31st July - sunny spells, light-mod SW, 20C

Bittesby mere lane lake; a quick look here in the morning fairly quiet bird-wise. A Little Grebe pair were feeding 2 youngsters, a couple of Cormorant dropped in and a single female tufted Duck was resting on the water.  Unfortunately, no young Tufted Duck seem to have been raised this year.
Butterflies included several Red Admiral, Meadow Brown, Gate Keeper, Green-veined and Large White and Common Blue.

A few Brown Hawker and a Ruddy Darter were around the lake.

Stanford reservoir; a look here in the afternoon, now autumn is just a little closer and the water level still very low regular checks for waders is a must.  Six Black-tailed Godwits had dropped in today, 2 Greenshank and 1 Common Sandpiper were present too.  A Little Grebe was spotted near the island (only while there is low water and 3 Common Terns were present.  The usual warblers were present but mostly in cover, a family of Bullfinch was feeding in the bushes before moving off.

Brown Hawkers were seen, and this Southern hawker.

30th July - sunny spells, SW wind freshening pm, 20C

Willey; At 0800h the Blackbird pair were hunting for food on the lawn along with a female Green Woodpecker, Greenfinches were calling and flying around.

Stanford reservoir; Several waders were present including the Turnstone that has been around 3 days now.

Turnstone and juv Pied Wagtail

The other passage waders were Dunlin 4, Greenshank 2,  Common Sandpiper 9 and a juv Little-ringed Plover and Redshank.  Plenty of Sand martin and a single Common tern were feeding over the water.  A couple of Buzzards were circling above while a small party of Goldfinch and Linnet were in the bush meadow area.  I spotted an adult Cetti's Warbler with a juvenile, other passerines were difficult to find, probably the wind keeping them hidden.

A number of brown Hawker dragonflies were out as were some common butterflies.

29th July - cloudy, muggy, light breeze, 18C. Evening light rain

Cotesbach Landfill; Heading down the lane I stopped and had a quick look at the pool and found there was a female Tufted Duck with 7 good sized ducklings, a pleasant surprise.  AT the landfill 6 Red Kites were flying around looking for food items.  Not as many as recently, but still a good number.  Plenty of Gulls were in today and included Herring, Lesser-black Backed (c2000), Greater-black Backed (2), Yellow-legged (5+) and a Caspian Gull.  At least 2 Ravens were present too.

Shawell Lagoons, similar Gulls to the landfill area (no Caspian though) and on the lagoons there was a Great-crested and Little Grebe, Tufted Duck and Coots, a few sand martin were flying around.

In the nearby Newton Lane were I park I found a family of Spotted Flycatchers, at least 2 youngsters being fed by their parents.  This was a great find and I was able to get some quick photos off one adult and youngster, even though slightly obscured by a fence..

Stanford reservoir;  In the evening I had a look here, although rain set-in and curtailed my visit.  The highlights were a Turnstone, 2 Greenshank, a Dunlin, a Green Sandpiper and 11 Common Sandpipers, 1 Little-ringed Plover.   Four Little Egret at the inlet end and a single Common Tern over the water near the dam.   Gadwall, Shoveler and Teal numbers had increased to at least 6 each, the single Tufted Duck duckling was still with ts mother.

28th July - cloudy, mod/gusty SW, 18C, rain evening

The summer weather continues to desert us as fronts work their way off the Atlantic across the country.
Willey; 20+ Swifts were feeding over the fields near Penn Lane 1130h.
After lunch a young Fox was in the field behind the houses and another was in the top fields to the east. Presumably from the litter of 4 that were reared on the old railway track.
A Red Admiral was flying around the hedge brambles, looks like it's been a reasonable year for them so far.

27th July - steady SSW, cool, showers

Holyhead Old harbour; First stop early morning was the old harbour area to look for Black Guillemot, I found 4 just outside the habour on the sea.

Several Shag sat on the large tall harbour buoy with a single Great-black backed Gull.  Then 2 Raven flew in and landed on the end of the quay, they began to search through various items associated with fishing and pallets left on the quay side.  I've never been so close to Ravens before, they looked even larger this close.

South Stack; It was pretty windy here making viewing difficult, with occasional spats of rain and the brisk wind was cool.  Most of the cliff nesting birds had left but a small number of Guillemot and Razorbill were present, no Puffin were seen.  Chough were flying around and twisting in the wind, one flock of 6 tumbled down the cliff.

Off-shore several Gannet and a good number of Manx Shearwater were feeding over the swell, but not much else was moving about.

After a lot of searching and not much to show for it it was time to head off to find Dipper on the return journey.

