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.