30th June - mostly cloudy, light SW, 20C

Lilbourne meadows; evening.  Nine Green Sandpipers still, Little Egret, two grey Herons, a Fox.

DIRFT 3; rear east development area.  Gulls gather here pre- roost,  among the Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls, several Yellow-legged Gulls.

29th June - sunny spells, high cloud, light SW, 20C

Lilbourne Meadows; evening.  Main sightings were nine Green Sandpipers and three Wood Sandpipers on the wet meadow. 

Three Little Egrets. three Shoveler, a couple of Swift overhead, a few Swallows and a single Sand Martin,  a Oystercatcher flew in.  

28th June - sunny spells, becoming cloudier, mod, gusty S, 20C

Willey;

Twenty Stock Doves around the firld barn building first thing.

Grass was being  gathered and baled this morning, over the fields were two Red Kites, two Buzzards, a Kestrel and  five Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

Soar Brook Lake; evening.  A female Tufted Duck with six ducklings,  Two Oystercatchers, Great-Crested Grebe pair, a Little Grebe,  34 Mallard, c50 Greylags, a single Little Ringed Plover, two Grey Herons over.

27th June - sunny spells, light/mod SW, 20C, odd shower am

WIlley; 

A singing Lesser Whitethroat this morning near Hurls Furlong pond in hedge, heard previously here.

when picking a lettuce for tea I noticed this month happy resting on it, yet to name it.

Lilbourne Meadows; evening.  Eight Green Sandpipers on the wet meadows.   A Little Egret and two Grey Herons.

A5 Pools/DIRFT;  three Little Egrets,  several Linnets and three Goldfinch.

Shawell sandpit;   a drake Teal (another sign the natural seasons are moving on), a Little Egret (don't get too many in the sandpit).  Several Red Kites and Buzzards.

Graph show my annual Little Egret records at Shawell sandpit

A Fox was taking a long drink.

26th June - sunny spells, mos S, 21C

Eyebrook Reservoir, inlet end pm.  

A good number of Swifts and a few House. Martins overhead.  Five Shoveler, two Teal, an Egyptian Goose with a few Greylag Geese, six+ Little Egret, a Grey Heron.  Three Lapwings,  Common Terns still, two Red Kites.   Male Yellow Wagtail feeding.

25th June - sunny spells, mo/gusty S, 20C, odd short shower pm

Husbands Bosworth quarry; am.  A pair of Yellow Wagtails gathering food for young, a Green Sandpiper, a juv Little Grebe and adult.  Six Tufted Ducks, Mallards and one brood, a couple of Lapwing.

Lilbourne Meadows; afternoon.  Six Green Sandpipers, a Little Egret and Grey Heron.

A Marbled White flew passed.

A5 Pools/DIRFT;   Oystercatcher family still, c10 Linnets feeding, three Little Egrets

Shawell sandpit/landfill; very few Gulls present, a Shelduck, 14 Red Kites, Green Woodpecker, a female Grey Wagtail. 

24th June - sunny, 22C, light SW

No obs today 

23rd June - started hpot, becoming cloudy pm, short light shower, 24C, light ESE

WIlley; a Mistle Thrush was feeding in the cross-in-hand-field first thing.  A Pied Wagtail with food feeding young in the village, second brood.

Lilbourne meadows; five Green Sandpipers this evening, plus Grey Heron and Little Egret.

A5 Pools/DIRFT3; three Little egrets, four Oystercatchers (family), a Curlew flew in from the Rugby pastures.

Shawell sandpit/landfill, late evening.  One Shelduck, a Little Grebe and two Red Kites.  Unfortunately the site had suffered disturbance by Scrambler bikers.

Spotted Flycatcher at private site.

22nd June - sunny, hot, 26C, light SW

Wiley; most morning at least two Ravens patrolling the fields for fallen Sheep/lambs.

Stanford Reservoir, afternoon.  Main sightings included, two Oystercatchers, Two Little  Egrets, two Lapwings, a Mistle Thrush, several juvenile Black-headed Gulls now present, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Treecreepers.

21st June - sunny hot, 25C, light breeze

Lilbourne meadows, afternoon. Kestrel, c10 Swifts, a Little Egret and Grey Heron. c10 Starlings.

Shawell sandpit/Landfill, afternoon.  20 Red Kites, two Yellow-legged Gulls, plus the other regulars.

