St Mary's Wildflowers

A very pleasant couple of hours at St Mary's Island this afternoon still a few Goldcrests  in the top end  and two wWillow/Chiffs  in the Willows with a Great Spotted Woodpecker , Stonechat , with a couple of Skeins of Pinkfeet heading South , but is was the Butterflies that where in dominance , I loosely counted 42 Speckled Wood , 10 Red Admiral , 6 Small Torts  2 Painted Ladies , and over 100+ Silver Y modtly on the flowers planted along the roadside not counting the hundreds of Bees and other insects . No sign of any Hawkers but plenty of Common Darter scattered all over 

Common Darters 

 When this sign was put up I doubt there was any Speckled Wood in the County

Silver Y

 Liked the sun on this one

 It was good enough to sit for several portraits

 60+ Pinkfeet head south in the clear sky

 Speckled Wood

 Golden Plover settle on the rocks as the tide recedes, with the Wildflowers in the foreground

Red Backed Shrike

I could not access the photos of the Red Backed Shrike that was along Blyth links the end of last month , I got the header done but not the photos for the post ,so here they are rather late but I took them so may as well use them.
Another run on the bike along what is becoming a monotonous route, through the churchyard along to the park and then along the links road checking the small pool ,although it's had nothing on for weeks now ,passing the Astley Pub I glanced  sideways while cycling along  a bird sitting near the top of a small bush  House Sparrow I thought as there is always lots in these bushes but that's a long tail, so I stopped and looked through the bins , Red Backed Shrike not far from the busy and noisy roadside . I had tried for this bird a few times as did others but with no luck , thinking it had gone off  along the hedgeline of the fields opposite , so I got a few photos till it flew North  I put the word out and headed to St Mary's , but on the way back much later it was back in the same spot catching Bees so I got a few more shots captured Bee included . Nice bird and glad to catch up with it.


Not seen many Commas this year this one in Blyth park

 And the now, dare I say Common Speckled Wood what a rapid expansion of this species in recent years

 Common Darter .here I'm trying to be arty but it looks as if the wings are folded back

 Luckily the light was good

I tried the zoom on this one but its a bit soft 

Big Waters

A visit to Big Waters to see if I could catch up with the Water Rails which had been showing well in front of the hide I did see a Juvenile but it was way off  to the side as the water levels had risen . Southern Hawker at the small dipping pool ,and several Wall Browns on the wing also a Small Copper the first for the year two Buzzards over the A1 section and several Speckled Woods on the wing .

 Southern Hawker

 Small Copper on Tansy

 Wall Brown a very active Butterfly always on the move

 Numerous Common Darters but away from the pools

 Two Buzzards soaring over the A1

Numerous Speckled Woods  at least they like sitting in sunny spots ,now I just give them a passing glance how fickle we are !!!

Another look for Dragonflies

Another one of those days looking for Dragonflies no sign of Emperor's ,4 Spots , or Black Tailed Skimmers which are now replaced with Southern Hawkers and Migrant Hawkers  in the recent couple of weeks I have only seen Migrant hawkers on the wing but today one settled on a tree and 5-6 Southern Hawker which is the more commoner at first and the one encountered at most small ponds they will come right up to you to investigate . A few more Common Darters around but still not in a large numbers and  on this day no Black Darters yet

 Southern Hawker

Common Blue Damselfly

 Migrant Hawker

Came across these eggs  I couldn't get any nearer for a better photograph anyone any idea as to what they are ?

 Speckled Wood a bit more prominent with 10-15 on the wing

 Common Darter they like to rest on the ground as well as a  perch presume they absorb the heat from the path

Another Southern Hawker

Ended the day at Seaton Sluice this Razorbill just offshore with a Juvenile

Ellington Pond

A sunny day last month so I went to some likely spots  to look for dragonflies called in at the small reserve at Ellington a boardwalk under construction lead onto a strange weed  filled pond so thick was the weed it lookled like you could walk on it  2 little grebes seem to have no problem diving down to fish  Speckled wood present and a couple of Common Darters another stop near Lynemouth again speckled wood and a few Tortoiseshell along with a single Red Admiral. A party of Long Tailed tits came through  I always try and get some shots of these hoping for that stunning shot but they are so active ,the camera  and especially my reactions are just not fast enough to react as they come into view for a split second, a couple of Chiffchaffs called to each other but still no Dragonflies despite the warmth from the sun it must be too late in the year for them to be doing anything else other than look for a mate

Boardwalk under construction not sure who manages this site

 At first I thought the pond had dried out and this was weed growing on the dried out areas but no its full of water.

 Completed boardwalk made of that plastic that looks like wood

 The platform at the end will check it out next year .That house in the distance should have some good views over the pond and a great garden list

Little Grebes feeding with ease through the thick weed 

 Long Tailed Tits through calling to each other constantly keeping in contact 

 Speckled Woods a few around

Chiffchaff

Cresswell and the Bonxie

Saturday headed up the coast stopping at any sheltered spot that mat have had any Dragonflies, at this time of year they can be found hanging from a bush or tree trying to absorb the suns energy  we found plenty of common darter a 2-3 Speckled  Woods on the wing also Red Admiral and Small Tortoiseshell  but no larger hawkers. Checked out the flash at Lynemouth single Ruff and Curlew sandpiper in with the c50 Dunlin good to see some waders on here at last, masses of Hirundines  over to hard to even estimate with mixed feeding of House martin , Swallow and Sand Martin. Passing Cresswell the car park was full of cars so we headed to the top end  which actually had nothing other than a singing Chiff  on to Druridge again nothing much of interest but at least more Butterflies in the form of Small Copper ,Painted lady and Wall Brown with again many Common Darters landing on your head ears and anywhere else they could land . Back at Cresswell I headed to the hide now nearly empty no sign of the Bonxie till it suddenly appeared on the far side looked like it had been off for a bathe it sat preening for forty mins , so I checked over the pond Long Tailed Duck perhaps male 1st winter, Great Crested Grebe  and a quick count of the Gadwall got to me to 100+ the most I have ever seen (I have since heard of much larger counts) this a species you had to go to Gosforth Park for the one reliable site of the day. Well the Bonxie seemed content to just preen moving briefly before settling down on the ground , so I decided to move on packed my gear away and was just heading out the door when all hell broke loose the Coots in a mass panic as was everything else the Bonxie was on the wing creating havoc it made a couple of half hearted attempts to drop on something before settling into the field  ...panic over  though the Coots still milled around in a tight flock not sure what to do , no leisurely feeding and loafing around today for them . 

 Curlew Sandpiper ,Lyenmouth flash best viewed in the morning else your looking into the light as here

 Plenty of Ladybirds around at some spots !

 Common Darters a plenty at Dru these on the bench

 Red Admiral

 Small Copper on Bistort

 Painted Lady first for sometime

 And the Bonxie in flight creating panic in every direction