Sunday 3 May 2009

Wandering the Wansbeck

Leaving Kirkwhelpington by the gated lane to Wallington, I stopped by the side of the River Wansbeck thinking I might see a dipper. Sadly there was no dipper, but a pair of grey wagtails were feeding on the river side, a Blackcap was singing across the water, a male Redpoll trilled high in a tree behind me and Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs were calling from every direction. Then, a robin, which had been flitting in and out of the hawthorn beside me for some time, forgot about insects for a moment, perched and sang its heart out.

Robin (Erithacus rubecula)
Robin (Erithacus rubecula), singing in the hawthorn

Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinera)
A female Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinera)

I took time to enjoy the flowers today, having overlooked them for too long on my wanderings. There was a wonderful carpet of bluebells in the laneside wood with cowslips popping up amongst them, their complementing colours splashed by thin shafts of sunlight breaking through the undergrowth. And I was delighted to see water avens, with their nodding, bell-shaped flowers, and ferns, twirled as tight as a Bishop's crook, on the verge of unfolding. Butterflies included large and green-veined white, peacock, orange tip and small tortoiseshell. So, birds, flowers and butterflies; a perfect and peaceful afternoon.

Blue Bell (Endymion non-scriptus)
Bluebell (Endymion non-scriptus)

Water Avens (Geum rivale)
Water avens (Geum vivale)

Cowslip (Primula veris)
Cowslip (Primula veris)

Fern
Lots of ferns unfolding

Small White (Pieris rapae)
Green-veined White (Pieris napi)

The picture of the Grey Wagtail was digiscoped. All of the other pictures were taken with my Nikon D50.

1 comment:

Alan Tilmouth said...

Hi Emma, Just found your blog, have added you as a link on Bird North East and published the link as a post to promote your blog. There's a healthy community of local Nature Bloggers around the county but your one of the first to be well away from the coast.