31st July - mostly cloudy, light-mod westerly, 18C

Cotesbach Landfill; evening visit, nothing new, alas the recent weekend rain has meant little shore for waders now.
Eight Teal, the Little Grebe family, a Grey Heron, 3 Red Kites and a dashing Sparrowhawk.  House Martins and a Swift were feeding along the tree line.  Still plenty of Gulls feeding on the tipping area, but too far off, steady tricky to wash in the sandpit before heading off to Draycote.

30th July - sunny am, becoming cloudy with showers- rain pm and evening. Light, freshening SE, 18C

Willey; first thing a male Blackcap and a Whitethroat were in the bushes around the top pond, whilst a Green Woodpecker was taking food in to the nearby spinney.  About 1400h 2 Swift flew over high as the rain clouds gathered.

Cotesbach Landfill; a morning visit, a couple of Shoveler, 2 adult Little Grebe (juvs not seen, but may have been hidden), a single Common Sandpiper, 10 Red Kites.  The Peregrine turned up and sat on a soil heap for a while before flying off

29th July - sunny and hot, 25C, light westerly

Cotesbach Landfill;  this morning 10 Red Kites and a couple of Buzzards.  The water level has risen, loosing the shore and islets, however 3 Common Sandpipers were around the edge.

Stanford Reservoir;  this evening news of a Marsh Harrier, a bird I have always missed on patch, so I hoped I would get there in time.  However, again I never got to see it before it disappeared. Still, other good sighting included a good mixed Tit and Warbler flock that included 2 Lesser Whitethroats,  Willow and a Garden Warbler and Chiffchaff.
At the dam area 3 Common Sandpipers, a Green Sandpiper, 2 Shoveler, 2 Yellow Wagtails plus Pied and Grey Wagtails on the spillway.

28th July - persistent rain until late evening. Light westerly, 14C

A pretty poor weather day, but one that made Arctic Terns and a few waders move today.

Stanford Reservoir;  during the morning rain Chris had 5-6 Arctic Terns through. This afternoon, in the rain, I had 2 Arctic Terns, along with 6 Common Terns. Plenty of Swallows and Martins feeding low over the water, ~4000.

 I had a brief view of a Swift spp that flew passed me, while looking through a gap in the water side trees, about 20-30 ft above the water, no other Swifts just Martins and Swallows.  It seemed at first Swallow like, a little larger, more plump than a Common Swift, with slightly broader wings.  It appeared a fawn brown colour, not the dark brown or the rapid wing beats of a Common Swift. Slight lighter in the throat area.  Very tantalising,  it was too much brief to identify and not found again.

27th July - cloudy, light rain most of the day, light WNW, 18C

Cotesbach landfill; I popped in here for a quick chat with Carl, which was fortunate as he found a juvenile Caspian Gull whilst I was there.
I did have a look here late afternoon but nothing of note was present.

Stanford reservoir. early evening visit, a Hobby flew over, 4 Common Sandpipers in the spillway, still plenty of Grey and Pied Wagtails there too. 4 Green Woodpeckers around the dam and field.  A female Shoveler and Pochard present with the Mallard and Tufted Duck. 6 Common Tern including 1 juvenile, but not raise on this site. Mixed small flock of Swallow and Sand Martin passed by.

26th July - cloudy, 23C, light SW

Cotesbach landfill; a look here this morning.  The Little Grebe family again and a single Great-crested Grebe.  3 Greylag Geese (not too frequent here) and 2 Canada Geese, a few Mallard and Tufted Duck.  A couple of Cormorant were present, and the imm Peregrine flew in and sat atop a soil heap.  A Green Woodpecker flew over the far side calling.

25th July - sunny am , cloud pm, very hot, 35C, light-mod SE

Cotesbach Landfill; a look this morning. the imm Peregrine flew in, had a drink and a rest before flying off again. A pair of adult :Little Grebes and 2 juvs were present in the side spit, maybe they did nest here.  12 Red Kite and several Buzzards.  A single great-crested Grebe too, 4 Teal and a few Mallard.

24th July - sunny, hot, 30C, light SE

Stanford Reservoir; evening visit. Garganey on the dam time for some quick record photos, swam off with Tufties.
4 Shoveler, 6+ Gadwall, 2 Grey Heron, Green and Common Sandpipers.

Cotesbach Landfill; 2 Oystercatchers were feeding, not much else around.

23rd July - sunny and Hot, 31C, very light breeze

Stanford Reservoir,; visited here this afternoon, in the heat, great for butterflies and insects.

