New Patch Tick.

Reflecting!

A floral edging to the lake.

Green Veined White (male) Butterfly.

2^nd Aug. After the heavy rain I decided to pop down to the lake and try once more for these Little Gulls. I’d seen that JB had photographed them yesterday! I started the walk in a very fine shower which was quite welcome in the growing humidity.

I watched the lake for sometime, and in particular watched the Common Terns. No sign of Little Gulls though! I wasn’t going to be removed despite the halo of tiny flies around my head, in what was now growing heat. I caught sight of a small bird flying into the reeds, so moved down a little. After a while I began to hear the bird calling from deep in the reed cover. I initially thought it was Sedge Warbler, as I’d heard one singing here earlier in the year. Patience paid off and the bird began to appear moving low in the reeds at first, but then giving a beautiful sighting as it continued the short and quiet calling from high on the reeds. It was my first ever Reed Warbler on patch and seen wonderfully within a few feet of me. I’d been told last year that they had been spotted, but never found them then.

A lone Great Crested Grebe was on the larger lake today and the occasional Swallow swooped low over the water. Gulls included at least five adult Lesser Black Backs, Black Headed, Common and Herring Gull. Reflections on the smaller lake were good today and this included the reflection of the sports centre which I thought might have been detrimental to the lake when I saw it being built. It appears to have had no ill effects and shows that wildlife and buildings can get along together if handled well. Which in North Tyneside, is just as well! Mint, of which I love the smell and taste, edged the lake.

I eventually returned by way of the playing fields and church grounds, hearing the huit of Chiffchaff and the tacing alarm call of Blackcap on the way. I had a good sighting of the male Blackcap. I checked out more gulls on the fields, but found only Black Headed, Lesser Black Backed and Herring Gull. There were numbers of white butterflies around today. What I think was a Green Veined White (male) Butterfly danced and fluttered over a female as it sat on the low grass stems. There appeared to be no physical contact and another male seemed to join in briefly. The first couple flew off and eventually landed near to one another just a few feet from their initial contact. The male began his fluttering over the female again. The female then went onto the lower stem of the grass and closed her wings. I’m not sure if this was a come and get me signal, a get lost signal or whether she may have been laying. I suspect the latter.

I walked home in sun, heat and humidity with storm clouds still about. Summer is clearly not over yet though!