August and all that Pt. 3

A Close Wrencounter

I remember this walk very well, August 3rd 2025 I met a wee friend that doesn’t show itself very often. Another hot, dry day and one of my “don’t really know which way I’ll go yet” walks! They mostly all start the same then ….. who knows? I know how to live right? 😉

As ever, I walked up to the old Oak feeding post to drop some food, have a look see what’s around, not a lot it turns out, they’re all too busy at this time of year but, a few dropped in.

Click or tap any image to see it full size.

The Warblers have started appearing more often now, hungry mouths to feed I suppose. We have Chiffchaff & Willow Warblers most commonly, they’re everywhere but also Garden and Grasshopper here and there, usually heard but less often seen 😦

The feeding post has regulars that drop in and one of the shy ones is the Chaffinch, elsewhere they’re quite gregarious!

A young looking female Chaffinch and Coal Tit, they’re speedy and feisty wee beasties, in, out, shout at each other, gone!

I strolled on down the lane, spotted a few Blue Tits flitting through the trees before deciding to cut up the hill and head around by the standing stone, I don’t go that way often enough.

The walk takes me between two mixed woodland areas, around and down a steep grassy hill that leads back to the road at the bottom. As I walked into the clear area I noticed first that it was absolutely full, almost to head height with Ferns, green and lush and second, it was alive with birds!

I could see a young Dunnock feeding along the tops of the ferns but it wasn’t easy to get a clean shot.

As I was watching it, a young Wren popped up, not too far away!

But then …..

A few feet in front of me. I slowly stepped back into the shade of the trees behind, it was roasting and to better cover me from this bird.

It was either too hot for the young bird or it got bored of my company pretty quickly, dozing off in that last one 🙂

It’s pretty rare to get that close and have one hang around while you get the shots so, I made the most of it before wandering off down the hill.

I was walking down a steep grassy hill with high hedging on both side and it was sweltering in there so I just moved on towards the bottom and the shade of more trees.

A male Yellowhammer with a beak full of grub sat up on the hedge ahead for me.

It didn’t stay for long and dived into the hedge, probably where the young were. From there it was back along the road to the bottom of our lane and back up the lane, where the shade was 🙂