Is it summer now?
Wow! We have now had two days of sunshine in a row, in fact today there is hardly a cloud in the sky: after two months of rain and flooding it must now be summer. With the weather far too good to stay in, even with a dodgy ankle I took a walk along the River Hull to Eske/Pulfin. The flooded patches alongside the river are pretty smelly now but a couple of male Pied Wagtilas seemed to not mind as they foraged amongst the dead weed. A pair of Common Terns were hunting along the river and performing quite a show just a few feet in front of me; a group of four Black-headed Gulls were attempting the same fishing stunt, but far more clumsily. Just 2 Swifts were also feeding over the river.
At the lake, things were pretty quiet with a couple of Coots, 2 Grey Herons, a number of Mallard in eclipse plumage hiding in the grass on the island and about 30 Turfted Ducks including a mother with 2 small ducklings and 2 other groups of larger young totalling 12 in number. 5 Great Crested Grebes were also present and 3 Swallows were catching insects overhead along with a single House Martin.
I walked further along the river and found a Reed Warbler singing away and a family of Willow Warblers. Also in the willow trees were a number of Reed Buntings and a Lesser Whitethroat in bright, fresh plumage. In some fields to the east of the river some flooding was still present with a few hundred Black-headed Gulls loafing around. The highlight of the walk, though was a Little Egret feeding in mud along with 3 Grey Herons. Little Egret is the 109th species I have seen in this area.
On the way back to the car I noticed thousands of small fish in the shallow overspill areas of the lake. Presumably it is a safe haven for them at the moment, but plenty of them will probably get stranded and provide easy meals for herons and snakes.
