On the bike

Common Vetch

Ragged Robin

Goldfinch...Pegswood moor

Great Burnet

Sainfoin...Pegswood bypass

Caterpillars inside a protective siken nest

I think this is Grey Dagger

Two spot ladybird... a Northumbrian first for me

Nice weather this week so spent some time along the country lanes on the bike. Its amazing how much you drive past when you are heading for a certain place in the car but by cycling you can take in so much more at a leisurely pace. Along the Tranwell and Saltwick road there were Whitethroats and Yellowhammers almost every 200 hundred yards or so but no Quails calling this year. Yesterday I cycled to Widdrington via the cyclepath along the Pegswood bypass and on to Ulgham Grange. The wayside flora is at its best but Sainfoin and Ragged robin (hundreds of plants) have probably been introduced with seed when the bypass was landscaped. Great burnet may also have spread this way but it is at its Northern limit here. Also at Pegswood were family parties of Lesser and Common Whitethroat. At Ulgham Grange there was a family party of Willow Tits.

Butterflies included Common blue, Large skipper, Red admiral, several White species and Ringlet plus many Silver Y's. On my way back home near Linton almost half a mile of Hawthorn hedgerow was defoliated by thousands of caterpillars protected inside a mist of silken nests. I don't actually know what species they are but I'm sure someone will know. Back in the garden I saw my first Grey Dagger (I think) and my first two spot Ladybird in the county... I must look a bit harder.