Hawthorn Dene 15th July

I walked a full circuit of Hawthorn Dene this morning going down through the South Dene and back via the North Quarry. Sunny and warm but very windy.

There were lots of flowers in the Magnesian Limestone meadow, Meadow Brown butterflies in all the hedgerows, Grasshoppers stridulating, Speckled Wood butterflies in the shade of the wood, hover flies on the field roses, a kestrel quartering the cliff edge and terns diving for fish out to sea.

Tiny Frogs in Garden

There are lots of tiny frogs in the vegetation around the ponds in the garden. They must be our hatched tadpoles.

Butterflies at Wingate Quarry

The first warm and sunny day for a while. We went to explore Wingate Quarry Nature Reserve where we have never been before. Out of the wind there were lots of butterflies including Small Heath, Common Blue and Ringlet.

Flowers and Moths

Chris and I had a stroll along the Hetton railway path this afternoon. The fields are soggy and flooded after last night's heavy rain.
We saw Dog Rose, Shaggy Ink Cap, Wild Honeysuckle, Wild Strawberry (which was delicious) and Bladder Campion. A Burnet moth was flying among the clover and Meadow Brown butterflies in the grass.

Sandpipers and Herons

Had a trip up to Low Barns reserve today. Very warm and sunny. Not too much going on but I watched a pair of herons for a while and also got this shot of two Common Sandpipers which flew in and then out again.

I nearly had a disaster when I lifted my binoculars to my eye to watch some birds only to notice at the last minute that there was a large wasp nestling in one of the eye cups. That would have been an unpleasant surprise if I had pressed it to my eye!