Thursday 11th June

Keeping ahead of more bad weather forecast, and very dreary it has proved, I was out on a couple of trips earlier this week.

On Monday, a rather arduous bike ride from Wark to Kielder Dam and back didn't produce many sightings but I did hear a cuckoo quite close by on the South side of the river just West of Bellingham.  It's the first I've heard since returning to the North East.  On the way back I also caught sight briefly of a red squireel running across a forestry track and again I think that was the first I have seen since relocating.

On Tuesday feeling stiff I decided on a very slow walk along the road through Prestwick Carr, partly persuaded by a mention of snipe though I didn't really expect to see any.  As soon as I parked a lot of willow warblers could be heard and I again thought I saw a lesser whitethroat but again could prove nothing as it wouldn't stay still for long.  All I can say was it was behaving the right way..

Another whitethroat showed up in a hedgerow soon after but I don't think the photo is good enough to tell what kind.

Whitethroat

However the most interesting feature on a day that was virtually windless was the number of birds that elected to land on the small number of bare trees along the moss.

This resulted in sightings of linnet, meadow pipit and - sure enough - snipe in similar poses.  I'd certainly not have expected to see the latter two at the top of a tree. In fact I don't think I've seen so many birds do this on the same day.  There were a couple of other examples where photos taken at distance against the light were too indistinct to make out so the birds couldn't be identified.

Linnet

Meadow Pipit

Snipe

Further up the path, the willow warblers were a bit more visible.

Willow Warbler

Once or twice on other trips I've noticed a bumblebee that was too big to be a carder bee and spent quite a lot of effort trying to take one on the way back. Typically it was hard to get a full body shot but I think it was probably an early bumblebee.

Early Bumblebee

I've seen them before but had entirely forgotten about early bumblebees. Put it down to my late age.

Slowly getting tired as I got nearer to the the car, I still couldn't resist chasing up another suspected lesser whitethroat skulking through the hawthorns. As it was constantly moving around I tried to video it.  The pictures were pretty useless but you could hear the consistent 'tec tec' call on the soiundtrack - which I think is decisive. I'm claiming.

Not a bad overall result for a rather hastily planned trip and perhaps shows the value of taking your time!