Monsoon time

Adult Goldcrest...Abbey woods

Swollen Wansbeck upstream from Oldgate

River bursts its banks at Oldgate

Some kind of Hoof fungus or ganoderma on Beech...Scotch Gill

Giant Bellflower...Scotch Gill

Hard fern...Scotch Gill

Lady fern...Mitford castle

It is becomming an annual event these days, heavy rain all day swells the river Wansbeck and easily spills over onto the surrounding paths and some streets but nowhere near as bad as last September. River still swollen this morning and took some pictures of plants and ferns. The top pic of a Goldcrest; this bird was feeding fledged young and it makes you wonder how this family survived yesterdays deluge.

Harwood and Steng moss

Any Lichen experts out there?...Cladomia sp

The pink mist of Wavy hair grass

Yesterday was warm and sunny so I had a walk around Harwood forest and over Steng moss. This was my first opportunity for a while to catch up with Large heath. I knew I would see one because after a couple of shots the camera batteries went dead. In fact there were plenty of other photo opportunities missed by the time I got back to the car. I only saw 2 Large heaths and one of them was very worn, one Dark green fritilary, several Small heaths and the commonest butterfly in Northumberland at the moment....Ringlet; without exaggeration numbers over Steng moss must have been 500+. Lots of unidentifiable micro moths and some kind of Carpet moth was kicked out of the grass.

Walking through Steng moss is not a pleasant experience. I covered about a mile but it was like walking six and with every step you were ankle deep in water. I was also eaten alive with Horse flies and over the next few days I'll be picking sheep ticks off Bennyboy.

Other wildlife seen were Stonechats feeding fledged young; possibly a second or third brood, the male looked stunning. Buzzard and it was nice to see some Crossbills. There were several calling in the forest and 16 flew over Steng moss towards Harry's wood. I also came across hundreds of Peacock caterpillars on a nettle patch and several spikes of Bog asphodel.

Late post

Meadow waxcap...Abbey meadows

Russula sp...possibly cyanoxantha...Borough woods

Hairy bindweed...Ulgham grange

Peacock caterpillar...Pegswood moor

Strange beastie on Valerian...Borough woods

Bitter bolete...Cottingwood

I haven't been away anywhere but with personal committments and shift work I have been left with very little time. Some of the above pics are from the last couple of weeks. The Russula fungi group are difficult to identify at the best of times but I believe it is russula cyanoxantha or Charcoal burner but a more olive colour.