Chris found a Garganey this morning, probably female in moult.  After some searching I could see it asleep with Mallards on the bank in front of the hide.  However, when I got to the hide my view was obstructed by vegetation and couldn’t see it.  After looking elsewhere and getting back to the other side overlooking the shore again all the ducks had woken up and were feeeding out on the water, the Garganey was dabbling close to the raft - ideal for a hide photo, too late!!  Still present when I left late afternoon.

Other birds included Little Egret, 2 Grey Herons, Common and Green Sandpiper, Shover 2, a good number of Pied and Grey Wagtails on the spillway and dam, 3 Common Tern.

I’ve not seen many Dragon Chasers and Hawkers here this year yet, thought the weather would have been ideal so far - a bit of a concern.

22July - sunny spells, 23C, moderate S-SW breeze

Cotesbach Landfill; a look in the evening did not produce much, just a couple of Oystercatchers feeding.

Stanford Reservoir; a look here next. Three Common Sandpipers and a Green Sandpiper around the dam and spillway.  A Little Egret on the overflow wall. Plenty of Grey and Pied Wagtails in the spillway and dam. Three Common Tern and a Mute Swan with 4 cygnets.

21st July - mostly cloudy, light southerly breeze, very warm 23C

Cotesbach Landfill; a look first thing produced 2 Green Sandpipers and a Little-ringed Plover.

Misterton;  checked a site here next for Spotted Flycatchers, they have youngsters out calling in the trees, so that’s good.

Ulverscroft;  I visited a Oak Wood here this afternoon that is for sale, just to see what was there, a mixed Tit flock included at least 1 Marsh Tit, plus Nuthatches and Great-spotted Woodpeckers.

Cropston reservoir; dropped in here for a quick look on the way back, 3 Mandarin Duck, 2 females and 1 juvenile, a couple of Common Tern, 1 a juvenile.

20th July - sunny spells, hot-humid at times, local showers, 24C, breezy westerly

Welney Washes; this afternoon I spent at the WWT Welney Washes reserve.  From the main observatory waders included 7 Green Sandpipers, along with Black-tailed Godwits and a Little-ringed Plover and Redshank. From the Friends Hide 3 Ruff, 2 Redshank, a Snipe landed in the grass near the pathway.

Ducks included Gadwall, Shoveler, Teal, Shelduck and Mallard and a single Whooper Swan.  Several Little Egrets were around. A couple of Marsh Harriers were hunting over the fen and a Sparrowhawk the edges.

Swallows, House Martins and Swifts were feeding. House Martins nest on the main observatory.

19th July - rain on and off most of day, light-mod southerly, 18C

No obs today.

18th July - light early shower, mostly sunny, hot, humis, 23C, light westerly

Willey; a raven was heard calling mid-morning in the fields near the Moors lane.

Cotesbach landfill; a quick look after lunch did  not produce anything new, except a Grey Heron was present.

Stanford reservoir; this evening the colour-ringed Common Sandpiper was still present and a Green Sandpiper too.  A couple of Common Terns and the Green Woodpecker family around the dam area.

I took these photos a couple of days ago - 

Essex Skipper

 Small Skipper

Roesel's Bush-cricket

17th July - sunny spell, hot and humid at times, 23C, very light breeze

Cotesbach landfill; all the usual suspects, Canada Geese now at about 50, the usual resident 30 seemed un-nerved by interlopers.

Stanford reservoir;
Yesterdays colour ringed Common Sandpiper details are :

Ringed as a breeding adult, probably a male based on measurements and behaviour.

Ringed 26/05/19 at 0730. Location on the R Spey at Pollowick Farm NJ082301. This is about 3 miles downstream from Grantown on Spey NJ0328.

This afternoon, in the spillway, 25 Pied and 6 Grey Wagtails.  A Kingfisher sat on the side wall spying down.

16th Juily - hot and humid, very light NW, 24C

Willey; my eye was caught by a waving Butterfly wing on the path, I then realised it was being moved by an Ant, sometimes 2, eventuallythey travelled about a meter with it to their nest area.

Cotesbach landfill; a look here mid-afternoon, the only new visitor was a Little Egret.

Stanford reservoir; a look here around the dam area, in the spillway there was a colour-ringed Common Sandpiper.  I await the details of ringing.
Wagtails are liking this area too, at the moment with 16+ Pied, 6+ Grey and a single Yellow Wagtail present.

15th July - cloud clearing to sun pm, 22C, very light wind, humid afternoon.

Cotesbach Landfill;  not too much around this morning, surprising few Gulls in the sand pit area, presumably most feeding on the tip area.  11 Red Kites, a Great Crested Grebe was new, adult Yellow-legged Gull.

Wolvey; a look around the church and wildlife area, Spotted Flycatchers were once found here, but not this evening.

