Stewchat...

Above - Lesser Butterfly Orchid and its habitat, the plants surrounded by Dyer's Greenweed ( the bright yellow flower).



Above - Common Twayblade, another orchid in the same area.



Small Heath Butterfly, slightly blurred...



Another distant Spoonbill shot.

Today was very warm and mostly suuny with odd cloudy spells. I spent the morning Orchid hunting in the dunes at East Chevington and generally chewing the cud with the lads down there. A good way to spend the morning when the birding is quiet.

Apart from when the Spoonbill flew in from the south there was very little of note on the pools. A Grey Partridge gave a great show when it 'nutted' a magpie that decided to look for its chicks. Needless to say Magpie made its excuses and left. .

As for the flowers, a dozen Lesser Butterfly Orchids were still in flower, loads of Common Twayblades nearby but no sign of the Bee Orchids seen by Nigel last week? I'll try a more reliable site next week. One or two Dune Helleborines were budding and will be open in a week or so depending on the weather. Around the dunes were 2+ Small Heaths and the odd Common Blue butterfly.

This afternoon we checked the pastures near Alnwick Castle for Banded Demoiselle ( Damselfly) without luck. They were reported here last July, reliably, so I'll keep checking. Later on Jane, Bunty and I had a pleasant wander around the Seaton Point at Boulmer. There was no sign of yesterday's Bar tailed Godwit, or anything for that matter. Home via the Coach Inn at Lesbury where a Leveret dodged along the road and a pair of Oystercatchers had a fleged chick in the compound at the Boulmer RAF Radar Site. It should be safe enough in there, I mean, how many oykers have an armed guard and an ICBM listening device watching over them...