Langollen;  I stopped off at Llangollen, which is an interesting place, particularly the river that flows through it for Dipper.  The usual place I have seen Dipper was rather busy with folks out on the rock so I headed to a place I could view further upstream away from them.  After an hour or more I had not seen a dipper, a Grey Wagtail, House and Sand Martins though.

I decided to head back to the main road bridge and look down stream, while on the bridge a steam train came in to the station.

Just over the bridge, downstream, 4 Mandarin Duck were working their way up the side, mostly under cover, they seem to like this river and are doing well here.

I had another look the other side of the bridge and there was a single Dipper feeding not too far away, so I managed some record photos.

26th July - rain until mid-day, then mostly cloudy, 18C, SSW

Wet all morning, no obs today, headed off to Anglesey later.

25th July - cloudy morning slowly brightening, light breeze, 18C

Willey; at about 0800h a male Sparrowhawk dashed along the church path following by Swallows calling loudly. The Pied Wagtail pair seem to have yet another brood under the roof tiles, their third, they've certainly done well this year.  Late afternoon at least 12 Swallows were sitting together on the telegraph wires, reminding me that their time for leaving is getting closer as we soon enter August.

Stanford reservoir; this afternoon I had a walk along the north side.  New waders today included 6 Dunlin and 1 Sanderling, also still 7 Common Sandpiper and 3 Greenshank.  Autumn migration is picking up day after day.

 I estimated 300 Lapwing are around the reservoir, most in the inlet bay, with 1 Little Egret present too.  Common Tern numbered 4, apart from Black-headed Gulls no other species were seen. Plenty of Warblers still, one Sedge Warbler pair were collecting food for young still, one item included a blue Dameselfly.  Several Treecreeper were searching for food together, probably a family, along with Long-tailed Tits, Blue and Great Tits and Goldcrest.

A Peacock butterfly and Green - viened White were seen flying.

24th July - cloudy am, sunny spells pm, 19C, light NNW

Willey; Along the lane to Monks Kirby there was about 30 Swift feeding, these wont be around much longer now so it nice to see their aerobatics again.  I checked under the church bins for newts this afternoon, I found a juvenile, I took some photos with the phone, have to conform the identity yet.

Shawell Lagoons; This evening I had a quick look here in case any waders were in, there were none.  Some Gulls were dropping in for a wash before heading off to roost, including a Great-black back Gull - my first of the autumn here.  A flock, 28, Greylag Geese were in with 5 Canada Geese, a couple of Mallard and ~ 15 Tufted Duck.  Three Little Grebe were sheltering along the side.

23rd July - sunny spells, light SW, 18C

Willey; a pair on Linnets were on the hedge to the east, one had a feather in its bill, so maybe nest building.  To the west a Yellowhammer is still singing from the hedge/tree between the pasture and Spring cereal field.

Stanford reservoir; I made a morning visit to the reservoir today.  There had been movement during the night as new waders were in. Four Greenshank, 15 Common Sandpipers, 10 Little-ringed Plovers were in and 2 Black-tailed Godwits dropped (one smallish one looking like a juvenile with an adult).  I think the number of Common Sandpiper is the largest ever recorded here too.

Three Gadwall in moult and 3 Shoveler were present, along with the Shelduck families.  Five Common Terns were flying around a pair sometimes presenting a small fish and mating, but it must be too late to nest now.  A Green Woodpecker and Great-spottted Woodpecker were in the trees along with the usual mixed Tit flock.  Many Warblers were in the bushes and tall grass area, some still feeding young.  A Stock Dove was singing from the adjacent wood.


The colour ringed Lesser-black Back Gull, HAL46, I saw last week was ringing in Amrum/Odde -  Germany in July 2016, now two years old.

22nd July - rain last night. Cloudy am, showers, light rain pm, 18C

Willey; a Raven was calling from the top is an Ash tree bordering the sheep fields to the west.

Misterton; I dropped in here to see if I could find any Spotted Flycatchers, the weather was not too good for these to be active and did not see any.  A Grey Heron was on the lake side and Moorhen on the lake.  Blue, Great and Coal Tits were around with Goldcrests in the woods.  Green Woodpeckers, 2-3, were heard calling and Swallows fed over the old pastures.  A Goldfinch family were around and other regular species were seen.

21st July - cloudy, moderate blustery SSE, 20C

Willey; at about 0900h 10 Swift flew over low feeding, heading eastward.  A Green Woodpecker called behind the church and the Goldcrest was in the large Yew.  A Frog was hopping along by the church wall.  The Blackbird pair have been busy feeding their young in the garden Clematis nest for a couple of days now.  They lost their first nest, to Magpies I think.

