Some more decent weather got me out for another walk to High Eske this afternoon. Fewer birds than yesterday but that probably reflects the lower level of activity associated with the afternoon compared to the morning. However, on the walk to the lake I did see a single Swallow flying north along the river and on the grassy flood defences the Meadow Pipit flock had increased to 15 birds.

In the river itself, some clumps of floating vegetation attracted 23 Moorhens to pick food items from the mass of weeds.

Arriving at the lake revealed that since my visit yesterday, quite a number of wildfowl had arrived. Hoards of Greylag Geese were joined by a group of 7 Pink-footed Geese, giving me a rare chance to observe this species at close range – most of my sightings of this species have been rather distant as they feed in fields or flight views. Whilst watching the geese a whistling sound alerted me to the fact that some Wigeon had arrived, and I counted 22 of this species.

The duck flock had increased in size since yesterday with 128 Mallard, 54 Tufted Duck, 4 Shoveler and 2 male Pochard as well as the female Goldeneye and the Wigeon. Yesterday’s army of Cormorants was still present and had increased to 26 birds and 13 Great Crested Grebes were also cruising around the lake.

A group of around 70 Black-headed Gulls were swimming around in the water with just one Common Gull, but there was no Little Gull today despite searching for it. However, a flock of 74 Lapwings flew overhead having been flushed from a nearby field and 2 Snipe came into the lake edge from the west.

Not much else was to be found apart from a flock of around 20 Goldfinches and a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers and with just 1 Small White butterfly I was reduced to taking close-up photos of Red Clover.

A pleasant sunny day to start October, with no wind either made for a very nice walk along the River Hull this morning.

A short way along the river’s flood defences I heard the noisy call of a Stonechat which I quickly spotted on top of a hawthorn bush. The calling came from a male Stonechat who was quickly joined by a female, and the pair soon flew down into a weedy headland in an arable field. A good number of other birds seemed to be using this weedy patch including 3 Yellowhammers, 6 Meadow Pipits, 7 Reed Buntings, 2 Skylarks and 9 Goldfinches. This peice of land was planned as a wader scrape but currently holds no water, however, its weedy status appears to be useful as a food source for farmland birds.

A little further along the river 2 Swallows flew north, the only ones I saw this morning, presumably most of them have already departed.

On an east-facing grassy bank quite a number of insects were busy feeding and I spotted a Red Admiral butterfly. This species overwinters in this country of course and its fine condition suggests that this individual has only recently emerged and will indeed hibernate here. Here are a number of shots I got of this butterfly. Click on the thumbnails for larger pictures.

At the lake at High Eske huge numbers of Greylag Geese were taking up nearly all of the resting space, but there also seemed to have been an invasion of Cormorants with at least 23 birds present, fishing, sitting on the island and perched upon trees. There were also a lot of Great Crested Grebes with at least 14 birds and numbers of Tufted Ducks had also gone up to 46. A number of Mallard, 3 Teal and the long-staying female Goldeneye were also to be seen along with Coot, Moorhen and 3 Mute Swans as well as a further Mute Swan in the River Hull.

Also on the lake were about 30 Black-headed Gulls, but on closer inspection there was also a Little Gull amongst them – an adult moulting into winter plumage. Walking further  up river to some ploughed fields 3 Curlews flew east, calling as they went. On the fields themselves were a group of about 40 Lapwings, 60 Black-headed Gulls, 30 Common Gulls, a number of Woodpigeons, 3 Stock Doves, Starlings, Rooks and Jackdaws along with a Grey Heron.

I decided to walk back through the long grass to see what insects I might disturb and it turned out that there were quite a few Dragonflies around. I got a few decent photographs of some of them.

I think the first 2 of the photos below are the same species, but different sexes, but I think the 3rd picture is of a different species – not sure though. Click for larger pictures.

On the way back to the car I came across a few Large White butterflies, 1 Small White and 1 Small Tortoiseshell. I also watched two Black-headed Gulls violently and noisily mobbing a juvenile Kestrel; they drove it into a copse but continued to circle and call at it even after it had fled to safety.