Jackdaw skull

 I found this bird's skull in Ashes quarry, Stanhope, Weardale a couple of days ago. I think it's a jackdaw's skull - it's about the right size (6.5 cm long), the beak is the right shape and it was under a site where jackdaws often nest. A beautiful object, light but strong, with a large brain case as befits such an intelligent bird species.

Conifer plantation ladybirds

 Three pictures of two ladybirds often associated with conifers, found on a fence post on the edge of a Sitka spruce plantation in the Deerness valley, County Durham. The eyed ladybird is our largest native species, while the larch ladybird, with yellow wing cases, is one of our smallest. 

Ladybirds seem to like climbing to the top of fence posts on sunny days - the lower pictures here, of another eyed ladybird, a 16-spot ladybird Halyzia 16-guttata and a harlequin ladybird, were all taken on fence posts in Teesdale earlier this week.

Chiffchaff

 I started hearing chiffchaffs locally in County Durham at the beginning of April - another welcome sign of spring when the weather didn't feel very spring-like.

This one was in scrubby woodland in the Deerness valley, preening, raising its leg over its left wing to have a good scratch with its claws