Free Bird Watching Mags

I have the following up for grabs for nowt if anyone wants them.

23 Bird Watching Mags

6 various dates 2008

and all of March 2009 to July 2010

Good info on bird id, areas to visit, equipment etc may be good for beginner or anyone for that matter.

4 Waterlife WWT magazine

7 RSPB Birds Magazine various dates.

All in excellent condition no stains etc. Ooo errr.

All you have to do is collect them, or if not to far away im sure i could drop them off.

Druridge and East Chev with a bit of Linton as well

Came across these cracking Common Blue females within East Chev Dunes. I didnt realise that the females could differ in colour so much. Take a look.










A few more sightings at various sites produced:


Shaded Broad-bar (Scotopteryx chenopodiata)


Common Carpet (Epirrhoe alternata)


Yellow Shell (Camptogramma bilineata)




Ringlet


Cinnibar Moth caterpillar

Loads of Damselflies seen. No Dragonflies. Loads of Skippers small and large, Totrtoiseshells, Painted Ladies and Burnet Moths.

Good day out a bit windy though which probarly kept the count down.

Old Backworth Scrapyard

This is the old Backworth Scrapyard site which has now become a fantastic wildlife zone. Unfortunately i think it is earmarked for development as part of the Earsdon View estate. Which is a p**s take in its self as it has blocked my view of Earsdon. Ironic or what.

Anyhoo, a few pic of what i came across this morning whilst meandering.


The site as it is now.

I counted five species of Butterfly but i was there for only forty Min's so not bad.


Small Tortoiseshell


Common Blue


Meadow Brown


Large Skipper


Small Skipper



Orchid of some kind



The ground was covered in Orchids

I also saw about six varieties of Bees. There were Goldfinch, Linnets and Skylarks. And Two kestrels hunted the area.

All in all there was about thirty species of plants and that was just a quick count.

I am very tempted to plant something rare and get the site listed as a SSSI and stop the building of houses which dont sell anyway.

Last couple of days

I have been keeping local the last couple of days. So here are a few pics from Silverlink Bio Park and Banks Pond.

Narrow-bordered 5-spots. The Silver Link Bio Park is a Mecca for these Moths. They are in huge numbers all over the site.



Narrow-bordered 5-spots



Came across this very pretty looking Moth. It was only about 20mm across.


Latticed Heath

No apologies for the Four Spot Chaser again. I just love this Dragonfly.


Four Spot Chaser




Small Skipper


Large Skipper

I couldn't resist this little beauty. been told it is a Nine Spine Stickleback. I didn't even know there was more than one type. Fascinating.



Onto Banks Pond this morning. The weather unfortunately had took a downturn. Although still warm it was windy and cloudy. I think this may have had an effect on the number of species seen this morning.

This has to be one of my favorite Butterflies i have seen so far. It is stunning.


Common Blue

A few Damsels though im not sure what yet. I would guess Common Blue and Large Red.







There was also a bloody great big blue Dragonfly whizzing around but would not stay still to photograph so no idea what that was.

So heres another Four Spot Chaser from Banks Pond as well.


Doing chinups to impress the ladies

Brown China-mark (Elophila nymphaeata). There were loads of these all over the place.



And this little chap.




Another cracking couple of days and thanks to Richie for on the spot location information. It only took me four attempts to find Banks Pond.

Secret Location

Certain local bloggers seem to be keeping their wildlife locations secret lately not wishing to share their sightings with the rest of us. Which leads to the question, why do they keep a blog. Is it just to Brag "look at what I've found and you haven't". So i have jumped on the band waggon and will keep this location all to myself as they do.

All i will say is, there is heathland and a few puddles and Pylons. You know who you are.

I luckily bumped into a chap who advised me on what i was looking at. So i thank him for that. Mike i think he was called from Durham. Bloody nice chap. Anyway here are a few of the sightings from today's top secret location.


Black Tailed Skimmer

I was advised by the nice chap that this was quite a find. He was there specifically just for this one species.



There was a single Emperor Dragonfly and plenty of Blue Tailed, Large Red and Azure
Damselfly's. A Banded Demoiselle put in a brief appearance unfortunately to far away to photograph.

There were lots of Four Spotted Chasers.




They were sunning themselves within four feet of me.

Flower wise plenty of Orchids with this Common Spotted Orchid amongst the Marsh Orchid.


Spotted Orchid



Anchusa arvensis Vipers Bugloss



I think this may be White Campion

And i do believe this is Red Campion.



There were Butterflies galore. Highlights were Common Blue, Small Heath, Six Spot Burnet yes i know that's a Moth and many others of which names i do not know yet.



Small Heath

So a absolutely fantastic morning out in the glorious sunshine at Kibblesworth Brickworks. Ahh Dam just gave the location away.

Washington Wonderings

A trip to Washington WWT this morning produced a few new species for me.

Like this Bee Orchid.





And this Speckled Wood Butterfly.






Yellow Rattle in the Meadow.




And this Chimney Sweeper Moth.

Garden Moths

Unfortunately my idea of having a wild meadow ( Buttercups, Daisys, Thistle and long grass etc)for a garden was not the same idea of the council. So having been told they were inspecting gardens i had no option but to cut it. Fascists !

Whilst doing so i came across these three Moths


Heart and Dart Agrotis exclamationis


Garden Grass Veneer Chrysoteuchia culmella


Timothy Tortrix Aphelia paleana

Day or Night Moths you decide cause i dont know yet.

All ids provided by Ispot.

Druridge and other places Meander

I was going to go to Kielder on Monday to try a see the Green Hairstreaks. But with the weather not doing what i told it to do i ended up at along the coast.

First stop was Cresswell. There may not of been a vast variety of birds but the insect life was amazing. The path to the hide had insects in abundance. Here are a few.


I believe this is called a Frog Hopper

There were a good number of small Moths flapping around.

Silver ground carpet

The next photo I'm not sure if it is a Moth, Butterfly or Fly i am awaiting id from ISPOT.


Nemophora degeerella



A Scorpion Fly (Panorpha species)



A Snipe Fly

Next stop onto Druridge. There was a bird singing where the Marsh Warbler had been seen. It sounded very much like a Sedge Warbler but with a few Blackbird and other birds songs thrown in for good measure. I got a brief glimpse of it. Small brown buff coloured underneath not sure if it was the Marsh Warbler still hanging around ?

Anyway, there were a large number of Blue Tailed and Azure Damsel fly.





Along with a few species of Butterfly's including this Large Skipper.



And this Orange Tip.



As i went into the South facing Hide (who ms name escapes me) this was the fantastic view.



Brilliant eh !

There were some lovely Lesser Spotted Orchids along the path.




Next stop Widdrington Tip. I followed a side road and arrived at a Methane monitoring plant that advised to keep at least 2km away in case of explosion due to naked flames. So as i lit a tab i wondered down the road. I couldn't find an entrance onto the old tip as it was all fenced off. I did see this though. First time I've seen this cool looking bug. looks like something out of a sci fi movie.


A Sawfly Symphyta

So i returned to the car and had another tab whilst reading the sign about explosions and then headed to East Chevington.

On the big lake were a good number of Sandwich Terns but not much else. Yet again there was a good turn out of insects to keep me interested.

The next set of photos are for over eighteens only so if you are younger look away now.







That time of year to get it on

And this handsom Caterpillar to admire.



A Drinker Moth


Also a Ground Beetle



And this


I know its only a Green Bottle but look at the sheen on it, fantastic.

And to finish because im running out of time, a Bunny munching on Dock leaves at Hauxley



A Fantastic day out.