4th July - sunny spells, light shower am, Pm sunny intense and humid, 23C, light SW

Willey; two Whitethroats were singing this morning in field hedges, one to the east and one west of the village.  Whitethroats have been in good numbers this year, not so the Lesser Whitethroat though. Late afternoon a Sparrowhawk flew in to the church yard Horse Chesnut persued by Swallows.

Stanford Reservoir; a short visit during the afternoon was fairly quite.  The Lapwing numbers are now about 200 and the number of Juv Black-headed Gulls keeps increasing as expected.  The only other waders were 2 Oystercatchers and 8 Little-ringed Plovers, juvs and adults.  A few Swift were flying over and Sand Martins were feeding.  Two Grey Heron and 3 Little Egret were in the inflow area.

Plenty of common butterflies were on the wing, I photographed several.