Yesterday with the family we had a lovely two hour walk around Billy Banks Woods in Richmond North Yorkshire. It felt like walking through a heat sandwich between the white grey fluffy clouds and the lovely land of Richmond. When we got down to the River Swale all the brown murky peat of the showers last week had washed out and the colour of the water was a light apple brown clear and beautiful. Just as we got past Round Howe the remnants of an oxbow River formation we noticed a sudden flapping on our right and straight away I realised this was something more than just a couple of wild Mallards and I was right because as we peered through the tree canopy down into the river we saw joy of joys a small flock of about seven fledgeling Goosanders. They were swiftly moving away from us using the current and paddling very quickly downstream. Immediately I said to the boys to meet back at the Green Bridge so they could do the full walk but Fiona and I went off to look at this highly prized and very unique sight of fledgeling Goosanders. We had seen many Goosanders last winter when County Durham was frozen over and there was nowhere else for them to go but to fast flowing water which was not iced up that being the only place where they could feed. I had often wondered where they went to breed because over the summer I never saw Goosanders. Well now I know! They go anywhere where there is water full of fish. They don't go anywhere particularly quiet to breed because the riverbank we were walking on is frequented quite regularly by dog walkers but I noticed that the Goosander fledgelings were on the opposite side of the bank which is not open to the public. We swiftly walked back to Round Howe so we could attempt to meet up with the boys as they were circling back and we belted up the bank and were ahead of them so we asked a couple who were walking on the path going in the direction of the boys to tell them that we were ahead of them! I was also manically enthusing about Goosanders and must have sounded a bit deranged to them! So what's new! We sauntered off down to the Green Bridge through a field of tall fine grass and sweet smelling clover where when you stood still all you could hear was the quiet hum of thousands of bees feeding off the nectar of the clover. It was a magical and heavenly moment and if we hadn't had to meet up with the boys it would've been nice just to lay in the field listening to it all and smelling it. Beautiful. We had biscuit break in the woods and were quietly pelted with the outer casings of beech mast dropping from the trees although we have yet to confirm that. We met the boys at the Green Bridge and they would not have caught up with us after all because Miles had taken a diversion! He certainly takes after his Dad although he had more sense than to call it a short cut as I often do. A smashing walk and seeing fledgeling Goosanders has been the high spot of my year!