A very sunny day was made surprisingly cold by a brisk north westerly wind, but I managed to find some sheltered, warm spots at the lake at Eske this morning. Although bird activity was not at its most spectacular today I noticed that there were still quite a few flowers around. I decided to see how many species of flowering plants I could find still flowering in mid October. I managed to find 14 species and here is a photo gallery of those that I found.

From top left to bottom right they are Dandelion, Selfheal, Red Clover, Ragwort, Teasle, Thistle sp., White Clover, Mayweed sp., Red Campion, Common Catsear, Bramble, Black Knapweed, Daisy and Large-flowered Hemp Nettle.

On the lake there seemed to have been another arrival of wildfowl with well over 100 mallard, 24 Wigeon, 16 Shoveler, 45 Tufted Duck, 12 Mute Swans including 2 juveniles, over 200 Greylag Geese and 2 Pink-footed Geese. Also present were 14 Great Crested Grebes, 1 Little Grebe, 34 Coot, 4 Moorhen, 5 Cormorants, about 80 Black-headed Gulls, 7 Common Gulls and, today’s highlight, 1 male Pintail.

A Grey heron was fishing beside the lake and large numbers of Redwings were feeding on hawthorn berries all around the lake. Lots of small passerines were feeding on seeds and lurking around in the willows including a Chiffchaff which was persuaded into song by the sunshine and a group of about 30 Goldfinches typically feeding upon teasle seeds.

Making my way back towards my car I flushed a lone Meadow Pipit from under a bush, but a few Skylarks were attempting to break into song, also confused by the sun. In one of the more mature hedges it was noticeable that the number of Blackbirds had increased, not quite to the winter peak, but most certainly in higher numbers than in the summer.

With the northerly winds there should be a further influx of winter migrants soon I hope.