Wellies and ice, don't mix- New years day

(warkworth beach from the ALN river mouth)

(Druridge bay, another very busy beach)

Can you remember when Robin Cousins won a gold medal at the winter olympics , i was a small child. But, i can. At the end of the final routine . He did a back flip on skates to win the adulation of the crowd, etc .

Well i discovered , its not that hard and i did it in wellies to a startled dog walker. Who must have wet himself , judging by the laugher i could hear.

Oh! My landing was not quite as clean as Robins .

And the day started so well with a 27 bird species in the garden. 28 if i included the Feral racing pigeon.

I must be the only one in my area feeding birds.

Blackbird,wood pig,house sparrow(including one with faint cheek patches)wren,dunnock,chaffinch,brambling,goldfinch,greenfinch,G.S.woodpecker,yellowhammer,

,reedbunting, skinheads,jackdaw,crow,commongull,B.H.gull,herring gull,bluetit,greattit,coaltit,robin,magpie,collareddove,. And a bird with no friends sparrow hawk.

Two fly overs grey heron and canada goose.

( pollution)

I decided to abandon the patch and head up the coast. Following my usual route, but extending it up to just south of Alnmouth.

Where the pollution picture came courtesy of a lady astra driver who thought her car, could go where 4x4's were thinking twice about.

But the star of the day for me.

Devils Coach Horse Beetle (Staphylinus olens)

This is druridge dunes resident, but should not be active at this time of year.

Info from-http://www.judywoods.dial.pipex.com/ A uk wildlife site easier than typing it.

Size: Grows to a length of around 28mm about 1inch

Distribution: Found throughout the UK.

Months Active seen: April to October.

Habitat: Woodlands, meadows, gardens and hedgerows.

Diet Insects, spiders, worms and woodlice. (my DCHB was following rabbit tracks! coincidence! )

Features: The devil's coach-horse is one of around 1000 species of rove beetles in Britain, so-called because they are constantly on the move. The devil's coach-horse is a fast moving beetle which is capable of flight, but prefers to spend most of its life on the ground.

The other popular name for this beetle is 'cocktail', because of its habit of raising its tail like a scorpion (as above) when it feels threatened. It cannot sting like a scorpion, but it does have another, rather bizarre defence mechanism. At the end of its abdomen are a pair of white glands which can emit a foul smell. It can also squirt a stinking brown fluid from its mouth and anus.It overwinters as a pupa in leaf litter or moss and emerges as an adult the following spring. If you disturb a Devil’s coach horse, it adopts an aggressive, scorpion-like position - it raises its rear end and opens its powerful jaws.

The devil's coach-horse is a carnivorous insect, feeding on other insects and small creatures. It has large pincer-like jaws which can crush and kill its prey.A nocturnal predator, this beetle lives in and around decaying matter. During the day it tends to rest among leaf litter or under stones. Females lay their eggs in the soil, and these hatch into carnivorous larvae.

Did not do much after that, a bit sore after my olympic routine.