When I looked out of the window this morning the sunshine and blue(ish) skies tempted me out for a walk. Sunshine has been a rather scarce commodity this summer so I thought, “let’s get out before it starts raining again”. Unfortunately things weren’t quite as good as they seemed. On arriving at Tickton and walking to Eske it was apparent that a very strong and chilly wind meant that birdwatching here was not going to be that great.

Almost nothing to be seen on the walk up to the lake, and not much more on it. Three Grey Herons were resting on some dead trees and large groups of Greylag Geese were present on the water. A female Goldeneye was on the water too, I suspect it has been here all summer as I saw it up until mid June. I expect it has just been in hiding whilst moulting.

Most notable was a group of Swallows, Sand Martins and House Martins gathering and feeding, presumably preparing for their journey south. No Swifts to be seen, I expect most of them are already in the process of departing.

I found a sheltered spot and sat for about half an hour hoping something interesting might fly in, but just a few Black-headed Gulls and a Lesser Black-backed Gull passed through. In the sheltered spot, the sunshine had brought out many bees, hoverflies, grasshoppers and butterflies; just a few square metres of concentrated summer. Here’s a Painted Lady butterfly that was feeding in this small sun spot.