All of a flutter.

Having spent the last 26 days chasing insurance companies, insurance assessors, estate agents, relocation solution experts, property maintenance companies, gas and electricity supply companies i must admit that the world around me has been slightly neglected. How much money do "the big boys" make out of "the general public" by taking the mickey with their automated answering systems which can take up to 5 minutes to connect you to the person who may.....if you are very lucky.......finally help you.
Can i just say I HAVE NEVER CHASED MY ARSE SO MUCH !
Anyway...stuff it. We will get somewhere one day soon.
Today on my pilgrimage from South Gosforth to Wallsend calling at all stations including Longbenton, Four Lane Ends, Benton and Palmersville via the Rising Sun i saw my first blue butterfly of the year shortly followed by my first Small Skipper. What an awful year for our spectacular butterflies, not to mention our stunning dragons and damsels. A number of Common Blue and Blue-tailed Damselflies kept me entertained at the Plantation Dipping Pond with a Southern Hawker Exuvia the only representative of our Anisoptera. At the Double Dipping Ponds i again had the previous couple of species of Zygoptera but a few Large Red added to the numbers. All the way through the site i had large numbers of Ringlet and Meadow Brown Butterflies but it was very quiet on the bird front, as would be expected.

Common Blue Butterfly

Under wing, Common Blue

Small Skipper.

Both the species of Butterfly i captured on my camera were male. In the case of the Blue, the colouration tells you so. The under wing can be checked to establish the correct species. The Small Skipper has a mark on the upper side of the fore wing which is in fact a line of specialised scent scales.