During the last few weeks I have been filming a collection of late Summer breeding birds. These include Willow Warbler and Meadow Pipit with food, a Spotted Flycatcher with a large item of prey along with a fast flying Swift  all can be seen in this week’s gallery together with a photo  of a mass of midges! Click here.

A walk in a quiet part of Cheshire produced a pair of Little Owls with a recently fledged young and better still two fledged Hobbies awaiting the return of the adults. In the hills a last search was made for Nightjars but all to no avail, instead time was spent gathering my favourite fruit of Summer the Whimberry – now in the freezer ready for my Christmas Day dessert. There is nothing quite like a Whimberry crumble.

Locally along the canal charms of Goldfinches have been feeding on the thistle heads. In the garden we had a record four Wood Pigeons feeding in pairs and a very late brood of House Sparrows still being fed by the adults.

There is little doubt that of all the Scandinavian waders which come to Britain in late Summer none is better than the Spotted Redshank especially in its resplendent Summer plumage. Better still when I photographed one at Morecombe Bay this week there was no wind and I had a perfect reflection. After forty four years of filming this was the first Spotted Redshank that I have ever filmed and it produced some stunning results. Click here to see these and other photos from two days spent in North Lancashire.

One day I visited the Fylde and found it was a journey back in time to see and hear Yellowhammers and Corn Buntings singing by the roadside – something I have not seen locally for more than forty years. It was also refreshing to see a field full of Hares with some of them still boxing. At Warton Crag I was able to add Gatekeeper and Brimstone butterflies to this years butterfly list.

The sad event of the week was the drowning in the nest of the second brood of Kingfishers following Monday’s heavy rain. In the last two years this pair have only fledged one brood of young out of five attempts. Let’s hope for better luck next year.

The big bonus from the July sunshine and warmth has been the emergence of vast numbers of butterflies. In a two hundred yard stretch of thistles by the local canal I counted sixty eight Small Tortoiseshell butterflies and this after receiving the Butterfly Conservation Newsletter which stated that they were in a 77% decline this year! A day out at Silverdale produced several Dark Green Fritillaries one of our most impressive Summer butterflies. On another day the flowers around a Pennine reservoir were full of Common Blue butterflies. Click here to see these and others filmed during the last few weeks.

Overnight on the 28th July more than two inches of rain fell. This deluge has wiped out the late breeding attempts of Stonechat, Whitethroat and Grasshopper Warbler.

In the garden we have had a Willow Warbler and on two days a welcome return of the Nuthatch.

With more than nine hours of sunshine per day this July has been the sunniest I can remember and with the late breeding season I have never been as busy. I have spent three hours each morning this week filming a male Kingfisher as he fed young that were about to fledge. As we have had no wind all week I was looking for reflections in the water and conditions were perfect producing the best results I have ever obtained. (Click here) I can think of nothing better on a classic Summer’s morning than spending time in the presence of a male Kingfisher.

During the week the three young Sparrowhawks have fledged on Hopwood with the single young Buzzard now ready for its maiden flight – this will make it the first local breeding record during the last century! Also on Hopwood there was a singing Grasshopper Warbler, the first I have heard locally for more than a decade and a bird which is in short supply this year.

In the garden a fledged party of four Robins have appeared – the second successful breeding of our local Robins this year. Reed Buntings, Redpolls, Bullfinches and Coal Tit are all still feeding on a regular basis.

In recent years I have had a licence from Natural England to photograph Little Ringed Plover at the nest on one of the moorland reservoirs. This Spring the birds returned to breed but had a major problem in that the reservoir was completely full of water with nowhere for them to lay their eggs. They remained on site for weeks but the water level did not recede and it looked as if they would have to move on to find a more suitable breeding site. What happened next was unbelievable as the female plover laid a clutch of eggs in the gravel on the anglers car park a good fifty yards from the reservoir. With the co operation of the anglers the car park was closed off and a notice was erected to ask all dog walkers to keep their dogs on a lead as they walked past. Would the eggs survive the twenty three days to hatching and would the young then make it back to the reservoir to feed? Well they did and it was an incredible success story. As the Summer progressed the water level receded and a second pair stopped to breed successfully. This week’s photo and gallery shots illustrate this second success. Click here

On Hopwood the Sparrowhawks and Buzzards now have young ready to fledge. Linnets are breeding successfully for the first time in some years with Chiff Chaffs and Whitethroats still in full song. The Roe Deer now have a fawn and the sun has produced an abundance of dragonflies on the ponds

I have to admire any builder who makes provision for breeding birds when he developes an old moorland property. A pipe was placed in the gable wall leading into a nest box placed in the roof. Immediately a pair of Little Owls decided that was the ultimate Des Res and moved in. I spent five hours over two evenings but only obtained the odd shot of the male and female. I was waiting for the night when the three young would appear at the entrance prior to fledging. It finally happened and in perfect conditions I had a magical two hours in my hide with not only the three young appearing but also the male resting on the wall only ten feet in front of me and it stayed there for twenty minutes!  Click here of view some of the photos taken on that magical night.

Every day this week I have been out in the hills before 7am as there are still breeding birds to be filmed. Six hours of searching has failed to locate any breeding Nightjars and with temperatures with up to 28°C it has been exhausting work. With the exception of the raptors all the birds seem to have had a good breeding season.