Most notable were the number of commoner Butterflies. Out, Small Tortoiseshell, Large White, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Large Skipper, Essex Skipper, Common Blue and Comma.  A number of Dragonflies around the pond area, Black-tailed Skimmer, Four-Spotted Chaser, two Emperors and others.

Willey; I noticed this Drinker moth caterpillar making it's way over the lawn today.

14th July - cloudy, some drizzle, clearing to sunny spells, light NE, 20C

Brandon Marsh; a look here in the afternoon.  A single Little-ringed Plover, c70 Lapwings, single Yellow-legged Gull with Black-headed Gulls. A Kingfisher zipped by several times. A Kestrel family feeding and test flying, 3 juvs.

Plenty of common butterflies, including several Marbled White.

Gatekeeper

13th July - cloudy, light northerly, 19C

Cotesbach Landfill. This afternoon an interesting visit focussing on Gulls with Carl.  One Caspian 2S and an East German ringed Caspian hybrid were found. I could see 3 adult/near adult Yellow-legged Gulls at one time plus a number of younger birds were seen.

34 Red Kites were counted, a fantastic sight to see in the Midlands.  A Green Sandpiper dropped in briefly onto a small pool.  A Raven was seen and heard frequently.  A Sparrowhawk flew over and a possible Hobby zipped  passed and through the spinney alarming the Swallows.  A few Swift passed over too.

12th July - sunny periods, WNW breeze, 21C

Willey; this morning a Red Kite flew over low heading east from the grass field.
The Pied Wagtail pair were taking food under the old pan tiled roof.  They raise a first brood elsewhere this year, but nearby.

Cotesbach Landfill; 8 Red Kites mid- morning, a Peregrine sat on top of a spoil heap for ages, just watching and preening.  3 Teal and a few Mallards.

Stanford Reservoir; an afternoon walk here, fairly quite. Plenty of Whitethroats and Blackcaps. A larger mixed roving Tit flock, many Long-tailed Tits, a.single Willow Tit heard.  A Treecreeper was calling too.  A Kestrel was taking food into a tree where Another was heard begging.  Plenty Pied and Grey Wagtails in the spillway feeding.  Only 2 Common Tern for a while over the water.

Quite a few Small and Essex Skippers, hopefully the photos show the difference - Essex black tipped on the antennae.

Also, I spotted a Toad.

11th July - sunny am, becoming cloudy, 23C, very light WSW, humid, showers later evening

Ashby Parva; a walk down Mill lane this morning, several Green Woodpeckers and a Great-spotted Woodpecker.  Whitethroat, Blackcap and Chiffchaff. Two+ Yellowhammers, a pair of Linnets and others later in a nearby hedge.  A Kestrel hunting and a young Buzzard calling.  Several Stock Doves sitting on the old house chimney.

Cotesbach Landfill; a look here after lunch, general just the usual suspects, although the 3 Oystercatchers were present feeding and a single Shoveler spotted sleeping with the Mallards.

Stanford reservoir; in the evening I had a walk here, it was quite, a Common Sandpipoer on the dam was the highlight.

10th July - sunny, becoming cloudy and humid, 23C, light WSW

Willey; the Lesser Whitethroat was singing in territory again this morning near the A5.

Cotesbach Landfill; a look early afternoon, notable was the Greenshank still, 14 Red Kites and 4 Teal.  A near adult Yellow-legged Gull was in the mix, a different bird than the other day.

9th July - mostly cloudy, 22C, light WNW, humid at times

Willey; a Raven this morning flying over the fields to the west.

Cotesbach Landfill; late afternoon - Greenshank, 4 Lapwing, 3 Oystercatcher, 4 Little-ringed Plover, 2 Grey Heron, several Red Kites.

8th July - sunny, 22C, light WNW

Welney WWT; as I was near here today I popped in for a short visit.  Thirty or so Black-tailed Godwits, a few Avocets and juveniles, Redshank, Lapwing,  Oystercatcher, a Common Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plover were some of the waders.  Obviously a few Whopper Swans and Mutes, not many duck yet, a few Shoveler, one Pochard and Shelduck were notable.  Swallows and House Martins all nest around the buildings and hides, in one hide Juv Swallows sat only a few feet away while you walked passed.  Little Egret, Grey Heron and Kestrel were seen.
Plenty of insects and Butterflies to spot if I had more time.

Cotesbach Landfill; a quick look in the evening, Greenshank still present in the sandpit area.

Stanford Reservoir; a midday Chris found 4 Male Common Scoter, fortunately they remained until the evening and I was able to catch up with them.  Not a usual patch bird this time of year.