31st JUlt - Sunny, hot, 33C, light SSE

Cotesbach landfill, a quick look this morning.  six Little Grebes, six Red Kites, a Common Sandpiper, plus other regulars.
Generally quite today, too hot!

30th July - becoming sunny and hoy, 27C, light S

Willey; Four Cormorants flew west of the village towards Newnham Paddox early morning..

Stanford Reservoir; c10 Yellow Wagtails around the dam.

First Painted Lady of the year seen..

29th July - Mostly high cloud, light SW, 20C

Willey; Raven over calling at 1210h, heading SW.

Cotesbach landfill; this evening a Green and Common Sandpiper.  Six Little Grebe, two Red Kites, plus the other regulars (Mallard, Tufted, Coot, Gulls etc).

A Fox appeared briefly scavenging the waterside.

28th July - sunny, spells, mod W, 19C

Cotesbaxh Landfill; about 1230h Carl Baggot called to say he had found a juv Mediterranean Gull, so I had to go have have a look.  We don’t get too many Med Gulls in this part of the Midlands.  A Common Gull was also present, these should start to increase in occurrence as Autumn progresses.  Several Yellow-legged Gulls too.  Also, present was a Green Sandpiper. But, best was an appearance of Four Hobbies, two adults and two juveniles, which did some greats flying as the juvs dashed about and chased the adults.

Shawell Lagoons; a look here, 30 Lapwing, a Cormorant and two Yellow-legged Gulls.

Stanford Reservoir; this evening a Little Egret and two Grey Herons were on the dam.  The main sighting was of 14 Grey Wagtails, a Yellow Wagtail and several pied Wagtails feeding in the spillway.

27th July - windy, S to W, 19C, light rain/ showers

Cotesbach Landfill; this evening a Green and twoCommon Sandpipers, plus a juv Dunlin in the sandpit area.  A Grey Wagtail, plus all the regulars.
Green Woodpecker and juvs heard in the spinney area.

26th July - sunny spells, mod SW breeze, 20C

Willey; six Mistle Thrushes this morning on the Sheep pasture.

Cotesbach Landfill; very quiet, except a Peregrine was attempting to catch a Coot chick, on the third attempt it picked one up and took it over to the spoil heaps where it ate it, got a distant record photo.

A Swift, House and Sand Martins plus Swallows over the sandpit area.  Six Little Grebes - adults always chasing the juvs off.

Eyebrook reservoir; a look here during the afternoon. At the inlet, three Common Sandpipers, a single Black-tailed Godwit, Lapwings, three Teal and Shoveler, a few Gadwall, Little Grebes, a good number of Great-crested Grebe. Only a single Grey Heron seen. Starling (13) on the shore side.

A Red Kite over, a few Sand Matins too.  Plenty of Common terns over the water and still feeding youngsters.

25th July - sunny spells, becoming cloudy, light rain and thunderstorm late, 20C, light SW

Willey; this morning, eight Mistle Thrush feeding on the Sheep pasture to the west.

Cotesbach Landfill; a look early afternoon.  A Common Sandpiper was present and eight Little Grebes.  A Whitethroat family was in the lane side hedge and the  tall grass along the footpath.  About 70 Starlings were present on the landfill, could a Rosy Starling be attracted here I wonder.   Other wise nothing else new.

24th July - sunny spells, light SW, 23C, humid

Willey; a Red Kite was over the Perkins fields first thing this morning.

Stanford reservoir; a look here this afternoon. there were lots of Wagtails on the dam and spillway/field areas, at least 20 Yellow Wagtails, plus Pied and Grey Wagtails.  A Green Woodpecker flew off the dam.  A Song Thrush was singing from the point. A few Warblers were about, but most were hiding well as they do this time of year, whilst moulting.

Plenty of insects, especially on the fallow field, many Common Blue Butterflies and some Brown Argus.

Cotesbach landfill; late afternoon, a Common Sandpiper having a bath.

