As the weather had cooled a little (down to mid seventies in old money) we thought that a stroll around College Lake would make a nice break. With the water level low, additional ground was exposed and there were large areas shallow enough for a flock of lapwing to stand in. There were quite a few terns around and a solitary redshank was wading in deeper water. We were told that there was a garganey present but it spent all its time hidden behind one of the islands.
The early ripening of blackberries was obvious with a lot of fruit looking ready to eat already. Walking along the hard surfaced paths we kept seeing froglets crossing which defied any attempt to be photographed. There were also large numbers of blue damselflies, I would guess common blues but none staid still long enough to attempt a proper identifyication. On the other hand a burnett moth did allow itself to be photographed.
The garden has seemed very quiet with hardly any birds seen but I hadn't been explicitly looking. I have just started putting a little food out in the front and in 24 hours have seen Robin, Great and Blue Tits and Magpies landing in my tiny front garden. Yesterday I heard a song that was unusual to me which the Merlin app identified as a Blackcap. Unfortunately for me the bird was ensconsed in the middle of my Forsythia which is still in full leaf and I couldn't get a sighting. This afternoon I saw Robins in the garden and corvids overhead. I set Merlin running while I swept fallen leaves from the front path. The app identified Robin, Rook, Wren, Jackdaw, Greenfinch and Blackbird. I also heard Parakeets but not while the app was running.

Comments