Northumberland - Summer 2009
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We took a short break to visit Vivien and Phillip in Northumberland in July 2009. The red squirrel is feeding from a squirrel box in Vivien and Phillip's drive. We had two very interesting coastal walks where the wild flowers were particulalry striking. And at last a sighting of a whimbrel which in UK has eluded me for many years.
We had intended to visit the Farne Islands but, as happened on the previous attempt, the sea was too rough and there were no sailings. So we moved north and had a very pleasant day on Holy Island/Lindesfarne.
On
the way home to South Low we had a night in the Kielder Forest with the objective
of seeing the ospreys. The weather was fine in the afternoon when we arrived and we had
a pleasant picnic in a forestry site but the next morning the weather was against
us again and visibility was nil through the mist and rain – so
no ospreys.
Here are some pictures.
Click on the thumbnails below for a bigger picture.
(You may also need to "allow pop-ups")
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Common blue
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Dark green fritillary
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Meadow brown on the coast
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A dilapidated painted lady
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Ringlet
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Marsh helleborine
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The dreaded pirri-pirri
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Chimney sweep
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Bugloss with a five spotted burnet
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Saxifrage?
Similar to the purple saxifrage but not quite right?
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Common spotted orchid - possibly a hybrid with the marsh orchid.
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Jean scanning the sea