Cycling along the Tyne for events in Newcastle, I've repeatedly noted a number of shelduck combing the mudflats in the area of Dunston Staithes, on either side of the water.
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Shelduck |
There was another pair further out.
I think I can safely say that the early broods of speckled wood are doing better than last year as they have appeared regularly when I've been out, not least in my garden. Even more regular is still the orange tip including females.
Not for the first time I've noticed that the males this year are often small.
 | Speckled Wood |
|  | Orange Tip (female) |
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I've now had green-veined white and small white in the garden too. Seeing the speckled wood often reminds how common they were in my first year here, in complete contrast to Dumfries and Galloway.
Last Friday, I reckoned red mason bees were starting to appear, got one photo and, sure enough, there was activity around the bug hotel to prove the point:
Red Mason Bee
More mysterious was the appearance of this hairy specimen with a white face. Trapping it in the bug box didn't give me any better idea. However the male red mason bee has a white face, which would suggest I haven't seen one before.
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Red Mason Bee (m) |
The obvious rival would be the European Orchard Bee, which has so far only been sighted in the South of England.
Otherwise the main visitor has been a rather fat carder bee, so perhaps a queen though very intent on nectaring.
Last Sunday I set out full of confidence to Weetslade Country Park to visit an area where I had seen several butterflies last year and saw - precisely nothing. The flowers in the target area were simply not out and although there was bird's food trefoil on the hills, it was sparse and not yet in full bloom.
So it was less confidence that I set off to revisit Path Head Nature Reserve, nominally targeting the dingy skipper but in retrospect, I think I achieved my goal.
At first it looked like another no show and I was already half way round before I saw any invertebrate at all. Then I saw a tiny green thing with wings and antennae and so I thought maybe mini mining bees.
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Mini Mining Bee and tiny green things |
I wasn't sure and wondered if those on the left were wee wasps. However a comment on facebook suggests they belong to the Oedemera species - basically flower beetles. We live and learn! The larger one on the right might be a common mini-miner but frankly identification of mini-miners is so dubious it's hardly worth the likes of me bothering.
Further round the track it livened up a bit as there were twenty plus sand martins flying around the wetland and visiting the wall constructed for them. They were whizzing around so fast that the camera couldn't cope, but I got a couple silhouetted against the wall at distance.
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Sand Martins |
A bit further along a white butterfly appeared and inconveniently settled partly obscured in a deep hollow, requiring another photographic chef d'oeuvre to identify it as a green-veined white.
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Green-veined White |
Then, chasing around unsuccessfully to catch up with the first two red-tailed bumblebees I've seen this month, I disturbed something sandy grey that flew across the path before becoming invisible.. Initially I dismissed it as probably a day-flying moth. But when I later advanced on a clump of bird's foot trefoil to investigate a ladybird, something else grey flew up from behind the clump and I twigged that I might indeed have hit on two dingy skippers.
Tracking them in flight against the reclaimed brownfield site was however impossible.
And now a homely touch... Last time I shopped for bird food I mistakenly bought sunflower seeds instead of suet pellets. But on using them in a feeder I noticed that I was getting visits from a couple of furtive bullfinches.
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Furtive Bullfinch |
I'm now wondering whether I've seen them on feeders before. Probably not.
Oh and last of all, I found this fly in the dining room the other day, again in the never-seen-one-like-that-before category. More consultation suggests that it is a footballer hoverfly and as far as I can see from what research I've done, that appears to be correct.
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Footballer Hoverfly |
What a great name! As I said, we live and learn.