Far Pastures

 A few days ago, I had a drive down to Far Pastures. Quite a few Teal were on the pond but I did not see any Mallard which is unusual for Far Pastures. Along the lane were the usual suspects darting in and out of the bushes. It was a canny couple of hours.

The Water Rail was always too far away for any decent shots.

Two Water Rail. I could them long before I saw them and in fact there were more than two calling.

The Snipe were, again, too far away for decent shots.

Along the lane a Jay did a fly pass carrying an acorn.

Another Jay was sitting on a fence its feathers ruffled by a…

…Pheasant sitting above it.

The Pheasant jumped off the fence when the Jay flew off.

Also along the lane were this Dunnock

And this Bullfinch.

Three Red Kites were flying above the field.

Including H5 a male fledged at Sunniside Gateshead in 2014.

I didn’t expect…

 …to find this female Stonechat on my local walk the other day. My wife and I have been doing this walk regularly since first lockdown last year and I have never seen a Stonechat.  There was no sign of a male so presumably it is a young bird just passing through although I hope it hangs around.

Unfortunately, I have still…

 

…not seen any Black Darter dragonflies at Twizell Woods. I was there on the 29^th and they were seen a couple of days before that however, as I say, no luck for me. There were still loads of Common Darter and a couple of Common and Southern Hawkers so some good photo opportunities were still to be had but unfortunately, I don’t think there will be many more.

Common Hawker

It looks as though it is turning its head to get a better look at me.

Southern Hawker

Female Southern Hawker egg laying.

Common Darter in tandem.

Three Common Darter two males and a female. I don’t think I have seen this before.

Common Darter mating on the wing.

Common Darter mating on a tree.

It may look like this is the same pair however it is another pair which landed in virtually the same spot as the previous ones.

Common Green Shieldbug. I haven’t seen many Shieldbug this year.

Comma butterfly.

There were quite a few of these flies and wasps on this tree presumably taking the sap.

Oak spangle gall (I think).

Oak apple gall.

Out and About

I have been for a couple of short walks recently the first around Burdon Moor, somewhere I haven’t been for a while, the other was just around the fields near our village. Nothing spectacular however this is just some of the wildlife I saw.

I found this Small Copper butterfly on my first loop around Burdon Moor.

On my second loop around ¾ hour later I found the same Small Copper but this time it was chasing a Comma Butterfly around. It would not let the Comma settle and when it landed on the path in front of me, I would swear that the Small Copper was trying to mate with the Comma. The Comma got sick of the attention and flew off leaving the Small Copper frustrated.

On the same loop I came across this female Common Darter.

On what was the old waggon way I found this Common Hawker.

The day after on another walk I found another Common Hawker hanging from a bale of hay.

And another Small Copper butterfly.

Nettle Taps were around in good numbers.

Here is a mating pair.

Also out in good numbers were Speckled Wood butterflies.

This one is feeding on Blackberries.

A Silver Y moth was feeding on clover.

This Kestrel was hovering over a newly cut field.

It landed close by on one of the bales.

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly.

Spider with its lunch.

Robins Pincushion.