With the exceptionally calm weather a visit to Pennington Flash produced some wonderful film of Lapwings with mirror reflections in the flat calm water. Even in Autumn they have some fabulous colours to view despite some of the crests being a bit tatty.

On Hopwood the first Skylarks are now moving through, along with small parties of Linnets. Fourteen Long Tailed Tits were still together in the woods and they seem to have had a good breeding season. The first Autumn Crocus are now in flower but sadly they only appear briefly before the Autumn gales break their delicate stalks.

In the garden the Goldfinches are now up to a maximum of twenty and the local Tawny Owl is still bringing its young in the hunt for mice and voles. Due to all the sunshine there are still plenty of Peacock, Red Admiral and Comma butterflies coming into the garden.

At long last five beautiful, calm, warm days to bring Summer to a close.

In the garden there are now Peacock, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell and Speckled Wood butterflies flitting about from flower to flower.

A visit to the Hodder Valley produced Kingfisher, Goosander and many charms of Goldfinches feeding on the ripening hedgerow seeds in particular the Meadow Sweet. The crops of berries this year are exceptional especially those of the Blackthorn with sloes all over the place. Pity I don’t make sloe gin!

During the week I filmed , at a local school, a nest full of young Swallows being fed. It wont be long now before they commence the long journey to South Africa.

A visit to a sheltered valley to the North of Manchester produced not one but two male Adders – the latest I have ever seen a local Adder.

On the local Golf Course Bullfinches are still numerous and along with many passerines have had a good breeding season. A Willow Tit that was calling is probably the one from our garden that I have not seen for a fortnight.

It is a good job there hasn’t been much to film this month because the weather has been awful. Islay has had eight inches of rain during August so I am glad I haven’t been up there either! In between the rain we have had some butterflies in the garden including Peacocks, Comma, Red Admiral and what must be the butterfly of the year the Painted Lady.

Also in the garden there were four female Chaffinches one day and a female Sparrow Hawk.

I start my Wildlife film shows on the 2nd of September at Marple and I look forward to meeting fellow wildlife enthusiasts on my travels.

Once again the Swallows at the Golf Club have had a successful season with more than fifty young fledged from five/six pairs. This year with only one room available for them to nest in two pairs have bred on the outside of the buildings, one on an alarm and the other just attached to the wall like a House Martins. Most of the young are now flying South but how many of them will reach South Africa?

On Hopwood there are now a pair of Roe Deer and a this years young. These will probably stay until late Autumn when lack of cover will force them back to Roch Valley which is more secluded. Also seen in the recent hot weather were two Green Woodpeckers feeding together on the ground. There are now lots of parties of juvenile birds around and it would seem that most have had a successful breeding season. All except the Buzzards that once again do not appear to have produced any young locally this year. Parties of Bullfinches are particularly enjoying the ripening crop of Blackberries.

After two weeks in the Arctic Ice it is difficult to return to the local scene against the backdrop of thundering traffic on the M62.

A visit to Pennington Flash produced five Green Sandpipers, good to see but always too far away to film. A family party of Bullfinches and a Willow Tit were also enjoyed at the feeding station in the presence of a rat!

In the hills two Green Sandpipers were feeding around the edge of a moorland reservoir, plus a Little Ringed Plover with two young that were only about fifteen days old.

In the garden a young Tawny Owl was calling for food in the early hours of the morning and was being regularly fed by the adult.

I couldn’t resist a further two photos from Spitsbergen. One the female Polar Bear enjoys a bit of back scratching. The other is of one of Spitsbergen’s most stunning flowers, the Boreal Jacobs Ladder.