A Natural History Day

The weather was beautfiul today, with temperatures in the low 20s and a gentle southeasterly breeze. So we took Son#2 and his partner F to the Hauxley Nature Reserve - where we actually had a lovely international blipmeet a year past May which included KangaZu and Wall. I took lots of photos - many weren't much good but I did like the second extra of an abseiling spider - it was quite large! (Arachnophobes are advised not to look large!)

After lunch at the cafe we then spent some time on the beautiful 7-mile long beach at Druridge Bay where I was able to get my main blip of a heron coming into land. And after a lot of trying I managed the first extra: a half-decent shot of a sand martin in flight...they're so small and they fly so fast and keep changing direction! 

Thanks to everyone who took a guess at my mystery object for yesterday's TT challenge - it was indeed a bell: it seems it's not as unusual as I thought. I've run out of time tonight but will blip a more obvious photo of it tomorrow.