20th June- cloud clearing to sunny periods, warming to 20C, light N

Willey; this morning a Kestrel was hunting over the pikel paddock and a Chiffchaff was singing from the tall hedgre/Holly tree there.

19th June - motly cloudy, light NWN, 16C

AS Pools/DIRFT; morning.  Six Little Egrets, and a few Swifts over.

Lilbourne  'wet' Meadows;  Two green Sandpipers still, eight Lapwings,  four Gadwall.

Shawell sandpit/landfill; afternoon.  20+ Ravens, single Shelduck, one Little Grebe and four Red Kites.

Stanford reservoir; another female Gadwall, but with only a single duckling, 1-2 days old.  A single teal and the drake Wigeon still.

Four Hobbies over head feeding.  Several Swifts over,, plus all the regulars.

18th June - cloudy, 15C, light NW, light rain later

A5 Pools/ DIRFT; early pm. Four Little Egrets, otherwise nothing new.

Lilbourne 'wet' Meadows;  new in two Green Sandpipers.

17th June - sunny, HOT, 30C, light breeze becoming mod, easing evening

WIlley; a Nuthatch was very vocal first thing in the BH wood.

Shawell Sandpit/landfill; evening.  14 Red Kites and 2-3 Buzzards.  c5 Stock Doves, a single Grey Wagtail and a couple of Pied.

Most Gulls either feeding on landfill or resting in the heat in the sandpit area.

A Painted Lady and several Meadow Browns seen

16th June - sunny periods, high cloud, 26C, light SW

Stanford reservoir; afternoon.

A Gadwall female with five duckling was being cautious under the willows near the point.  An Osprey fly in for about ten minutes before leaving closely hassled by the Common Terns.

Two Treecreepers were collecting food for their young.  Several juv Grey Wagtails around the dam area. 

The water level is about a meter low at the moment and beginning to create ans edge (three Blackwits were seen yesterday) so we may get some visitors.  The Grey Herons like it with several around today.

The Swallow youngsters have fledged too.

Soar Brook Lake; evening.

Two juv Little Ringed Plovers were seen, but no the parents, they looked pretty independent now.  The Oystercatcher pair was present but they don't seen to have raised young this year.

Single Great-crested and Little Grebes were seen, I expect they have partners somewhere in the cover.

15th June - sunny am, becoming mostly cloudy pm. light SW-W, 24C

Lilbourne Meadows; evening.  A Little Egret, two Grey Herons,  eight+ Swifts over, c 50 Starlings on the meadow feeding.

A5 Pools/DIRFT 3; a  Redshank was new in otherwise just the summer regulars.

A Curlew was heard the other side of the A5 on the old Rugby Radio Station area, which is all pastures.

14th June - sunny, 23C, light WNW

Misterton;  All the usual birds, a Grey Wagtail was collecting for at the lake outflow, second brood.

A5Pools/DIRFT; evening.  A couple of Ringed Plover

13th June, light WNW, 18C, cloudy

Willey; a Lesser Whitethroat singing from the Church Lane hedge, midday.

Shawell Sandpit/landfill; later afternoon.

Several Yellow-legged Gulls, Shelduck 2, Gadwall 6, Shoveler 2, Lapwing 2, Red Kite 7.

12th June - sunny intervals, light W, 19C

Shawell sandpit/landfill area; morning

Shelduck two, Egyptian Goose two, Three pairs of Canada geese with 15 goslings.  Five Gadwall.  Green Woodpecker over.

Mere Lane Lake; afternoon.

A Mute Swan pair has 10 well formed cygnets, as you can see in the photos.  typical clutch size is 4-7, so well done on this.

Swifts, House Martin and Swallow feeding over the lake.  Several Reed Warblers singing around the lake.  A couple of singing Reed Buntings too.  Chiffchaff and Blackcap heard.  Two pairs of Little Grebes.  Song Thrush singing.

Many Meadow Brown butterflies today.

Claybrooke Parva; cemetery area.   Goldcrest singing, Parent and juv Great Spotted Woodpecker.

11th June - sunny spells, mod-gusty SW, 20C

A5 Pools/DIRFT; early afternoon.  Pretty quite, only two Ringed Plovers today,  plus two Little Egrets.

I looked at the rear of the development site from the bridle path next to the M1.  Some pools may prove interesting later in the year.

