Road Trip

Red kite at wetherby on the journey down,was the start of a week in Norfolk. Somewhere i have never been before. The 6am start, meant day one was not just travelling and we could have a good look around, this paid dividends with views from the car of marsh harriers passing food and avocets at road side flashes.
car mascot

This was not planned as a wildlife holiday. But occasionally it got in the way ;)

We were lucky with the weather, cloudless sky and hot, but this has it's draw back as these

(female BBC egg laying)

become very active and don't sit still, unless.

(for he who shall remain name less)

You catch them like this (B.B.C. i think).

Oh, i must included a health warning, Norfolk has a large spider population, just in case your not fond of them

it preys on these!

or even these

and if it runs very quickly

(still trying!)

Obviously there is a bit of water about, so you see a lot of water birds

and if you go to pensthorpe (BBC spring watch base) and over rated (my opinion) you will see more from all over the world. Although it does have a very nice flower meadow,

the star for me the banded demoselle, ignored by most passers by

two hundred males and a few females along their riverside walk, but i also saw these at a lakeside location, where there was no river?

More wild locations where alive with caterpillars

With literally hundreds of garden tigers (above) at horsey mere and peacocks also in abundance

and a few of these, which i have not identified yet

A few other grassland beasts caught my attention.

Well it is the season for cricket!

The most common butterfly seen, was the speckled wood, to the point where i was sick of seeing them. One brief sighting of a swallow tail from the car had me abandoning the car and leaping over a fence, into, trouble, basically.

A Territorial thing!

which leads me to

Cause they will always land somewhere in it, if you work it out.

Black tailed skimmer.

The emperor below was watched for twenty minutes, without landing, he landed and i got this shot of in focus grass one second later he was chasing a female, was in a wheel and gave me ten minutes of brilliant wildlife watching but no more picture opportunities

so here is a couple of other moments

male broad bodied chaser, who's territory was a 10 foot ornamental circular pond

Four spot chaser in a field, not as lost as me.

and to finish a female black tailed skimmer, there is a story behind this pic, for another day.

If you get the chance go to Norfolk it has a lot to offer.

All of a flutter.........

Belsay

Early start as my body clock is out of sink after so many night shifts.
I left the house just after four, a bright start to the day, i had no plan as i was so tired on Saturday i kept falling a sleep.
So i had a look around my usual haunts, But i thought the young otters at Druridge would be the best start to the day.
At dru, well it was quiet, unless you include the noise the rave was making further up the beach. Actually more noise was coming from ipin (Dru pools blog) in the bushes, something to do with nets and putting them on wrong (fishnet sto.. na, but you never know).

The otters, all three were showing well but the light was not good enough for a poor picture, I left dru , checked cresswell, and was on my own patch by six.
I could not see Alan's golden eye and everything else was as usual, with lots of dog walkers.

Next stop bothal, with the only thing of interest, seven fledged wagtails. Then it was inland.

Bank's pond, looking for dragons, hoping if there was any they would be a bit on the slow side, as the day was turning into a 'good un'.
Unfortunately there were only blue tail damsels on show and the resident Canada's seem to have lost a gosling, probably to a fox as they are a good size now.

The real reason for the inland trip butterflies or one in particular, with the location given to me in a conversation with Richard Dunn ( a proper photographer). So the next stop, Sweethope lough, a beautiful area with stunning views, alas no scenery pics due to the heat haze and i wasn't there for the landscape.
Flutters on show included a mad, sexed up male orange tip, chasing anything that was remotely white and moving. He moved so swiftly up and down the strip of grass, i gave up trying to get a picture.

Another missed opportunity, came in the way of a small copper, a very smart example. With no blue scales, like the ones i see nearer home, but the camera was set for macro and i got greedy and tried for a shot like this,

and it disappeared into the distance.

A lone painted lady fed vigorously, she looked a bit worse for wear, but i caught her better side.
Also in the sedge grass,

With

and this goats beard

sick of insects

with a calling cuckoo, for added intrest.

I'm not, still don't know this one, though Pete!

With the ever present scorpion fly (female) feeding on a spider's dinner

but it fancied frog hopper

But the star of the show and a first for me. With at least six on the wing

Small pearl- bordered fritillary, above and below.

and an arty shot

Cheers for the info Richard.

