I thought it was a linnet but expert advice suggests it is a female reed bunting.

Reed Bunting

I've never seen either species on a feeder before.

Thursday 4th November

 Having heard that there were crossbills and siskins in some numbers at East Cramlington Pond, I set off there a week ago.

The search was somewhat complicated by the fact there seems to be two locations answering to that name.  The one I found first was the Nirthumberland Wildlife Trust Reserve, which was pretty quiet but there were some honey bees around the artificial hives and some redwing in the trees on the western side, which was in sun.

I'd noticed there was an area of conifers to the North and headed towards them, thinking that they were more likely to attract crossbills and siskins.  Here there was another larger and less overgrown pond and a quite extensive area calling itself East Cramlington Nature Reserve.  I scouted around a good deal without seeing or hearing virtually anything but eventually did hear birds moving around the edge of one area.  Most of these proved to be long-tailed and other tits but I did briefly pick out one siskin among them.  No crossbills though.

With some time available, I moved on to Holywell Pond, where a spoonbill was reported about ten days earlier.  I missed the main path down to the pond after trouble parking and ended up approaching from the waggonway.

I found the area I took to be Holywell Pond, a wide area of shallow water set in ploughed farmland.  There were a few ducks at distance, which look to have been gadwall and in retrospect were a pleasing spot.

Gadwall

On setting off again, I could catch sight of another expanse of water which proved to be the real Holywell Pond, though in fact it produced less interesting sightings - just a few swans and gulls and some tufted ducks.

Yesterday, the spectacular sightings of a fortnight ago no longer much in evidence, I decided to take a coastal walk north from Newbiggin, watching out for any twite.

A very white gull with red legs landed briefly in front of me but eluded the camera and I had to puzzle
out what it might be afterwards.  The most likely explanation seems to be black-headed gull - without the black head of course.

Eider Duck

Down on the foreshore I got a good view of a rock pipit but on the whole there wasn't much about in the morning beyond gulls, cormorants and a good head of pied wagtails.

There were some smaller birds about but annoyingly they all seem to fly straight over me and into the sun, carried away quickly by a moderate breeze.  The only ones that landed took fright too quickly to be identified.

Further along I did see an eider duck diving repeatedly.

It was amazing to reflect that a hoopoe briefly turned up in the Lynemouth area, having first made land at Newbiggin.  I had no expectation that it would still be there, especially if it was as unimpressed by the scenery around the old aluminium smelter as I was.  Curiously though, there were a few stonechats in the bushes around th outflow from the mine contamination processing plan, which was about the same colour as them - rust red.

Things were a bit more lively as there were a good number of waders active as the tide moved in.  There were a few redshanks and some turnstone amongst others, and a lot more brown birds which were very quick to take flight when I approached.

On reflection, I suspect though that they were all rock pipits.

Rock Pipit

Saturday 24th October

Lambley Viaduct

The period over the last fortnight has been pretty flat. A couple of low flying kites near the house served to emphasize that poorer weather is on the way. In the garden the only item of note was the appearance of a male woodpecker, rather than the female and juvenile that were visiting in summer.

A promising walk around Featherstone and Lambley Viaduct only produced a heron and a chaffinch or two plus some large funghi and the most impressive sight was probably the viaduct itself.

Similarly little happened on two exercise bike rides to Belsay and on the Tyne Derwent Circular.  Well they do say October can be a quiet time for birds that can readily find lots of berries to eat.

Not so however on the Northumberland coast where various rarities have turned up as documented at @NTBirdClub particularly on Holy Island and I finally managed a trip up there on Thursday despite an unpromising weather forecast.

Lapwing

After a much-needed visit to the facilities, I spotted a promising path heading North just after eleven.  Rain duly arrived so I turned back as planned and had lunch in one of the village hostelries.

Nosing around the village I happened on a couple of twitchers who told me where to find the brown shrike - further along the path I had been on before, so I duly retraced my steps into the marshland areas.

Here there were a few lapwing, the odd curlew and a single kestrel resting on a fencepost, but I also found another lone twitcher, who told me the shrike and just flown off somewhere.  So I continued on the path until just before the dunes, checking every likely spot.

On turning back some frantic waving from the twitcher showed that it had reappeared and about half a dozen of us got a view of it on the other end of a wall from an unconcerned stonechat.

A considerable distance was involved and I certainly couldn't have identified it without assistance, though it did have a fairly characteristic 'jizz'.

Stonechat

Brown Shrike

It's over a hundred miles to Holy Island and back, but considering the shrike had come from Siberia, well worth the trip for only the third occasion I have seen any sort of shrike, let alone a rare one.

There were no further sensations after this but it was nice to see some early redwings and fieldfares on the way back.  

Fieldfare

I checked out some noted hotspots around the village without success.  A particular one is the Vicar's Garden, so much so that there is a birders' box for contributions to church funds on the outside wall. 

I didn't see anything worth noting there either so did not contribute, though I did get a nice view of the Vicar's Cockerel.

