Rarities at Saltholme

Wood Sandpiper

Green Sandpiper

Distant Little Stint

Meadow Brown

Silver Y - ?

Common Blue

Made a couple of visits to Saltholme over the weekend and managed to see what we believe to be a Green Sandpiper - record shots posted, and a couple of Wood Sandpiper which were very obliging birds outside the hide and also a distant Little Stint. More butterflies on the wing lately. Going to Mull on Saturday and can't wait!

Here's looking at you!

Little Owl

White Letter Hairstreak

Grayling

Green Veined White

Comma

Dark Green Fritillary

Was tired after the long journey yesterday so decided to stay close to home. Went to Hardwick Dene but did not actually expect to see much because of the strong wind. However we were really pleased to find not one but at least 6 White Letter Hairstreak butterfly - a first for us. We have looked for them before in this location but never managed to find them. We also saw briefly a Sparrowhawk fledgling in the same location as we had seen them last year, very noisy they were too. We then had a run down to Dormans Pool but not many butterflies there apart from a few Grayling. We came home via West Stockton and managed to see a little owl in the usual tree, however we think this may be one of the young ones.

The Dark Green Fritillary were seen again on Saturday as we had a run back up to Hawnby to see if they were still there after Sylvia had been horse riding and there were at least three still present feeding on the heather.

Whites and Terns

Marbled White

Small Skipper

Meadow Brown

Common Blue

?

Little Terns

Little Tern

Little Tern

Little Tern

Little Tern

Dunlin

It was blowing a gale but the sun was out so went for a visit to Wingate to see if the Marbled White had emerged yet as we had heard nothing about them being seen yet this year. It was a lovely evening but the butterflies were keeping down because of the wind but there were about 6 Marbled Whites where we had seen them last year. Also around in the same area were numerous Meadow Brown and Ringlet, a few Small Heath and 1 Common Blue along with one 5 Spot Burnet Moth. We then had a run to Crimdon to see if the Dotterel was still around but no luck there, we did manage to get some shots of the Little Terns flying around and also shots of another young tern/gull of which we are not sure about, any comments as to what it is would be very welcome.

Lakes for the day.

Enjoying the kill
Chilling out

Peregrine with prey

Young Robin

Merganser family

Well we got up on Sunday to howling winds and cloudy weather and wondered why we had ever said we would go across to the Lakes, however as we had made the effort to get up early we decided to go anyway. We arrived in Keswick to rain and wind but by the time we had mooched around the shops the weather improved greatly and we managed to go for a walk. It was well worth it and we had a brilliant day. Roe deer in the woods along with lots of Treecreeper and Nuthatch and Redstart by the lakeside with a family of Red Breasted Merganser on the water. The highlight though was the family of Peregrine around Falcon Crag. One bird bringing in a pigeon and the rest going absolutely mad trying to get the prey.

Treecreeper

Roe Deer

Delight of the Moors

Dark Green Fritillary

Speckled Wood

Comma

Spotted Flycatcher

Roe Deer

Swallow

Went for tea to Hawnby today, it was so warm and pleasant sitting in the garden of the cafe there enjoying some tasty food, watching the world go by, didn't really want to go home but had to. We did stop on the way and have a little stroll along one of the footpaths across the moor and managed to see some Dark Green Fritillary butterflies which I have never seen in that area before, so that was a plus for the day. Hope tomorrow is as enjoyable as if the weather is good we will hopefully go across to the Lakes for the day.

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

Went out to find butterflies at Coatham Stobb near Long Newton and have never seen so many Ringlets in one place along with lots of Meadow Brown and Burnet Moths. The Barn Owl was showing well as usual along with the 'resident' birdwatchers/photographers.