Last weekend during the storms I was convinced I'd seen a white butterfly flattering past my front hedge. The temperature was 11C but there is no evidence to suggest any whites appear in January so I guess it must have been a leaf. There have been no surprises on the feeders apart from a female nuthatch turning up on the suet nuggets. Nuthatches have not been seen here for a while.
One thing that did "turn up" was an explanation for the burrowings in my plant pots and for the fact I occasionally find an acorn or an oak sapling in them.
Grey Squirrel
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I was expecting a lot of stonechats at least but all we actually got was a heron just south of Druridge, a couple of passing goldeneye as East Chevington Pond and some usual wader suspects as the tide went down on the way back.
However I was pleased to manage as much as nine miles with the aid of my long-neglected walking sticks and very much enjoyed the concluding ice cream at Amble!
A recent bike ride only produced some audible skylarks and a fleeting bullfinch.
Sometimes the answer lies nearer home and a quickish visit to Killingworth Lake to check out the ducks yesterday proved more successful. The main interest was reports of scaup and I did manage to see a few although it was hard to distinguish between the juveniles and the many young tufted ducks. It was also nice to see some pochard again and get a close-up of a male goldeneye.
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At Killingworth the gulls, ducks, geese and swans are often found close to the bank at the West end because of the number of people who feed them. Whether this is a good idea is another thing.
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