Home sweet home.

A trip out to Greenlee Lough yesterday under fabulous skies in rising temperatures. Setting out from the permiisible car park at Gibbs Hill, up to Greenlee Farm, then down to the Lough itself. An hour in the hide there, thirty minutes on the boardwalk over the mire. Back to the hide for lunch, then back on the boardwalk and out over the farmland to the car park again. 7.5km the distance with a barely significant ascent of  72 metres. Most noticable was the number of Chimney Sweeper moths. More than a thousand on view but not one image taken. They took ages to settle when disturbed and when they finally came to rest it was usually buried deep in some tall grasses. Almost impossible to get a clear shot and my back was soon telling me to desist. I listened. I mightn't always listen to the missus but i ALWAYS listen to my back.Nice to see good numbers of Meadow Pipts in the morning, i arrived there shortly after seven, loads of interaction and quite a few displaying. The Lough was pretty quiet. The hoped for Osprey didn't materialise, perhaps i had used up my quota as Mr Howdon Blogger and i had one flying over the A69 just west of Hexham on Saturday. A Pied Wagtail, Mute Swans, Mallards and a Redshank was all i had on or around the water initially. Seven Curlew dropped in a little later. Reed Wabler and Bunting made noises beside the boardwalk. The highlight of the day came in the form of a Wasp. I noticed the nest, which was attached to the top of one of the shutters, between 40 -50 mm in diameter. Thinking it was most probably an old nest before the Wasp in question turned up on two occasions and did a little construction before disapearing inside for a while. No idea what species, an suggestions would be appreciated. I'll put an image on I Spot with some detail an see what they say. I know of Paper Wasps, but the ones i've seen have had football sized nests.

BEFORE alterations.

During

Still during

AFTER.

Spot the difference.