Golden-ringed Dragonfly.

Excellent day out with John (Howdon Blogger) on Sunday down Teesside and after a late sighting of a couple of Greenshanks in Saltholme headed back ( we had been there previously at 7a.m.) to Greatham Creek and hooked up with a Pectoral Sandpiper and what a nice sighting it was to. No more than 25 metres below us probing the mud in one of the pools to the right of the path leading out to Seal Sands. One of my favourite birds viewed in recent time. A joy to behold.

Monday evening i went out looking for Long-eared Owls and at 10.25 p.m. had one drifting in from my right and landing on a post in front of a pylon in decent light for viewing but not for any images. I glanced down at my watch to note the time and looked up again...........yep, it had gone!. A couple of calls to my right again , this time from some trees and 2 minutes later a Long-eared Owl was again hunting in front of me over the open field but having enjoyed watching it for a couple of minutes it flew out of sight behind the ridge of the rise of the field. Hung around for another half hour or so and heard one more distant call but left it at that. The light had totally gone by now and the moon was behind cloud cover.
Yesterday i managed to persuade my better half to come out and visit Blanchland with me. Having initially parked in the village and have a look around we headed along the 1/2 mile to Baybridge to the picnic area next to the bridge and had a bite to eat before walking back along the river. Before we left for our walk we had a mooch around the trees and gorse bushes spotting loads of juvenile birds and briefly coming across a Sedge Warblers nest buried in the grasses. Close encounters with Dippers, Pied and Grey Wagtails along the river bank but by far the highlight this absolute stunner hanging like a Hawker from a gorse bush.

The female of the species with its long straight ovipositor is the largest of the Dragonflies in this country.