Quiet.

2nd July. A warm Saturday evening and all very quiet. A photographer taking shots of the Great Crested Grebes. Was it you? Four Common Terns flying up and down the lake. A family of seven ducklings in a straight line behind the female Mallard. Swifts and House Martins over the lake. Nothing out of the ordinary at all, but a very pleasant evening far from the maddening crowd.

Youngsters playing tennis on the courts in a not so Rafa Nadal style. The marks of a small fire on the playing fields surrounded scattered empty cans of strongbow cider and beer. I don't begrudge the youngsters their fun last night, far from it, as I wouldn't have minded a can of beer myself, but did they really need to scatter the rubbish around?

At least two Common Whitethroat in song. A few Chiffchaffs calling and a Willow Warbler giving a very short passage of song. The Burnet Moths seeming almost torpid on stalks of grass and a Meadow Brown still on the wing at 8.00pm. The most exciting event was the Sparrowhawk above me in typical flapping and gliding flight, seeming to be chased by a Swift.

Despite my general feeling that there have been more Grasshopper Warblers around this year, I still haven't seen or heard one on patch. Whitethroats too seem to have done well and these certainly have been well represented on patch.

Enjoyed the peace and listening to the birds.