Dragons

It made a pleasant change to be seawatching without thermals this morning. Summer has arrived, but the star birds were still wintery, with two Great Northern Diver north past the obs. Both birds in non-breeding plumage and one drifted past on the sea at flag distance.

No sign of the singing Common Rosefinch, but there were a few Painted Lady.

Painted Lady

Hot and sunny, Gateshead was superb for dragons today. The Team at Lamesley held 3 male and 3 female Banded Demoiselle. Mostly perched up, but occasionally dancing over the river.

Male Banded Demoiselle

Female Banded Demoiselle

Also here a newly fledged Grey Wagtail was feeding on the river and a Dipper shot through.

Grey Wagtail

At Kibblesworth the whole area was alive with damsels, mostly Common Blue, but also Azure, Large Red and my first Blue-tailed of the year. There were 30+ Four-spotted Chaser zipping about, but the star was another newly emerged Black-tailed Skimmer.

Black-tailed Skimmer

Four-spotted Chaser

Also here were Small Heath, Common Blue, Large and Small White, Orange Tip, Speckled Wood, Dingy Skipper and my first Large Skipper of the year.

Large Skipper

Up to Burdon Moor where there were 4 Broad-bodied Chaser, 2 newly emerged and resting, while 2 were actively hunting.

Broad-bodied Chaser

A tweet got us back down the hill to Lamesley where 3 Little Egret had dropped in. A site record, with only single birds previously. Also here were a pair of Gadwall.

Little Egret