It would have been nice if one of us had got a shot of the Hobby as it visited the reserve this weekend, but sadly it was not to be.

But Lockhart got a good shot of a Black-tailed Godwit from Saltholme Pools hide yesterday.

And a Blue-tailed Damselfly

There are lots of these now - easy to see in the Wildlife Garden, but also on the Wildflower Walk where they were joined by dragonflies, Burnet Moths - problably Six-spot but they did not rest for long enough for me to see - and a range of butterflies. The blue of the damselflies, red of the burnet moths and the yellow of the Bird's-foot Trefoil is superb at present, so the job of opening up the reserve on the bike was a real pleasure. (Thanks to BikeStop, Darlington - a Social Enterprise (charity run) - for repairing the bike so making our tasks that much quicker.)

The butterflies?

Meadow Brown

Small Tortoiseshell.

And finally, the Great Crested Grebe chicks are growing, but still with 'humbug' heads.

Thanks Lockhart for the photos,

Peter