Today the sun came out. Not only did it come out, but the wind stopped and it became hot – I could almost believe that it was actually summer.

 Walking north along the River Hull the warmth from the sun was very pleasant and groups of House Martins and Swallows were feasting upon the insects that were also making the most of the weather. On the muddy banks of the river 2 Common Sandpipers flushed and flew southwards and a Yellow Wagtail flew overhead whilst on a newly ploughed field a group of about 50 Lapwings and a flock of around 250 Starlings were feeding.

On the lake at Eske, things looked pretty quiet at first with a large group of Greylag Geese monopolising the island, although a group of 4 Pied Wagtails were busy chasing each other. About 30 Mallard, 20 Tufted Ducks and numerous Coots were also on the lake as were 8 Great Crested Grebes. The female Goldeneye was once again lurking around and a group of 4 eclipse plumage Teal were hiding in the overgrown shallows. Walking alongside the lake I scared off a group of 4 Common Sandpipers which in turn flushed 2 Green Sandpipers. As they flew around, not knowing where to land another Common Sandpiper joined them as did a further 2 Green Sandpipers – quite a total for a small lake like this.

With the sunshine lots of butterflies and bees were feeding on thistles and teasle. A few Large Whites were greatly outnumbered by Painted Ladies and Small Tortoiseshells and a few Peacocks. Here’s a picture of a Small Tortoiseshell I took.

Small Tortoiseshell

Very few passerines were present, I guees the sun was keeping them in the undergrowth; just a few Blackbirds and another Yellow Wagtail heading south along with a lone male Chaffinch.

Heading back 2 Black-headed Gulls had arrived on the lake and something scared off 10 Cormorants that proceeded to cruise around like some sort of Jurassic airforce. At the lake’s edge I flushed out a Snipe which wheeled around looking for a suitable resting place. My resting place was now beckoning so I headed home for lunch.