Stanford reservoir; the blusterly wing meant most passerines were in cover.  Around the reservoir shore I counted 7 Common Sandpipers, the Oystercatcher pair - looks like they have not nested after all or lost the eggs to a predator.   Near the dam, a Tufted Duck duck had one small duckling on the water, the older duckling family were sitting on a exposed tree stump.  Otherwise it was fairly quiet with just the usual birds spotted.

20th July - light rain am,sunny spells pm, 18C light SW

Stanford reservoir; an evening visit today as the weather was not good for movement until later.  Common Sandpipers had increased to 8 today and the Greenshank was still present.  There was a nice mixed foraging flock of Willow Warblers, Chiffchaff, Blue and Long-tailed Tits, Treecreeper and Goldcrest.  Its always worth searching carefully through such a flock as something unusual can be present, such as a Firecrest, maybe next time!

19th July - cloudy, DDL, humid, light NW veering S, 20C, drizzle early evening

Willey; we missed the forecasted thunderstorms and heavy rain last night, although we did get some rain very early morning.  The weather being dull did not encourage too much to show, however the Greenfinch males are still singing and others are flying around hopefully with young and juvs about.

Frolesworth Manor Lake;  I had 30 mins here whilst passing this morning.  The Great-crested Grebe pair young have grown well and both look well, still calling for food.  Five moulting Tufted Duck were resting and two broods of hungry Coot chicks were pestering their parents for food.  A male Yellow Wagtail was catching insects in the grass and taking them to a nest a little way off in the adjacent wheat field.  Swallow families and House Martins were flying around the building.  A female Sparrowhawk flew over low with prey in its talons.

Stanford reservoir; a look here did not produce anything new today, again the weather not ideal for movement.  Two Common Sandpipers still and the Greenshank.  The Greenshank only has one leg and hops using a wing to balance itself.

18th July - mostly sunny, 25C, light SE, ecoming fresher and cloudier late afternoon

Stanford reservoir; a meeting with the warden gave me the chance to have a look here again.  Today 2 Black-tailed Godwits were present, along with 2 Dunlin, 3 Little-ringed Plovers, the Greenshank and 2 Common Sandpipers.  A Hobby was overhead for a while before moving off.  Otherwise things were much as normal.  A Painted Lady butterfly was flying, my first this year.

Willey; during grass cutting and tedding during the last couple of days a Kestrel and 2 Buzzard have been seen hunting over the field west of the village.  This evening a Frog was in the cut grass close to the field pond.

17th July - sunny, hot, 28C, light- mod wind SW

Willey; mid-morning a Sparrowhawk flew through the village chased by Swallows.  Soon we should see Hobby around the village after the young Swallows.  Some more Swallows fledged today, taking their first flights around the yard encouraged by parents.  About 1700h I heard the familiar call of the Raven overhead, looking up I saw 2 circling and calling, then even higher I could see 3 more doing the same. No doubt making use of the thermals and super weather for searching from high.

Stanford reservoir;  a quick look this afternoon.  Passage waders included 2 Dunlin, a Greenshank, 4 Common Sandpipers and 3 Juv Little-ringed Plover.  With it being hot many birds were standing or immersing themselves in the water to stay cool.  Both a Little-Ringed Plover and Common Sandpiper sat side-by- side in the water.  A single Little Egret, no Grey Herons though.  The usual passerines were around too.

16th July - cloudy until evening, light sometimes fresh breeze SW, 22c

Willey; this morning a family of Long-tailed Tits were working their way along the Long Spinney to the west, a Nuthatch was calling there too.  A Goldcrest sang a little from the church yard Yew tree.

Stanford reservoir; an afternoon visit produced some interesting obs.  The common butterflies were out, Meadow brown, ringlet, Red Admiral,  a Brimestone, Large, Skipper, several "Whites' and a Small Copper, this I have not seen here for a while.  A Hare got up and ran across the adjacent arable field.

A Southern Hawker (female) was working the bushes along the path, when settled blending in to the vegetation.

On the inlet pool a Little Grebe was present, with low water on the main reservoir it is not suitable for them there.  Waders included a Greenshank, 2 Redshank, 3 Little-ringed Plovers (all juvs), 2 Oystercatchers and 3 Common Sandpipers.  A Little Egret fed at the inlet with the Lapwing and a Red Kite flew over.  On the central island area there was several Pied Wagtails (families), a single Yellow Wagtail and Juv Starling feeding.  Only 1 Common Tern was seen resting.

Redshank and Lapwing

A Tufted Duck female had 2 mid-sized young in the bay, along with the Shelduck family still.  There are 3 other well grown Shelduck that must have flew in from elsewhere.  The single drake Pochard was spotted swimming off shore.

