Wednesday 9th September

I was nearly fooled into misidentifying a dunnock as some sort of warbler this week.  In fairly bright light there was very little sign of brown making it look almost totally pale and it's habit of sitting in the hedge looking nervously around didn't seem a particularly dunnock-like behaviour.

Nervy Dunnock

However the camera showed clearly that it was definitely a dunnock.

I don't know if the birds and butterflies were out partying on Saturday night but there was little sign of them on Sunday when we walked from Corbridge up past Aydon Castle.  Then on the way back around 2.00 pm on a cool, dull day they started to reappear.  I was pleased to spot a jay and a woodpecker at considerable assistance in my new binoculars.  A few whites showed up and even a red admiral of which I got a poor shot but it was large and looked and in pristine condition, like the others I've seen this year, albeit few enough of them.

Red Admiral

Reaching the river again at Corbridge there were grey wagtails, a couple of male goosanders and a little egret.

Also noted were a couple of dung beetles, several fungi including this massive one and an example of robin's pincushion on a dog rose.

Fungus

Robin's Pincushion

The buddleia has struggled on and still attracts the odd small tortoiseshell or peacock.  One or two small blooms are still developing but I'm not optimistic they'll reach any size.

Sunday 28th December

I have often said that Boxing Day and New Year's Day are good opportunities to get out and about.
So on Wednesday it was good to revisit Carsington Water in Derbyshure while staying over briefly with my daughter and her fiance.

Lapwings and others

Apart from gulls it looked quiet at first with a lot of walkers about but tufted duck, coot and great crested grebe were also soon apparent.  When we got round to the main viewing point, there were a good head of lapwing on the edge of the lake, which was considerably lower than normal for the time of the year following the summer drought.  There were also a number of tree sparrows on the feeders next to the large observation hut.

As the sun started to fade we made our way back to a key feeder, spotting a little grebe on the way.  On the way out there had been nothing but a few great tits, so we were pleased to see a couple of marsh tits and Joe managed to get a good shot of one of them in a nearby tree.

Marsh tit

Later we had the obligatory marsh tit versus willow tit discussion but we reckoned the evidence over several photos was conclusive.

Joe was also responsible for spotting an example of the Robin's Pincushion gall on a piece of dog rose.  Apparently it is caused by the larvae of the gall wasp. Probably not a lot of people know about this so you may wish to consult the relevant wikipedia article for more detail.

Robin's Pincushion

After the event Joe also mentioned that he thought he might have seen a merlin one evening.  Strangely, I'm pretty sure I saw one today one my way back from the supermarket.  It flew across the road by the old Hookergate School at some speed but right in front of my windscreen so I got a pretty good view of it.