Yesterday I didn’t anticipate going out, but as the weather was sunny with no wind at all it was a case of go out whilst the weather lasts. I couldn’t be bothered to go far, so I took another walk to Eske.

Along the river very little was to be seen; a single Cormorant, an overhead Yellow Wagtail and a Common Sandpiper were the only birds of interest. However, at the lake a group of about 20 Lapwings were feeding at the water’s edge along with 2 Common Sandpipers and the same group of acrobatic Pied Wagtails as I saw the previous day.

For once, the sunshine made it very pleasant to just sit and look across the lake and when a group of 13 Black-headed Gulls took off, two noisy Common Terns also became apparent. One bird was an adult and cruised around catching small fish for the other which was a juvenile. The adult was so intent on fishing that it continually passed just a few feet away, catching fish from a shoal right next to the lake’s bank, virtually at my feet – an amazing sight.

The usual species were on the lake: Greylag Goose, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen and Coot, but lurking in the shady part of the lake was a single Little Grebe and a Mute Swan had also joined the regular inhabitants. I walked a little further along to look for the other sandpipers that I saw yesterday, and sure enough I found 4 Green Sandpipers and a total of 6 Common Sandpipers as well as a single Snipe. With the weather so calm I decided to take a picture of the lake with still water – a rare sight this year!

A few small passerines were to be found in the trees and bushes, including a family party of Long-tailed Tits, a Willow Warbler in fresh yellow plumage, a Blue Tit and a couple of Tree Sparrows. The sun had brought out plenty of butterflies again with even more Small Tortoiseshells, Peacocks and Painted Ladies than the day before and today the heat was sufficient to bring out a large Slow Worm which sneaked off into the bushes as I walked by. On the path was a dead shrew; there wasn’t any visible problem with it (other than it being dead)and I wondered if perhaps the heat had killed it.

After the shrew funeral I sat at the lakeside chatting to a lady who was also out for a walk. The adult Common Tern continued to fish right in front of us and a Grey Heron flew out of the vegetation by the lakeside. Whilst sitting in the sun talking a Common Frog turned up on the grass behind me; in this heat it was in danger of drying up, but it had the sense to quickly hop of into a damper place.

Leaving the lake a swift walk back to the car brought on a sweat and also turned up a Kingfisher which flew along the river and perched on a small stump at the water’s edge giving me a good view. Eventually it left and so did I.