Had a quick trip out into Northumberland today. The weather was poor as is normal for my days out.

from a photography point today was terrible without any photos worth keeping but from a birding point today was canny. Plenty of swallows about today fighting the strong winds along with martins and the odd swift. We came across a fence with over a dozen moles hanging dead on the barbed wire, no idea why game keepers seem fit to do this especially on a public road?

Futher on and we stumbled across a buzzard resting out of the wind on a dirt road, several chiffchaff could be heard along with willow warblers. We had several cross bills and lots of redpoll too. A peacock butterfly was unexpected as was the number of young birds about today with several young song thrush in the trees.

The best surprise of the day was to find a breeding pair of red squirrels living in a nest box, see below pics.