Last Few Days

Arrived home from work on Thursday to yet again be shown a series of pics taken by my beloved of a female Sparrowhawk.  It just sat there for about 5minutes then shot off, obviously just checking out the lay of the land as the hedge to the left is where about 40 House Sparrows spend a lot of their life.

Then it just flew off through the feeders in the garden

A walk round an unusual quiet Shibdon (Boardwalk still locked) produced some Bee Orchids (if you want good pics of Bee Orchids then check out these at SedgedunumWarbler ) and the Goats Beard which is quite a looker.

Where the Derwent joins the Tyne is normally quite productive although only a Curlew, couple of Common Terns, lots of Gulls and a pair of Ringed Plover were the only things to be seen

Saturday was spent at Big Waters and for change I was bitten a few times by the unbelievable amount of "mossies" that decided to drop in during the morning, thankfully they vanished for the second half of the day.  A couple of Emperors did put in an appearance for a while although always keeping to the edge of the reeds.  Watched a pair of Black Headed Gulls and Coots doing a bit of "Hot Nesting" where they kept sitting on the nest for 20mins each then changing round.  I suspect that the Coots (the ones who hold the mortgage and had been sitting there a while) were kicked out by the Gulls after their eggs although no sign of any smashed eggs could be seen. 

Aren't Blackcaps GORGEOUS

Gosforth on Sunday and with some good company and great crack a lot of the time was spent trying to catch Reed Warblers catching Flying "Thingies".  I was going to put up one of my valiant efforts but when I saw this one that Keith had got I decided not to bother

A 4 Spotted Chaser posed for pictures a few times just outside the hide.

The Little Grebes were present again and they are definitely the most enchanting of "ducks"

Had a walk round the reserve but by the time I had finished I had to head home for a change of "swimming costume" as I was absolutely soaked.  I think the rest of the reserve was tucked away in the shade as all I managed to see was 4 species of butterflies, 1 solitary deer and heard the odd call of a bird.