Popped down to the Wansbeck this evening to see how our cygnets were progressing. It was nice to see how big they are now looking really healthy. So from May when they looked like this:-

To August when they looked like this:-

I came across this strangely magnificent caterpillar today.

I believe it is the caterpillar for the Rustic Tussock Moth which if confirmed is a new one for the reserve. I have sent the pictures to my moth expert for confirmation.

A strangely beautiful little creature.

Our Moorhens have been very busy this season, just provided a third brood of chicks. Its a small brood with just 3 chicks.

During a recent rain shower the mother was sheltering the youngsters and it shows where the phrase ‘taking them under your wing’ may have come from!

We also have a juvenile Little Grebe which I think was one of the two born on site.

We also have a couple of Mallard chicks that suddenly turned up a couple of days ago, they look maybe 3 or 4 weeks old.

I came across our two little Roe deer kids out in the woods, exploring without their mum. Good to see them looking fit and healthy and starting to become independent. You’ll notice they still have there spotty coat which are beginning to disappear as they get older, one more than the other.

It was the 21st June when Charles, Camilla and family left the reserve for a new life on the river. I am delighted to report that the family are thriving at the new location. What has surprised me is that all 8 cygnets have made it to this point, a very good effort on the parents behalf.

I get regular updates from various people down by the river on their progress. They have become social media stars and now feature on Morpeth TV news feed https://www.facebook.com/morpethnewstv/?locale=en_GB

Picture taken by Ellen Glynn a few days ago

I was disappointed that I had not seen any Roe Deer fawns on the reserve this year. However, I can now relax! As many times before those sneaky little Roe deer have kept a pair of twins hidden from me for several weeks.

The mother has been very secretive and even hiding the fawns in separate fields. I’m guessing at the time of this video they are 2-3 weeks old.

Today I was treated to one of those magical encounters that make all the work on the reserve worthwhile. I had been watching the Roe mother hoping she would bring out one of the youngsters. While i was watching the mother the twins suddenly appeared next to me, so I sat literally a couple of yards away while the two youngsters wandered around me, fabulous.

Hopefully now they are a bit bigger I will see a bit more of them.

Some of the team had a very nice ‘jolly’ at Alnwick Gardens on Thursday.

Our friend Alison Peaden very kindly nominated the reserve for a LOVE Northumberland award. We were nominated in the ‘Best Community Response to Climate Change Emergency’ category. We were fortunate enough to be shortlisted for the award and ended up as runners up.

The awards ceremony was at Alnwick Gardens, hosted by the Duchess of Northumberland. So myself and three of the team attended (Libby, Lynda, and Phil) and we were treated to a very fine cream tea, prior to the awards ceremony. I should say I was only permitted to bring 3 otherwise I would have brought everyone😀

So a big thank you to all the volunteers that have helped this year and previously, this is an award to all of you.

An unusual sight at our feeding station today, I have seen this sort of beak abnormality before but not to this extreme:-

As you can see this bird has been ringed so I may be able to work out its age but it obviously has been managing to survive and feed. The beak appears to be still growing!

We have had two royal visitors, to our new pond, over the last couple of days.

Yesterday we were visited by an Emperor Dragonfly, the UK’s largest dragonfly.

Today we had a visit from our feathered royalty the Kingfisher

Its sightings like these that makes the hard work all worthwhile, without the new pond maybe we would not have seen these beautiful creatures.

I thought it was time to post a few pictures of the youngsters appearing all over the reserve. So here they are:-