Last Saturday I went for a short walk up to Eske with my wife. The weather was quite nice but we spent most of the time nattering so the number of birds I saw was limited. The usual species were seen, but most notable were two Hobbies hunting at the northern end of the lake. Both birds were catching and “dehusking” insects on the wing before eating them. They also spent time resting in the branches of some dead trees.

On the lake the female Goldeneye was still present and a apir of Canada Geese were swimming around with their new family. Their nest must have been well hidden because I have only seen one Canada Goose for ages now. As we were leaving a Cuckoo flew into the trees and began calling.

On the fields a little south of the lake the Egyptian Goose was still present, grazing amongst the cows.

Last Wednesday the weather was really sunny so I went for another stroll up to Eske. Most of the usual species were easily seen with lots of Swifts swooping around and Skylarks singing. However, the grass was being cut for silage in a field to the east of the path; any Skylarks or Meadow Pipits nesting there were out of luck!

Scanning the farms to the west revealed monday’s Egyptian Goose grazing in some set aside where some Lapwing chicks were also feeding along with large numbers of Starlings bathing in what little water remained.

Up at the lake a strange double honk drew my attention to a group of Swans and to my amazement I spotted a Bewick’s Swan displaying to a pair of Mute Swans. Watching this bird revealed that it was very confused as it displayed to families of Greylag Geese and then tried to grab the goslings. Another pair of Mute Swans landed in the lake and the Bewick’s Swan flew over to them and attempted to mate with the female bird! Unfortunately, I had taken a very grainy photo of the Bewick’s when I first saw it and drained the last vestiges of power from the batteries of my camera, so wasn’t able to video this bizarre behaviour, even though it was all very close.

At the north end of the lake 2 Cuckoos were calling from dead trees, occasionally being mobbed by Sedge and Reed Warblers. Walking around the lake also revealed the Terrapin resting on a log, a Slow Worm and my first Common Blue butterflies of the year along with lots of Orange Tips and Wall Browns.

The only other birds of note were the female Goldeneye (no sign of the Wigeon though) and a family of Chaffinches with 3 fledged chicks. On my way back the Egyptian Goose was swimming around in the River Hull only about 20 feet away from me, but as I stood chatting with a farmer it flew away onto some pasture where it joined some cattle grazing.

With the weather fine and calm it seemed a good day to go for a long walk along the River Hull. I wandered up to the lake at Eske. On the way up a pair of Mistle Thrushes were hunting on the polo club and Reed Buntings were calling from the reeds. The sunshine brought out the Skylarks, with three or four in song, along with a Meadow Pipit or two. I stopped to have a look at a wet pool in some set aside where a number of Lapwings were lurking and at least two chicks were feeding; a male Shoveler was also resting there, but stirred and flew off north as I was watching. Another migrant put in an appearance as I was watching these birds; a Common Sandpiper flying north along the river made a short landing on a lump of floating debris before continuing north.

Out in the open on Swinemoor the wind made it quite difficult to stand still. However, hiding behind a bush I was able to watch 2 Shelduck, 2 Redshank, a Snipe drumming and a number of Lapwings, two of which seemed to have a single chick each. There may well have been more, but the long grass obscures them from view.

Further along the Hull valley at Eske the wind was even stronger and made it very difficult to find any birds at all. The two Oystercatchers were still busy chasing away Carrion Crows and two Shelduck flew in. Plenty of Tufted Ducks and Mallard around and a single male Gadwall, but the male Wigeon is still lurking around as is the female Goldeneye – maybe they are injured and can’t migrate. The only notable passerine was a single Lesser Whitethroat. By now their are large groups of Greylag Geese with young on the lake, but despite there being at least 4 pairs of Great-crested Grebes there seem to be no young.

I went back to Swinemoor this morning to see if the Wood Sandpipers were still present. It seems that the calm weather gave them the opportunity to leave! However, amongst the grass a single Lapwing chick was lurking; the first I’ve seen this year. The Lapwings on Swinemoor always seem to raise a few chicks despite the problems they face with trampling from horses, fluctuating water levels, dogs and marauding crows.

Plenty of adult Lapwings were on the common today, along with 2 Shelduck, 3 Redshank and a Dunlin in breeding plumage. On the river Hull a Sedge Warbler was singing along with a large number of Reed Warblers, one of which was unusually easy to see. Other migrants were large numbers of Swifts and Swallows, Willow Warblers, Lesser Whitethroats and a distant Cuckoo.

I managed to find the orchid I was told about, but some idiot seems to have picked three of the four stems, leaving just a single flower. It seems like a Green-winged Orchid Orchis morio to me, but I’m not sure.