23rd July - sunny spells, 21C, light SW

Cotesbach Landfill; 10 Red Kites seen today.  And the Shelduck were back, both parents with six juvs, so my recent doom and gloom about them was mistaken.

Later they were on the Sandy lane pools.

Otherwise, all the other regulars.

Shawell Lagoons;  very quite, the Lapwing flock still remains at 28.

22nd July - sunny spells, high cloud, light SW, 22C

A busy day, so not much time.

Willey; this evening 30 Swallows were sitting on the telegraph wires (2000h).

Cotesbach landfill; early evening, nothing new, a Common Sandpiper still feeding in the sandpit area.

21st July - sunny spells, becoming cloudy, light NW, 19C

Cotesbach landfill; a Common Sandpiper this evening.  Itwould seem the Shelduck family have moved on, having not seen them for a few days now. Four Little Grebes, a Grey Heron flew in and a Green Woodpecker called from the spinney.

Stanford reservoir; very little happening this evening. Five Yellow Wagtails were with the Pied on the Sheep field and around the dam area.  A Little Egret flew east over the dam.  The Tufted Duck female still has her two ducklings.

20th July - sunny spells, light-mod NW, 18C

Willey; early 11 Mistle Thrushes were on the Perkins Sheep pastures.  After lunch two ravens were around the same area.

Cotesbach landfill; a quick look just before mid-day did not produce much. The Oystercatcher (bad leg) was preset, five Red Kites seen, no doubt more out of view behind the spinney.

19th July - mostly sunny, light SW, 20C

Shawell lagoons; new this morning a single Dunlin, record photos.

Buchnell Wood (Northants).  A number of Crossbills have been reported here this week, so this aftenon I went to see - I didn't find any Crossbills.

other birds included Treecreeper, Blackcap, Marsh Tit with food, Nuthatch, Green and Great Spotted Woodpecvkers plus others.

Silver-washed Fritillaries were in good numbers along with other common butterflies.

A Roe Deer buck walked out and showed a little along a ride.

18th July - cloudy, light SW, 22C

Willey; this morning six Mistle Thrushes were on the telegraph wires over the Perkins Sheep,pasture.

Cotesbach Landfill; new In was a Common Sandpiper in the sandpit area.

Cossington Meadows; a walk here in the afternoon.  On the top pool were five Green Sandpipers, a Common Sandpiper, Four Little Ring Plover and Oystercatcher, plus Heron and Little Egret.
On Tern pool it was good to see 3 broods of Tufted Ducks, two large Gadwall ducklings and a female Shoveler with five Ducklings.  A good selection of other birds were seen too.

17th Juily - mostly sunny, 22C, light WSW

Willey; a Kestrel and Buzzard hunting over the hay fields in the Perkins area.
Mid-dayish aHobby flew along the village street, probably looking for young Swallows.

Shawell lagoons; 24 Lapwing this afternoon, again a Fox came out, the GUlls decided to leave but as usual the Lapwings keep and eye on it and just walk along the shore.  With the Lapwing a Black-tailed Godwit.

Eyebrooke reservoir; a look here this evening. At the inflow three Black-tailed Godwits, a Green Sandpipoer, Redshank and Snipe.  On the grassy area three Whinchats were busy feeding.

16th July - sunny spells, light NW, 20C

Shawell lagoons; a look here in the evening, 22 Lapwings, but other things were soon flushed as 5 Foxes were on the shore line and in the green cover.  It looked like 3  from one family and 2 from another as the former disappeared after spotting the latter.

Cotesbach landfill; Green Sandpiper in the sandpit area, no Shelduck fami;y.

15th july - mistly cloudy, spots rain at times, light NW, 17C

Cotesbach landfill; a look this afternoon - in the sandpit area a Green Sandpiper and Oystercatcher, Peregrine resting in usual place, plenty of Pied and single Grey Wagtail feeding around water edge. 
Only one juv Shelduck seen.

