Monday 6 September 2021

The end of summer

 August has been a bit of a disappointment here, in terms of sunny, warm days anyway, with the last couple of weeks of the month being under thick grey cloud. But there have been a few nice days, and now, at the start of September, we are enjoying some late summer sunshine and a bit of heat. The swifts have long departed, but there are still a few Swallows and House Martins in the skies here. It's definitely summer's end!

I was treated to one special surprise when I went for a walk round my local patch one afternoon: on the cricket field I found a large flock of Yellow Wagtails, including lots of youngsters - I counted 34, and there were more for sure that I didn't count. For me this was absolutely amazing - I've only ever seen a Yellow Wagtail a couple of times before this, and only ever one or two at a time. I was actually doubting my own eyes, so nipped back home to grab my camera to get some record shots, just so I could check!



As well as the wagtails, there were Swallows swooping low over the field, feeding a family of four youngsters who were perched up on a bare branch, and there was a big flock of juvenile Goldfinches as well - they have done very well this year!





I spent a pleasant half an hour or so watching the goings-on, until the groundsman arrived to prepare the pitch for the cricket match the next day.





No comments:

Post a Comment