Vicar's Cockerel

None of the other birders I spoke to had more to report either. On consideration it may be that some migrant birds were pushed onto the coast by several days of east wind, which have now ceased and so they have mostly departed.  Shrikes however, having established a territory will tend to stay for a while.

Sunday 11th October

The last butterfly I saw was on 6th October, a probable red admiral at Chollerford on the way to a small group walk at Miltonrigg Woods near Brampton.  It was an impressive piece of ancient woodland and a pleasant walk, although not much wildlife was spotted.  I did see a few long-tailed tits, a buzzard and a thrush.  Otherwise there were quite a few funghi around.

Tree Fungus

There were of course examples of non-wildlife around and we met these welcoming sheep, though fortunately not the bull that was supposed to be in a neighbouring field.

Sheep

I was back in the same area yesterday for a walk with son and fiancée around the Geltsdale RSPB reserve.  Ironically we'd had a recent discussion about not seeing many kestrels but I've never seen as many as we saw yesterday - scores of them, often three or four in the air at the same time.

There were a few buzzards too.  While we were watching a faster bird passed over with pointed wings and we concluded it was a peregrine.

Unfortunately there was a much sadder sighting - a wee barn owl chick that had fallen from the nest and seems certain to die.  Ages since I saw one.

Barn Owl

Others we saw were tufted duck, barnacle goose, goldfinch and siskin (probable).

There were several things we hoped to see and didn't, confirming that there are good reasons to go back there,  It's far more strikingly pictoresque than I had remembered...

Friday 2nd October

I seem to remember writing some time ago how I was struggling to get my buddleias in Dumfries to continue flowering into September.  Well, with a bit more knowledge and frequent deadheading,  the smallest of my three buddleia has made into October.  Whether there's enough on it to attract any butterflies remain to be seen.

By not putting birdfood out for a time, I seem to have avoided the attention of the local rats and its reappearance earned a couple of lengthy visits from a nuthatch.

Nuthatch

Mole activity has also been reduced but the cheeky squirrel has been fussing around the lawn a lot and apparently trying to dig holes.  At first I thought he was trying to dig up nuts but in autumn it's more likely he's looking for suitable places to hide them.

Squirrel

Yesterday I took a trip to Hauxley Nature Reserve, where a yellow-browed warbler was recently reported.  It obviously hasn't stayed and there wasn't much around at all apart from a selction of known waterfowl, geese and curlew.  There didn't even seem to be anything to interest this kestrel:

Kestrel

I did happen to find another very large flock of goldfinches and wondered if they were the same ones I saw on my bike ride a few weeks ago.  One pleasant surprise was this lone flower which is still under investigation and may be some sort of cranesbill.

Sunday 20th September

 The last  few days of summer, at least a bit better than the end of August...

10 days ago I decided to continue my explorations of Cycle Route 1 up as far as Warkworth.   There was an immediate reward just past the old aluminium smelter at Lynemouth when I stopped to watch a group of buzzards and was distracted by the appearance of a couple of butterflies in a nondescript bit of wasteland.  One proved to be a small copper and the other a rather faded common blue, one of two, my only sighting this summer.

Small Copper

Common Blue

Continuing on into the nature reserves, there were a good number of stonechats around the dunes.  I thought at first there were a few whinchats among them too but on checking I think it was just that there was a large proportion of female stonechats and perhaps a few juveniles.

Female Stonechat

On the way back from what was a very pleasant run on a pleasant day, I happened upon this massive flock of goldfinches, as large as I've ever seen.

Goldfinches

There were a few meadow pipts around too.

On Friday I tried a fishing trip to Big Waters, mainly feeder tactics with sweetcorn.  It didn't work for most of the day until I caught two good roach in succession, probably straddling the 1lb mark.  In the meanwhile, I'd noticed some fish playing in the shallows and managed to pick up a couple of nice wee rudd on worm beneath a light float, plus a roach.

The better fish came when the sun was in.  When it came back out bites became niggly and I only got one more roach.  I fished on til dusk in hope, by which time I had lost all ability to cast straight and it was too dark to get a decent photo.

My attempts to preserve the buddleia for longer this year have worked a bit.  Two out of three plants still have some blooms so that small tortoiseshells have continued to visit.

Small Tortoiseshell

Speckled wood and red admiral have passed through as well but small tortoiseshell and small white are now the main visitors.

Wednesday 9th September

I was nearly fooled into misidentifying a dunnock as some sort of warbler this week.  In fairly bright light there was very little sign of brown making it look almost totally pale and it's habit of sitting in the hedge looking nervously around didn't seem a particularly dunnock-like behaviour.

Nervy Dunnock

However the camera showed clearly that it was definitely a dunnock.

