There's A Hole In My Bucket

 It really seems as though either there's a hole in the bottom of the Mere where the water is escaping or someone has pulled the plug out of the plug hole!! There are more and more shallow areas being exposed by the ever-decreasing water level.

Swan Island from Kirkholme Point (KP)

KP, where people feed the ducks, has a new refuge for the birds

The small islet with a tree is now "attached" to the north shore

Even the middle of the Mere is suffering

For context, the above photo shows the location of the previous photo

The south east shoreline is widening, enough for Roe deer to wander around

Waders continue to arrive with 30+ Ruff seen this morning. The Wood Sandpiper is still here too.

 

Also still lingering is the juvenile Red-necked Grebe, although I haven't seen it as close in to shore as others have. 

This and those below are of the juv Red-necked Grebe this morning

Juv RnG and juv Great Crested Grebe in the foreground

The weather has broken a bit, but not enough to provide us with much needed rain unfortunately. Butterflies, dragonflies and other invertebrates have seldom been seen with the sun being a distant memory, but this Small Tortoiseshell was snapped just before the sun went on its jollies.

Small Tortoiseshell

On the same day I managed to get photos of a pair of Common Globetail hoverflies (Sphaerophoria scripta) in flight and in tandem.

Common Globetails in tandem

Common Globetails

 Chiffchaffs are starting to sing again after a few weeks of being heard by contact calls alone. This one though was spotted doing a high wire act before taking a bow to the watching crowd (me).

Impressive mid air skills from this Chiffchaff

Enjoying the applause 😀

 Also caught in mid air was a Brown Hare - they are being seen more often now the crops are being cut.

Brown Hare showing me a clean pair of heels

Brown Hare - nice camoulage

It's not just the Mere that is suffering with the lack of water, our trees are showing signs of stress by dropping leaves so that it almost looks like Autumn has started.

Unseasonal leaf fall

It's not just the leaves that are being lost, birds such as Robins are going through their post-breeding moult, when they shed their old feathers and grow new ones. I saw a Robin the other day part way through this process and I don't think it would win any beauty contests, and certainly not The Nation's Favourite Bird poll 😂

 

Who is that masked bird?

Robin in moult

Wild flowers are mostly past their best now but a few are still showing their true colours - this Borage for example.

Borage

 And finally here's an image that I took a couple of days ago for no reason, just because it was there I suppose. Like most people I love seeing the moon, no matter what time of day or night.