No photos today, just one of those days with snatched sightings before and after work while out with the dog.

This morning a Lesser Whitethroat was 'rattling' away in the far hedge over the back field, while a very large Hare loped across the now sprouting crop.

On my way home from work, a high flying Short eared Owl flew west over the road from Chevington to Red Row. Back home I had a quiet, dusk, walk through the village wood. 3 young Roe Does showed well feeding nearby not seeing me or Bunty at all until I deliberately showed myself and they trotted away, barking in protest.

This mornings Hare was still wandering around the back field then it was on the village road briefly while a Pipistrelle hawked overhead.

This is the Bathing House or Doctors House or whatever its called. Just a terriers walk along the road from home. Tonight I walked Bunty around the coastal path and back by the lane. A single, silent, Whimbrel was on the rocks here briefly before flying off north. Several Sandwich Terns and Gannets were offshore with the commoner Kittiwakes and Fulmars. A House Martin was with a dozen Swallows in the village while a Stock Dove sneaked onto the garden list as it flew over the back field this morning.

This Early Thorn was at our window last night. I like the 'thorns' they are quite butterfly - like, and are not too bad to i.d! Just watch, someone will tell me this is a purple thorn...

Tonight as I walked Bunty through the village, my first Yellow Wagtail of the year was bathing in the pond. It flew off north, calling. Had I been at the house it would have gone on to the garden list as it passed right over. Should I...mmmm.

Sunday...

Another sunny clear day. I had two targets to look for when I left the house this morning, firstly Spring Squill on the cliffs at Cullernose Point, then Emperor Moth on the moors at Corbie Crags near Alnwick. I didn't see either. But, I still had a good morning from sea to moorland in 3 hours...



Starting with this nice black sedge. Maybe Nigel can identify it?






Then this male Wheatear showed very well, another north western one I think...



Some colourful rock pools. Something rarely seen on blogs...



The Thrift was just starting to flower.

Then, inland. A 15 minute drive gets me to this view...click on the pic...



A few Drinker moth caterpillars were out, but no Emperors.



An Adder had sloughed its skin in the heather...





This pair of Stonechats were nesting nearby. I had a nice male Whinchat here too but it was too quick to photograph.

All in all a grand weekend with plenty of variety...Didn't even try for the Great White Egret or Black headed Wagtail.

Saturday...

Was a nice and bright day, so I spent the morning snapping away in the garden...



This Blackbird's nest is in the ivy on our wall...



A patch of Honesty in a shady wild area...



The garden wall is south facing and looking well covered in Ivy leaved Toadflax...



A few tiny bees were creeping around, I think they may be Tawny Mining Bees?



A small patch of Bugle is growing out of the lawn...



I think this is Common Carder Bee?



A raggy Peacock with matching chunks out of each upper wing shows it was attacked with the wings closed...



A male Orange Tip was a nice one in the garden...

Further afield, a dusk sortie added these two to the day list...




Pictures are blurred due to the lack of light...

An excellent day then.

Today was dry and dull but quite mild.

After a tip off from Julie, our neighbour, I walked Bunty down to Rumbling Kern this morning to have a look for a Grasshopper Warbler. Although it was very quiet, the gropper flushed from the path and dropped into some brambles, re-emerging for a few seconds to 'reel in its fishing line'. 2 male and a female Common Scoter flew south along the breakers nearby.

On the way back, 3 Wheatears skipped along the fence posts ahead. They had a greenland look about them too. A fourth was on the stone wall in the village.




After work we wandered down the, aptly named, Long Walk past the pond. The Mute Swan was hunkered down tightly on her clutch, a pair of Tufted Duck swam around and there were still 2 Coot and 3 Moorhen. 2 Stock Doves flew from the arboretum and 4 Roe Deer were seen in different places along the track.

There are good numbers of singing Blackcaps and Willow Warblers in now. On the way home along the lane a male Sparrowhawk flew by in 'non stealth' mode...

Out with Bunty tonight and I came across this Mistle Thrush behaving furtively in the scrub. I watched for a minute and it flew to its nest nearby that had large young. I didn't go too close as they were just the right age to explode the nest before their time...



This Crossbill and its mate were at Thrunton the other week. I thought I would post the picture for Foggy as he is getting bored with brown moths...

Not much else doing today other than a pair of Grey Partridges loitering over our garden wall and a Heron on the village duckpond looking worse for wear. It was trailing 6 feet of seafishing line from its bill. Although it flew off strongly no doubt it will end up getting tangled...

I'm Back!

Hello all, after all of the recent excitement of moving house and a knackered broadband connection its good to get back to the blog and I'm looking forward to catching up with all of the blogs I've missed.

I finally moved in on Friday last week with the fantastic help of ADMc who slogged it out with me from dawn til dark. Another great friend who I owe a lot to. Cheers Andy, I hope the back is holding out!

I've been so busy there is little to update really but here goes.

Firstly, a new moth. No, not from the local convenience store, this one came in the kitchen window. According to the Northumberland Moths website it is abundant inland but the only coastal site is at Low Newton. An update needed there me thinks....



Water Carpet...

On Sunday night a dusk stroll into the hall gardens had a rare daylight hunting Tawny Owl in the field near the pond and a Roe doe flushed nearby.

