Beer fest hangover

Having been to the Clitheroe beer festival yesterday, I was in no fit state to go walking far-afield.
I decided to take a leisurely stroll over to the railway wood in Barrow.
Spotted flycatchers are usually found here and this year was no exception. Difficult to get a shot of the blighters though, as they don't stay still for long.

(as usual, click on photos to enlarge)


















Saw my first Speckled wood butterfly of the year today. Its been a pretty thin year for butterflies so far. Mostly whites, a few orange-tips, but very few peacocks, torts or admirals.

Saw my first damselfly of the year too, this blue-tailed.

















Jill found a great diving beetle whilst we were gardening . It was dead, but very interesting to get to see a big one like this close-up.

Just a single tawny owl in the back-field still. Hopefully the other is in my owl box incubating!
I cant always get pics like last weeks post.
The following pic is usually all I can see of the owl roosting.
























I have 5 nestboxes occupied by blue tits and 1 by great tits this year. These ones have been using sheep wool for building and the pair at the back pond have been using duck feathers.












































The coal tits have nested, but didnt use the box that I made for them. I drilled a slightly smaller hole for the coal tits.
Hole size doesnt seem too important to tits though, this one was using a woodpecker nesthole!



















I also found a nuthatch nest-hole today, with very noisy young inside.