I don't know if the birds and butterflies were out partying on Saturday night but there was little sign of them on Sunday when we walked from Corbridge up past Aydon Castle.  Then on the way back around 2.00 pm on a cool, dull day they started to reappear.  I was pleased to spot a jay and a woodpecker at considerable assistance in my new binoculars.  A few whites showed up and even a red admiral of which I got a poor shot but it was large and looked and in pristine condition, like the others I've seen this year, albeit few enough of them.

Red Admiral

Reaching the river again at Corbridge there were grey wagtails, a couple of male goosanders and a little egret.

Also noted were a couple of dung beetles, several fungi including this massive one and an example of robin's pincushion on a dog rose.

Fungus

Robin's Pincushion

The buddleia has struggled on and still attracts the odd small tortoiseshell or peacock.  One or two small blooms are still developing but I'm not optimistic they'll reach any size.

Friday 4th September

Some of the Naturewatch group did an informal walk around Bolam Lake last Wednesday.  Perhaps relieved to be out again, there was more chatting than spotting.  Apart from tits, we did see a treecreeper and heard a buzzard but that was about all and the main feature was perhaps the scenery in the early autumn sunlight.

Bolam Lake

It was surprising that, apart from a number of mute swans there was nothing on the lake at all in the way of ducks or waders.

A ramble around Chopwell Woods with Malcolm on Sunday wasn't very revealing either.  We did see five speckled wood butterflies and a (probable) common hawker but his dog found a corpse at one point and smelled of maggots all the way to the local pub.  I thought I saw a slightly different carder bee but the camera proved otherwise.

Since I have reflected how frequently you think you have seen something possibly unusual and get the camera out in evidence, only for the target to disappear before you can capture it.

On a bike ride to Belsay during a windless day I was a bit surprised to see a couple of buzzards.  The one on the way back seemed to have red on its tail.  It settled nicely in a tree within camera range and I was wondering if it might just be a red kite, which would have been interesting so far north.  All I can say is that it behaved much more like a buzzard in making its departure.  

The only other thing of note was a grey squirrel scrambling across the road between two farm fields.  A little bizarre.

Similarly in the garden a very slight and slender white butterfly with few dark markings rested on the plum tree and I started to wonder against all the odds about a wood white.  However it flew off strongly, unphotographed, and was almost certainly just a small white.

Unfortunately, the buddleia is now almost devoid of blossom and it remains to be seen whether it can produce any more sizeable blooms.  So this may be the last small tortoiseshell to visit me this year.

Small Tortoiseshell

A booted warbler, a species of which I had never heard was reported at Whitburn Country Park a few days ago, so I decided to take a brief trip out there, well aware that it would probably have departed.

It had.  However as soon as I entered the park, I did see a wheatear, which obligingly posed on the sign at the entrance.

Wheatear

This is apparently a pretty typical appearance for an autumn female.  As an advert it was though totally misleading, as it was the only bird of I managed to see in the park apart for a couple of pigeons.  Still, it was the only one this year.

Tuesday 25th August

Not so much going on this week...

I did get out fishing last Wednesday to Wydon Water, an attractive venue at Hexham that took me a while to find.

Apparently it has been fishing well but on the day in question was distinctly 'off'.  Two anglers in the end swims did OK in an easterly breeze but everyone else was scratching around.  Slightly further along, my swim basically livened up for an hour around lunchtime when I caught five small roach and a small male tench on more or less in succession but that was about it for the day.  I gambled for more tench in the margins on sweetcorn but didn't get a touch and could see the bait lying untouched when I packed up in drizzle a bit after 5.00 p.m.  The roach were on double maggot and the tench on maggot and caster.  It seemed to me the roach were taking from midwater but nothing happened when I reduced the depth from 6.5' to 4'.

Tench

My initial impression is that Wydon is a small fish water.  Everyone seems to measure success in terms of weight and even the tench I got was nowhere near 1lb.  Still it was the first I've had since the two seven pounders I got at Kelhead Quarry, predating this blog.  And as far as I gathered there were only two caught on the day, so still worthy of minor celebration.  Quite pretty too.

A bike ride followed on Wednesday, when I rested at Ebchester watching several swallows hunting in the fields below.  It struck me how few I've seen this year.  Also it sort of had the feeling they were getting ready to migrate.  I didn't notice much more as I was feeling slightly unwell and headed for home a bit earlier than planned.  Still there were a few peacocks, small tortoiseshells and small whites around.

Small tortoiseshells were in the garden this week too but I haven't seen peacocks for a few days.  Large whites have been around a fair bit, mainly males.  In fact it struck me that I wasn't sure if I was misidentifying the females.  I noticed one in particular and saw it was a bit different to the small whites.  A little research showed it was indeed a female.

Female Large White

One rare gardening side note is that I seem to have rescued  the rhodedendron I was given two years ago.  It was struggling when planted out and getting heavily bitten.  The solution has been to repot it in compost dowsed in vinegar to remove the alkaline content.

I'm afraid though that I'm going to have to give up feeding the birds for a while.  The titbits they leave behind are attracting rats too frequently and I think they must be breeding nearby.