30th June Thurs - Sunny intervals am, clouding over pm, light rain evening, breezy SE, 20C max

This morning I popped to Wolvey to a site that usually holds Spotted Flycatcher, as yet I have not found them, nor did I today.  A local told me they have been seen early,in Spring, but have they stayed to breed? I'll try again in a few days.

While there its always worth looking in the Church cemetery area, today there was a Song Thrush collecting food for young in a nest and a male Blackbird with three large fledglings, these were looking for food themselves and also begging for food.

During the afternoon I visited Stanford reservoir, as the sun was out and pretty warm, hoping for some butterflies and Dragonflies.  Only a couple of distant Dragonflies were seen, then distantly.  On the butterfly front there were numerous Ringlets  c70, Speckled Wood c20, a single Meadow Brown and two Large Skipper.

It was good to hear the Cuckoo still calling, and then a female 'bubbling' as they moved around the reservoir. Swifts and Sand Martins appeared feeding over the water, with one House Martin.  The single male Pochard and Goldeneye were on the dam along with a Pied Wagtail family, a Grey Wagtail family were feeding on the overflow weir.  A Green Woodpecker was feeding on the grassy dam slope.  The usual Warblers were present, several Sedge warblers were singing along with Reed Warblers.  One Sedge was collecting food for young in a nest, while a Whitethroat was calling indicting that it too had young close-by.  A Chiffchaff sat atop a bush singing, sometimes with a rather 'croaky' voice indicating the end of its main song period.