Yesterday a Marsh Tit showed well preening after bathing along the Howick lane, but best of all as I got back home with Bunty after her morning walk, a raptor being mobbed over the back field attracted my attention. Although too distant with the naked eye, pale wing flashes could be seen but it seemed slimmer than a Buzzard. A dash for the bins, soon showed the bird to be a nice adult male Marsh Harrier. What a garden tick in my first week! It casually flapped off to the south easily dodging the flanking corvids...

Oh and thanks to Dean and Nigel for letting me use their blogs to pass on my message.

Differences...

A post on Mostly Macro by Dean the other day showing a nice Brimstone butterfly set me thinking about how our areas differ in such a small country. In Northumberland we are in a dry but very cold area of the UK. The geology is mostly hard rock based so we have relatively short, fast flowing rivers, few marsh lands and very few mature woodlands. We do have a lot of upland bleak landscapes and a mainly farmland coastal strip.

So what is different?

We dont have Brimstone butterflies. They have been recorded but are about as rare as a Camberwell Beauty here. We have only just started getting Speckled Wood in the past couple of years and Holly Blue is a Mega.

Of the dragonflies you can count records of Broad bodied Chaser on one hand and Brown Hawker is a myth.

We don't get Privet, Eyed or Pine Hawkmoths.

We have no Grass Snakes, Slow Worm is very rare and I have never seen a Grey Squirrel in the county!

Corn Bunting is about extinct, Turtle Dove and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker are both rare and crowd pullers when the odd one turns up.

So, what do we get?

Plenty of seabirds. Terns, Gannets, Kittiwakes and auks get swiped over while looking for better stuff on seawatches. They are everyday birds. Merlin is an easy bird on the coast in late summer / autumn. We do alright for scarce migrants such as Pallas's and Yellow browed Warblers who both reach 'year tick' status. Coastal waders are abundant. There are Red Grouse and Black Grouse though Black is getting quite rare.

Back amongst the seabirds, Roseate Tern breeds in good numbers and are easy to see after mid summer. Glaucous and Iceland Gulls are regular and every other year ( or even more regularly) Waxwings arrive in good numbers, Snow Buntings are quite widespread too.

In the forests such as Kielder, Goshawks show well in early spring display flights.

Red Squirrels are still seen regularly.

Of the insects, Black Darter is common on moorlands and Emporer moth widespread.


So I suppose it balances out in the long run...with maybe the line south of the Wash to the Severn just clinching it for variety!

Down at the Spar this morning this Early Grey was 'roosting' by the entrance. I relocated it to a more camouflaged position on a dead log. According to Parrack and Dunn this is a scarce moth this far north, though their information is dated now. If anyone can enlighten me on its status please leave a comment.

Up until now spring migrants have been few and far between for me but on the way home tonight that all changed. At the Lesbury Bridge a flock of hirundines took me by suprise, so I pulled over to check them out. There were 25+ Sand Martins and an early Swallow (this far north) feeding low over the bridge probably dropped down by the cool breeze and low cloud. Its nice to see them back.

Finished!

Above - Finishing touches...



Above - Dibnah signs his work...



Above - The autograph for posterity, lets hope its lasts another 170 years!



Above - The Pied Wagtail dropped in soon after we left the scaffold. I could hear him saying 'who built that, its neither square nor plumb...'

Another day with our heads in the clouds. Well, up and down anyway. Writing this I am absolutely wrecked. Its not good for a 45 year old overweight pen pusher to lug sand stone blocks and buckets of sand cement up and down scaffolding all day...

JWR did a fantastic job of renewing the chimney using stones 'recycled' from long fallen down outbuildings next to our garden. Thanks John!

From up high todays wildlife sightings were quite sparse, but we had up to 5 Buzzards including 4 in the air together, a female Sparrowhawk through the garden, 2 pairs of Grey Partridges just over the garden wall chattering to each other, 1 Yellowhammer, 37 Curlew in the back field, 2 Small Tortoiseshells and 2+ Small Whites.

Today I've been mostly...

Climbing up to our chimney with JWR to carry out repairs...



Above - Him and me up there, in the wind.



Above - Fred Dibnah about to get started...




Above - The reason for all of this, one knackered flue...



Above - Too dangerous even for Jackdaws...

But while up on the scaffold I took these photos from an angle I hope I'll never see again. Till tomorrow anyway...



Above - West. The view from the Kitchen.



Above - North West, again, visible from the Kitchen.



Above - South West,not visible from inside the house, looking toward the tiny village hall.



Above - And finally East over the garden looking across the village to the sea.

Remember this April Fool...

This Belted Kingfisher turned up in Staffs on 1st April 2005. It led every one a merry dance down there, but not me, I was working that weekend. Luckily for me, while everyone was away twitching the Belter, Jimmy Steele found a Franklin's Gull at Woodhorn and I was watching the bird within 10 minutes of its finding. It took until the 7th when the Kingfisher was miraculously relocated up in Aberdeen for me to get one of my first digiscoped efforts, right...Doesn't time fly.

As it was very mild last night I popped down to the Spar first thing for some moths.

There were only two, the first a very green looking March Moth that flew off before I took a photo and then a new one for the convenience store - Clouded Drab. At first it looked much like the other brown moths but closer examination showed it to be subtley attractive, in its own way...



As you can see, I removed it from the painted pebble dashing to a more natural looking stone wall ( our outhouse) for the picture...

Tonight I walked Bunty south past the Rumbling Kern on the coastal path. Here on a newly harrowed field were 2 male and 1 female Wheatears, my first of the year. I checked the cliffs for Black Redstarts without success, but the easterly winds this week should drop one or two in so keep a look out...