Along the path some areqa of lovely yellow flowers which were attracting many Bees and other insects.  Two Painted Lady's and several Small Tortoiseshell butterflies were about.

A Stoat ran across the A5, making it just!

Shawell Sandpit; afternoon.  14 Red Kites, two Egyptian Geese, a juv Grey Wagtail, three Gadwall, a Grey Heron, Swifts and House Martins over, two Shelducks.  Most Gulls were on the distant landfill area, those in the pit were sleeping.

10th June - sunny spells, mod/gusty SW, 21C

Stanford reservoir; evening.  

A 'bubbling' female Cuckoo, two singing Cetti's Warblers, four+ Garden Warblers, plus the other warblers, a Great Spotted Woodpecker with food.

Two Oystercatchers on the overflow wall, drake Wigeon still, a  Drake Pochard is new in.  Two Mutes Swan pairs with cygnets.  

Juv Grey Wagtail on the dam.

9th June - sunny am, cloud increasing, a little drizzle, mod SW, 17C

Willey; I spotted this moth in the key hole this morning - fortunately before I inserted the key,  I've not named it yet.  —- identity—— An Angle Shades

A5 Pools/DIRFT; evening. still 9 Ringed Plovers and four Dunlins, otherwise pretty quiet.

Shawell sandpit; the colour ringed LBBG (L=H) I saw on the 6th June (see photo) was ringed on the 2nd July 2021 in Cardiff as a nestling.

8th June - sunny periods, 20C, light-mod WSW

Soar Brook  Lake; evening.  Three Tufted Duck, several Greylag families, a Great Crested Grebe, seven Cormorants.

A5 Pools/DIRFT, evening.  

New - two Avocets - first site record I think..

Eight Ringed Plover, four Dunlin, a Little Egret, several Mallard broods, four Oystercatchers (family).

7th June - sunny periods, light W, 21C

WIlley, a Sparrowhawk circled over the fields to the east, moving slowly north.

A5 Pools/DIRFT; evening. a Little Egret, four Oystercatchers, 15 Ringed Plovers and 10 DUnlin.

6th June - cloudy, Ishtar mostly W, 14C

Willey; finally confirmed a pair a Partridge’s I’d been seeing are Grey Partridge, the soon fly and hide in the mowing grass off the track.

A Jay flew out of the Long  spinney over the road to the field hedgerow trees this morning.

One or two Ravens are seen/ heard most days around the fields.

Its been good also to see singing Skylarks over the grass hay fields to the east of the village and over the spring cereals to the west.

A5 Pools/DIRFT; evening.  13 each of Ringed Plovers and Dunlin.  Also a Skylark visited a presumed nest site and carried a faecal sac away.

Shawell sandpit; evening.  Three Shelduck. and other regulars.  

A good number of Herring and Lesser Black Backed Gulls, including a colour ringed bird, L=H.

5th June - light-mod NE, 12C, cloudy, fine drizzle, rain last night

Shawell sandpit; afternoon.  Fairly quiet.

Five Gadwall, two Mute Swans, four Red Kites, a Raven, Green Woodpecker and c10 House Martins, three  Swallows, two Sand martins and a single Swift.

4th June - moderate-steady NE wind, odd short shower, 15C

No obs today.

3rd June - mostly cloudy, steady ENE breeze, 18C

A5 pools/DIRFT,; morning.  two Oystercatchers, a Redshank, Little Egret, and a Ringed Plover.  The latter may have a territory or summering.

Lilbourne Meadows; morning.  16 Garganey, several recent Mallard broods, a drake Shoveler,  Little Egret, Grey Heron, three Little Grebe.

A Yellowhammer with food for youngsters.

2nd June - sunny spells, 20C, light breeze NE

Shawell sandpit; this morning four Shelducks, 12 Red Kites and a Green Woodpecker flying back and forth with food.

Theddingworth; a flock of 17 Long-tailed Tits  and a Great Spotted Woodpecker were seen.

1st June - sunny spells, light S-E wind, 16C

Shawell sandpit/landfill; early evening.  New in was a single Ringed Plover and Dunlin, both looking very smart, on the furthest pool shore.

More Gulls present too, although nothing unusual spotted nor any colour rings.

The Shelduck pair were busy feeding as were the two Canada Goose families with seven goslings.