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.