A few from today and last weekend.

 This pair of Broad-bodied chasers led me a merry dance trying to get any type of shots today. But brilliant to watch with the female ovi-posting under the watchful eye of the male who grabbed on a few times (wheeling) whilst she flew around the pond.

 It's a female blue dam. that's all I know.

 Close encounter of the Small skipper kind.

 And yes its a bird...pretty unusual for this blog at the moment with me mucking about with the macro lens and the lack of subject matter lately. 'Pished' this Whitethroat out after it showed an interest in me, love doing this for a few minutes at the right time of year.

All the above shots are from the Scotch est. dene today, plenty Browns and a few Blues on the wing. No sign of Dingies (as expected) and the Banded dem's here didn't show well either.


The shot's below are from the Whitburn coastal park.

 

 This Blue had my novice head baffled today, don't think I've ever seen a female Common with so such much blue colouration  before (without some brown colouring also). And then I checked the British butterfly site, oh aye, its a minefield still id wise...

Ringlet

 Plenty Browns on the wing over the last couple of weeks.(Meadow brown above).

And below- Flowers!  Three of the 4 species (I think) of Orchids in the coastal park.

 Northern-marsh

 Bee

And a new tick for me..Pyramidal.

Where's the sun god when you need it most!

 Had a visit to Bishop Middleham old quarry today, the first one for about a year. This after viewing a weather forecast last night, that stated that big yellow thing in the sky would appear like yesterday- early noon. Lying gits!. It was really hard work today to find 'anything' on the wing -bar day flying moths.

 Female blue

 Male blue

 Large Skipper

'A' 15 minute window opened with signs of the sun showing it's face. With this, the temperature obviously raised slightly which triggered a 'small' but welcomed show after being here for a while. And then it was all over.....as quickly as it had began. (better luck next time with the Durham argus hopefully).

The Scotchy dene this afternoon.

 It was back down the old play ground this afternoon again, locally known as the Scotch est. dene. in Jarrow. It's a small section of the river Don which provided many hours of entertainment to 'us' kids and has matured nicely over the years now.
Started off firstly this afternoon visiting the Academy pools, which wasn't the best visit I've had here to put it mildly!. Reed warbler, mixed families of tits( blue,great and long tailed) comprising of about 30 birds along the hedge approach, couple of C. Whitethroats, Chiffy, along the usual stuff. Poor on the Dragonfly front also...
So dropped into the old stamping ground after this to see how the habitat has came along since the horses feeding on this land have been removed. The last time I visited was a few months back when the 2 hogs we over-wintered where released here. It was great to see the undergrowth and grasses etc. have re-generated and that no attempts at wild grazing had been made since my last visit.
Five Banded Demoiselles seen in two sections of this stretch of the Don, only one male. Two of the females where ovipositioning under the watchful eye of a male in his territory.

And 3 Dingy skippers seen here today, (didn't see any here last year) after picking them up here 2 years ago here. (second reported sighting I've been told??)

Sadly no Chimney sweeper moths on the wing here on this visit but Small copper, 2 small skippers and a couple of small blues.

A few shots from this week...

 Nowt birdy wise worth posting ...Dipped the Jarra shrike and Cuckoo in the coastal park later yesterday afternoon.Added bonus at Jarra was seeing 11 Shelduck duckling's on what is left of the slake by the Nissan car terminal, along with a young pecker making a canny din from a nest hole along the Don. This Painted lady was a consolation prize whilst searching for Cuckoo in the coastal park yesterday. It could well be my only one of the year, if last year is anything to go by.

 I'm still trying to get to 'grips' with a macro lens, which is great if you can get close enough to the subject matter! more often than not I've found it's not a easy task, plus it involves getting ya knees wet often....(Painted lady taken with the 400mm). Green-veined white above.

 A very obliging subject today in the form of a Peacock  

 I seen my first Small heath of the year on the wing a week or so ago.

 There's been some good news of late on the Dingy skipper front in South Tyneside. I picked up 10 around the area set aside for them in Colliery wood, Boldon last Sunday, 2 of which were in a area new to me for them. Recorded 6 yesterday on Jackies beach and there's been 2 records( one observer added a photo) over the last week of sightings in Marsden old quarry, which are a first for this site I believe.

 Blue tailed dam.

 Common blue dam.

 Large Red dams. Corrections welcomed, still very much a learning curve with Dragonflies etc.

 Wall Browns

Speckled wood from the week before.