AS DUSK FALLS

Murky and misty start to Friday 13th but no signs of any bad luck on this day. The sun came out later and whilst grasscutting three house martins flew across the park - the first ones for the Island. Sitting in my tractor I had to slow down while a male adder wriggled across the grass in front of me. Having stopped the tractor I then turned the front wheels towards it, forcing the adder to change direction and head back into the long grass and some sanctuary.

The last hour of daylight Monty and I had a quick walk along the beach as the tide edged its way in. The last group of waders to leave the mud were 50 turnstone and a handful of oystercatchers. Further out to sea 3 distant red-breasted mergansers flew out of the Colne and landed beside two others.

From the hide that overlooks the pond, the pair of ruddy ducks were quite active for a change, as they indulged in a bit of preening and diving underwater. The male even found time to do some of his weird rapid head-bobbing display to a rather non-plussed female.

The pond settled quietly down for the night with the swans and coots continuing to sit on their various nests. Little grebes always seem to have a lot to say to each other whilst the moorhens are kept as innocent bystanders by the more agressive coots.

Steve Entwhistle and I were just about to leave the hide when we heard the brief song of the nightingale - a second bird in the park today and the one presumably from the pond last summer.
We walked back to the park entrance to stand and admire the other nightingale's song as it belted it out across the park. The male tawny owl called from the copse behind the pond - this could be a different male from the Bromans Lane bird which was surprisingly quiet tonight.

Five small pipistrelle bats were watched with ease as they hawked back and forwards around the hide, swooping low over our heads as they scooped up gnats.