A walk to Eske today was very pleasant due to the warm sunshine, despite the fact that there was not a great abundance of birds to be seen. Almost nothin of interest turned up on the walk up to the lake apart form a freshly ploughed field which had attracted a flock of Black-headed Gulls and a few Stock Doves.

At the lake far fewer ducks were present compared with last week, even though hoards of Greylag Geese were in residence along with 2 Pink-footed Geese. Just 5 Wigeon were on the lake today with 4 Shoveler, 1 female Goldeneye, 22 Tufted Duck, 34 Mallard and a small number of Coot, Moorhen and Great Crested Grebes. Whilst watching the birds on the lake 4 Mute Swans landed with a crash on the water.

I walked around the back of the lake and found some extremely warm sunny patches overlooking the small pools surrounded by scrub. A group of 4 Cormorants were surveying their domain from the top of a dead tree and every bush seemed to have a couple of Redwings in it. The Redwings were constantly flying across the pools and in the sunlight I got some very nice views. Also in the pools were a couple of Kingfishers and a group of 9 Gadwall and 2 Teal that didn’t seem to have spotted me.

Whilst standing watching the Redwing activity near these pools a group of 9 Swallows came in from the north and began feeding on insects flying in the warm sunshine. After a few minutes they continued southwards; I guess they might be the last Swallows I see this year. The next bird to show itself at this spot was a Snipe which was flushed out by a foraging Coot and 2 Kestrels flew over together.

That was about it as far as birds were concerned apart from a few common species such as Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Blackbird, although I got a brief view of a Great Spotted Woodpecker. However, I came across some yellow fungus that made a fairly interesting subject to photograph although I managed to get only a few decent ones amongst loads of blurry photos.

I took a swift walk back to the car and got quite hot in the process. I also came across a Red Admiral butterfly, a Small White and a Small Tortoiseshell as well as even more Redwings which seemed to be arriving in lots of small flocks. I also took a look at all the Black-headed Gulls hoping to find something more interesting but was out of luck.

Another sunny day and another walk to Eske. Despite the sun the wind was keeping most of the small birds down on the ground or deep amongst the foliage. However, with the tide out the exposed mud along the River Hull provided feeding opportunities for a number of Black-headed Gulls and Moorhens. Also feeding on the mud was a small wader which allowed me to get very close – close enough for me to see clearly that it was a juvenile Little Stint. This bird allowed me to sit and study it for about 20 minutes at a distance of around 30 feet, so I could clearly see the distinctive juvenile plumage. This excellent sighting was the 116th species I have observed at this site.

At the lake similar numbers of wildfowl and other waterbirds were present as on tuesday with around 150 Mallard, 50 Tufted Duck, 15 Wigeon, 4 Shoveler, 1 female Goldeneye, 12 Great Crested Grebes, 20 Cormorants and 3 Mute Swans. Today I walked around the west side of the lake where some small ponds held 2 Gadwall and 6 Teal and a sheltered spot allowed me to get the best of the sunshine without the wind. As I sat in the sunshine a number of small flocks of Golden Plover flew south over the lake, with about 150 bird in total. A large blue Dragonfly was also buzzing around and I managed to get a couple of reasonable photos. Here is the best one.

A number of other insects were enjoying the warmth with a Large White butterfly, 1 Small Tortoiseshell and 1 Small White butterfly all on the wing as well as a Red Admiral basking on a dead tree. With these insects and the warm sun I could almost believe that it was spring, and a singing Chiffchaff increased this illusion! Somehow the warm weather had obviously tricked this bird into thinking it was spring also. In rather a strange juxtaposition to the singing Chiffchaff were small numbers of Redwing in the hawthorns, with about 12 birds in total.

Small White

As I was poking around in the scrubland around the lake I came across lots of Long-tailed Tits and a pair of Bullfinches – only the second time I have seen this species here. Rather clumsily I also flushed a Kingfisher from its perch and a Tawny Owl from its roosting spot in a small tree.

Whilst trying to track down the new loaction of the Owl I spotted a flowering plant that I don’t remember seeing before. At home I identified it as a Large-flowered Hemp-Nettle Galeopsis speciosa, apparently a fairly common species. I took some pictures that ended up slightly over-exposed, but the luminous effect this creates is actually quite nice.

On a swift walk back to the car I added Grey Heron and Common Gull to the day list and spotted a Sparrowhawk chasing a juvenile Kestrel; probably the same Kestrel that was being harrassed by Black-headed Gulls a few days back.

Just before getting back into the car a Mistle Thrush flew overhead – a nice finish to a pleasant walk!