Five Red Kite and two Buzzards. Plenty of Hirundines and Swifts again feeding.

14th July - cloudy, sunny spells late, 17C, light-mod NW

Shawell Lagoons; 22 Lapwing this evening.

Cotesbach Landfill; a Peregrine sitting in usual place, three Red Kite, a Green Sandpiper, Oystercatcher (injured leg one), a Lapwing, Four Little Grebes, Raven flew over to landfill area.
The Shelduck family flew in over me, fist time I’ve seen them fly, but we know they were at Stanford Reservoir a few days ago. However, there was only four juveniles, not six, so will the two catch-up with them again?

13th July - high cloud, light SW, 18C, spots of rain/ brief showers

Misterton; a look here just before lunch for Spotted Flycatchers, I wasn’t disappointed, I found a pair feeding recently fledged young, two were visible, I think more were higher in the canopy.

Shawell lagoons; the evening became low cloud and dull so there was not much activity.  18 lapwings were on the mud, along with a few Mallard and a single moulting drake Teal.

Cotesbach landfill; in the sandpit area the Shelduck family, an adult Little Grebe, a single Red Kite and Buzzard.
.
A small number of Swift were feeding along with Sand Martins, some were family groups as the juvs often follow the parents hoping for food, I guess.

12th July - sunny, light SW, 20C

Willey; about 1630h a Raven was flying and calling over the Moors Lane fields.

Cotesbach Landfill; this morning very little in the sandpit area. Two Juv and one adult Little Grebe, the Shelduck family, five Red Kites, Great Spotted and Green Woodpeckers.

Stanford Reservoir; early afternoon. New in were two Redshank on the dam, spotted by Chris this morning, still present and resting.  Otherwise, just the regulars were on view.

     Great-crested Grebe with chick

Butterflies included fresh Peacock, Red Admiral and Gatekeepers.

Black-tailed Skimmer

11th July - sunny periods, light NW, 29C

Willey; a Red Kite and three Ravens this morning (0830h) over the Perkins fields.

Cotesbach Landfill; a new bird in was a Greenshank. Shelduck family still.

SHawell lagoons; very quiet; On the road a dead animal = looked very like a Polecat (or hybrid), to damaged to tell.

Cropston reservoir; a look here after lunch, fairly quiet, 4 Mandarin Duck though.

Swithland Reservoir; next a look here.  In  the south section 22 Mandarin Duck, also a single Teal.  At least 7 Little Egret and 5 Grey Herons around the reservoir.  Two Grey Wagtails on the dam, and a Green Woodpecker in the works area.  Two Raven flew over the outflow area.

10th July - sunny spells, light-mod NW, 17C

Shawell lagoons; new this morning was 15 Lapwings and a Cormorant.

Cotesbach Landfill; two Peregrines were resting on the bank.  The Shelduck family still, although it seems they may have made an early short  excursion to Stanford reservoir as Chris saw, we think this family, there on the dam.  Otherwise the regulars, including the Oystercatcher.


Stanford reservoir; afternoon visit. As I mentioned yesterday I had not seen any young Tufted Duck here this year it was apt that Chris spotted a female with two (not many!) ducklings this morning. They were still present near the point this afternoon.  Also, new in were five Shoveler.

Four Yellow Wagtails were around the dam, three juvs and a female. All the warblers (except Garden) were seen, only one Tree Sparrow at the feed station.  A couple of Ravens flew over southward and a Little Egret headed west over the dam.  In total I saw/heard 48 species this afternoon.

Being a much better day Butterflies were on the wing again, including Commas, Peacock, Large Whites, Ringlets, Gatekeeper  and Meadow Browns.

A reasonable number of Froglets/Toadlets were seen on the path in a few places.

               Gatekeeper                               Comma

An interesting looking Fly joined me on the seat - a Large Marsh horse Fly - locally scarce