 
Summer EveningFriday 18th August 2000, West Yorkshire
A SMALL WARBLER perches on the plants behind the pond. It is greenish rather than greyish so I guess that it is a Willow Warbler rather than a chiff-chaff. Without hearing the song I find it impossible to distinguish these two species.Despite the best efforts of the pigeon shooters, there is still a gentle cooing from the wood. A Wood Pigeon flies in towards the call. 
Hoverflies tend to dip into flowers several times before they land. It's a repeated stabbing action;Perhaps it is a way of assessing the potential danger, for instance from Crab Spiders that might be waiting in ambush. 
House Martins circle above us, chirruping softly to each other. Typically a martin's flight pattern will be to flutter as if to gain height, then, sometimes altering course, to bank smoothly at speed.
A Kestrel flies into view and hunts above the meadow at the woodland edge, hovering against a pure blue sky. High clouds pattern the sky as the sun gets lower; archipelagoes of small flattened cumulus and standing waves, spaced like the bands on a zebra crossing. It's good to eat our evening meal, and drink a glass of red wine, with the dome of the sky above us. Related LinkBirds in a Cheshire Garden, Phil Barnett's award-winning web site from the other side of the Pennines. I'm so envious of his garden list of 112 species of birds, not to mention 166 moths.
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