Contrasts.

 Thursday was our warmest day of the year so far at 25 degrees, not bad for Northumberland. Then on Friday it had dropped by 14 degrees to 11 with a northerly wind and rain. Saturday was pretty much the same. Grim. Then yesterday was meant to be cloudy but fair so we headed to Boulmer as there would probably be not much invert activity inland. How wrong could we be? It was another warm and sunny day as if the previous two had never happened.

Boulmer was 'June quiet' except for visitors. There was a 100km challenge 'Race to the Castle' from Whitley Bay to Seahouses taking place over three days. This provided a constant trail of able and not so able participants along our route. There was one unusual thing we noted. Out of hundreds of people seen and heard in the morning, only 6 others apart from ourselves had county accents. By sound alone we could easily have been on holiday.

Birds were less noticeable - Common Scoter 20 N , Manx Shearwater 10 N, Puffin 20+N, Turnstone 30+, Dunlin,, 10+, Ringed Plover 10+ and the first 2 returning Redshank after a few blank weeks for them. On the rocks were 5 Golden Plover, 33 Curlew and 4 Bar tailed Godwit, 1 in full summer plumage flew N. 4 fw Goosanders were in the haven.

At a loose end, we milled around the car park and beach. The car park Stonechats had brood 2 on the wing. A few day trippers stopped to look at what all the 'tacking' was about as they passed the breeding site to the beach. Flowers were quite interesting too - 

Henbane, a scarce plant in the county that I have only seen once before, on Holy Island.

Dwarf Mallow, a new species for me and it too seems scarce this far north?

A nice orange form of Birds Foot Trefoil really stood out.

Hedgerow Cranesbill

Sea Rocket

More Inverts...

The weather was very pleasant this morning so we headed a little way inland between Alnwick and Rothbury to look for some insects. We started with Debdon wood to see the Small Pearl bordered Fritillaries. 12+ were on the wing and showing well. Also here were Latticed Heath and Red and Black Froghoppers in profusion. Several families of Crossbills flew over, a Jay was seen and a Cuckoo heard.

Small Pearl bordered Fritillaries

Latticed Heath

From here we decided to check some ponds in Corby Crags for odonata. The shelter of the pines meant there were a good range on the wing with 30+ Four spotted Chaser, 1 male Banded Demoiselle, 1 Hawker sp likely a Golden ringed Dragonfly but couldnt nail it. Its too early for the other hawkers found here, Large Red, Common Blue and Blue tailed Damsels. best of all was our first Northumberland male Broad bodied Chaser. A rare dragon up here but one we were hoping to find. Success!

 We also had 30+ Red necked Footman seemingly emerging on grass below the trees

Broad bodied Chaser, a male, on a new pond in the wood. 

Before I forget, yesterday Jane, Peggy and me took a trip to Holy Island for a walk. There is still always time for wildlife though and I was over the moon to bump into 4 plants of Henbane, a rare flower in the county.

Henbane

So, whilst there has not been much birding, there has been loads of interest to see and to look out for in the recent spell of fine weather. Lets hope the summer continues like this...