Time to turn up the thermostat

The longest day may not be quite here - but summer's been and gone if you're a green sandpiper.  Thanks to Roy L for this one making its return journey on Hempholme Meadow:

The great white egret still showed briefly on Sunday morning - but had apparently left the site before 9am - thanks to Bill Eggleton for this one on Saturday as it flew past North Marsh:

Ian Spalding was the last observer on Monday the 17th - when again it was feeding on Hempholme early doors at 7am.  The otters put in a very brief appearance - glimpsed in the distance by one on the Saturday night walk - Bill had better views earlier in the day:

And a secretive water rail:

Kingfishers though are the show stealer - often on the North Marsh.  Thanks to Zoe Shreeve for these great pictures:

Bill:

And Steve Smith:

More to see if you look closer too like the marsh frogs - Zoe:

And four spotted chaser:

Thanks to Roy for these of large red too:

However I shall not dwell on insects - the subject has been excellently covered on three excellent blogs all worth looking at - Paul Ashton's, Steve Routledge's and Martin Hodges.  A whole host of new species added to the Tophill Low list on these sites.  We'll be adding these to the blog lists in due course - but we just need a few darker nights to get round to that...

A few fledglings about too - young blue tit by Bill:

And Sedgey by RoyL

Lesser whitethroats and willow warblers were also picked out over the weekend as new arrivals.