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.
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