15th July - mostly cloudy, some light rain am, 20C, light SW

Cotesbach Landfill area;  this afternoon is was a session searching throught the Gulls are the landfill sight, not a glamorous site, but it is still worthwhile.  On arrival I was greeted by Red Kites, 15 in all, flying low and continually circling around me.  One was clearly a juvenile, so I wonder whether it was reared close by or not.  It seems that the number of Red Kites here has shot up in the last couple of weeks, why i don't know as the landfill has been here a long time - still great to watch them, hoping they stay awhile yet.

Carl was also present and he had earlier seen Caspian Gulls and Yellow-legged Gulls apart from the common regulars.  Several Yellow-legged were still present, but no Caspian were found.  In all Carl managed to record 20 colour rings, another good reason for watching at the landfill.

14th July - sunny spells, 20C

Stanford reservoir;  The 3 Shelduck ducklings are now getting quite large and should survive, as long as they avois the Fox that stalks the shore line.  * Common terns were around today, alas none have bred, hopefully when we re-instate the rafts they will breed here again.  The Grey Lag Goose flock has now increased to about 150 and Canada Geese to 20.  Mallard numbers are well up this year with many young growing well. Tufted Duck and Gadwall are more difficult to spot while moulting often roosting out of sight.  The single drake Pochard was resting on the dam, soon he should be joined by others, a single female Shoveler was on the point.  A Greenshank is still present, a single Common Sandpiper and 4 Little-ringed Plover.

Whitethroats are still feeding young in the bushes and other Warblers can still be seen.  A Goldcrest was with the Tit flock calling.

13th July - sunny spells, 20C, light SW

Willey; this morning 2 Raven were present around the Sheep fields to the west of the village.  One flew off south while the other remained in a tree top calling loudly.

Stanford reservoir. A visit in then afternoon was interesting, passage waders included Greenshank, Black-tailed Godwit, 2 each Green and Common Sandpipers and 5 Little-ringed Plovers.  A single Little Egret was at the inlet area.  A Red Kite flew over eastward.  A couple of Teal and 5 Shelduck were present, these like the other regular duck are moulting currently so spend a lot of time sitting around and preening, as the Lapwing are too.

Two Osprey were present fishing, mostly over the bay area, I think this may be my first record of two together here. they are actually unpaired males that are to young to breed this year and are visiting the various reservoirs in the area, having been seen, usually singularly, on several occasions.

About 20 mins after I had left the reservoir Chris texted to say 3 Ruff had just dropped in, so a little later I returned to have a look at them, as I missed the Spring birds that visited.  It looked like 2 males and a single female.

Photo, Chris Hubbard

The water level is still maintained low while the maintenance work continues, so with such a good area of mud and shore we look set for a good autumn wader passage which we don't usually get here.  Anticipation of something rare is rising, in 2011 (the last similar low water) produced a Pectoral Sandpiper and Spoonbill. We'll see what comes over the next few weeks.

12th July - sunny spells, 20C, light N

Shawell Lagoons; A look here this evening produced 2 Little-ringed Plovers, an adult and juvenile.  There a few Lapwing too on the shore mixed in with the Gulls.  The number of Black-headed Gulls seemed to have increased a lot this week.  Among the Lesser-black backed Gulls one was colour ringed, yellow HAL46, I believe ringed in Germany, hopefully the details wont take too long to come through.

An visit to another location was interesting as I spotted a Peregrine eating its prey, a pigeon.

11th July - Cloudy, light rain pm, 16C

Willey; A swift headed determinedly eastward about mid-day, otherwise fairly quiet.

Stanford reservoir; The Garganey could not be found today, it may still be around, just not in the expected areas.  There were lots of Swifts and hundreds of House and Sand martins feeding over the reservoir in the rain.  I estimated  about 300 lapwings now, mostly in the inlet area.  Other waders included the Greenshank and single Black-tailed Godwit.  Two each of Common and green Sandpiper, with a Ringed Plover on the narrows island.

There was a large mixed flock of Tits in the waters edge trees, including Treecreepers and a singing Stock Dove nearby.

10th July - sunny spells, shower later, 21C, light SW

Stanford reservoir;  an evening visit was good for waders. The Greenshank still, a Dunlin, 3 Common Sandpipers and 19 Black-tailed Godwits were all passage birds.  Chris spotted a small 'brown' duck that on close inspection showed itself to be a juvenile Garganey, a great bird for this site. It kept to its self, not joining the 4 Teal feeding nearby.  Conditions were poor for a digiscoped photo, hopefully it will stay, in fact I think I saw this bird a few days ago but had poor views.

An Osprey put in a visit, fishing over the main water area.

Willey; nothing too exciting but I did find a Frog under the church wheelie bin, but no newt yet.