Also in a field at Hartburn, on the way home my first large skipper and a host of

chimney sweeper's

I finished the day of with, the first of the garden spuds.

Can you ID this bee?

Rob from Ramblin Rob left this comment-

'I found an all-black mining bee a while back, looks not dissimilar, which was Andrena pilipes so far as I can tell - one of the features, though, is white hair on the hind leg which is obscured here by the wing..'

I have one other photo ( click on picture for better view)

It does seem to have white hair on the hind leg.

Snatching a little wild time

The lovely weather at the weekend, evaded me.

With monday a day of catching up on chores, then off to the world of vampires.

So when i woke at dinner time today, it was time to snatch some wildlife

alright semi tame.

A quick shuffty around the business park pond, produced one or two damselflies.

All blue tailed with a couple of colour forms visible, but they are fairly fresh and a might jumpy. Another week or so will see large numbers and maybe a couple of posers will be among them. Also around the pond

and

with

Then it was off to the community woodland and Stewart's pond as i call it, in the hope of a bigger dragon

(they are here to)

Large reds, blue tail and azure damsels present

and the odd colour form

No dragons yet though also on the bank side

yes they are all 'at it'

Is this the native black( hairy) honey bee?

I disturbed lots of moths including this common white wave

OOPs got to go!

ACW

out of practice

Ashington community woodland on a bank holiday, with everyone staying at home!

The result of a walk around the wood and H's first visit.

5 people, including two parties of dog walkers (8 dogs) and a lone walker with map and enough gear to last a few years in this far flung wilderness, all of 400 yds from the town centre and a Mc Donald's even closer.

Under used ,yes, under rated, no.

(Garden Tiger)
Seven types of butterfly, including speckled wood a modest range of birds and the odd mammal or two. Not forgetting the aquatic life.

(stickle back and tadpoles)

The walk down from the new police station, revealed thousands of these with only one thing on their mind.

(Chrysolina hyperici) i think- it's down to the black legs

and one or two of these

(Cercopis Vulnerata) frog hopper
But the real reason for the trip out, well it's that time of year.

Disappointingly only the one, large red damsel. Until the return journey when the sun was on my back and i could see about fifty, hunting hover flies in the pine trees above my head.

also on the return, and only the one in view

blue tailed damsel.

but more to come.

Still working silly hours (i have no choice) so posts will remain sporadic.

A quick run out- monday

On Monday i had a couple of hours to spare, before chasing vampires in the evening.

So it was off to newbigginn, to see if there was anything left to see, on the mound.

A local hot spot for rarities in the right conditions. Unfortunately for me, the heavens opened just as i got out of the car at church point . The driving rain , made me return to the car and rethink my options.

The possibility of a spoonbill and shelter made me head for Druridge.

Linnets were feeding on dandelion seeds by the entrance ( and yes it stopped raining). With a Wall brown butterfly hugging the ground at their feet.

The strange sight above, drew my attention, as it zipped by in the driving wind, a first for me.

A gull carrying a shopping bag.

Actually the gull was frantically trying to escape from its captor, while being blown across the sky out to sea. I later saw the gull trying to fly with a bag full of sea water.

Just out side the hide was this fella

With a the aptly named spoonbill.

and a supporting cast, including 14 black tailed god wits, dunlin, a redshank

Mallard and Gadwall

Local flavour- new ticks

I have not posted much about my local patch recently. But I'm still plodding around, when i get

the chance, hoping to add to a meagre list as i go.

A new patch tick for me, on Monday was a sedge warbler.

Other notable birds were the common and lesser white throats and a party of fifty one ringed plover on the sand bank in the estuary.

But it was the insect world that led the charge for ticks.

(still trying for the hover fly in flight shot)

The whole patch was alive with butterflies mostly the white forms

Which seemed to be in every view,

with sex on there mind.
like this pair.

Or these large whites high in the canopy.

But the two new ticks came from the orange tip,

both male and female on view.

And two sparring speckled woods, both small in size to the only other one i have seen.

Bored yet, try this mushroom.

Other flutters on show peacock, small tortoiseshell and the wall brown below

and a garden tiger caterpillar for good measure

I have still to post, a bird list for the patch and the flies need to be labelled on this post, but the cabbages etc, have priority at the moment. With a pumpkin and a melon as this years experiments.