Butterfly in February

The next time we played tennis, the teal were still on the weir and afterwards we stopped to watch a group of long-tailed tits messing around in the trees and spotted a treecreeper - my first for some considerable while.  I was also sure I heard a bee buzzing around my head at one point but couldn't see it.

Temperatures were rising and the day after (21st February) they were up to 14C so I went for a longish bike ride inland along the Tyne after dropping my car off for a service.

There was another goosander on the Derwent just upstream from Derwenthaugh but it dived for a long time once it saw me and didn't resurface anywhere nearby.  

Then came a big surprise just behind Blaydon station when I got a clear view of a red admiral flying over the track.  I had wondered if there would be any insects but was thinking more of bees rather than overwintering butterflies.  So I notified it to Butterfly Conservation North East and got a message back saying it was the first report they've had this year.

I didn't see any bees but got momentarily excited by a drone fly on ivy while I was having a break at Wylam Bridge.  After midday it clouded over and my attention turned to food.

On a less fortunate note I have decided to stop putting the peanut feeders out in the garden for a while as a number of brown rats have been visiting lately.  A pity as I recently had a one-off visit from a chaffinch and even the dunnocks had started using them.

Variety is the Spice...

By chance I managed two trips out in two days.

Last Sunday I was at Geltsdale with my son and his fiancee.  Unfortunately there was only a light breeze but we did manage to see a few birds of prey, notably several kestrel, one of which I thought might have been a sparrow hawk and a single buzzard as well as canada geese, lapwing, curlew and a stonechat.  Snowdrops are now out and there was a nice wee bunch near the RSPB Visitor Centre.

Snowdrops

The day after I was on a Naturewatch trip to Big Waters, which produced a pleasing variety of species, without turning up any major rarities.

As well as tufted duck and a couple of great crested grebe debating whether the mating season has started, there was a good head of lapwing on the stony island.

Lapwing

There were several teal around and one showed nicely on a sail past.

Teal

Further round we also caught up with wigeon, pochard and goldeneye.

Goldeneye

Wigeon

Pochard

Around the Western hide there were no snipe or water rail this time but several finches on the feeders and a pair of reed buntings, the female of which had a brownish head that kept us guessing for a while.

Reed Bunting

On the way to tennis today, I had a little time to spare at the weir on the Derwent and noticed some more teal that were standing and sliding around in the fast water by the fish run.  They appeared to be feeding on grubs in the newly-formed streamer weed.

On the way back there was also a pair of goosander diving away.  Usually all you see there is  couple of mallard and maybe a heron.

The Many and The Few

January hasn't been a great month for me healthwise.  Having missed the beginning with a cold I lost the end with a nasty chest infection.

In the mean time I managed another trip to Prestwick Carr, which didn't produce anything spectacular but did offer some nice sightings of the regular customers at the bird feeders.

On a chilly day with little wind,  I noticed three or four times trees in the distance with a raptor perched in the crown, as if waiting for some reason to get more active.  Distance made identification difficult but I reckoned they were sparrow hawks.

Sparrow Hawk

Walking along the subsided road there were no more signs of redwing or fieldfare but around three pairs of bullfinches were scavenging in the hedgerow.

Bullfinch

It's not often that bullfinches stay close but they seemed relaxed, particularly this female.  I think you often see them in January, feeding on fresh buds.

There was quite a party going on at the feeders, where someone had added some coconut halves and filled the wee tray with seed.  So I managed to get some quite good shots of participants that weren't members of the tit family.

Tree Sparrow

Chaffinch

Reed Bunting

The one that sort of got away was willow tit, which did visit sporadically.  It was showing interest in the bits of apple I had spread close to where I was standing and I thought there was a chance of a really good close up.  But it never stayed for more than just a few seconds and after about forty minutes, I got fed up of cold fingers and moved on at a brisker pace.

On the way back to the car there were a number of roe deer in the far distance.

Still trying to figure out the lack of non-tit small bird appearances in my garden, I wondered about the theory of a near neighbour that bird flu is to blame.

In this case it would seem to suggest that it has particularly affected the following species here:  bullfinch (which normally show up in January), nuthatch, woodpecker, jay and (in nearby trees at least) greenfinch.

However my complaint about poor sightings in Chopwell Woods was contradicted on the way to the doctor's yesterday, when I heard hundreds of small birds chattering high up in the birches near Chopwell East Field.  I think they were tits, but I did observe half a dozen chaffinches towards the end of the stoney road.