The start of July

I've been plugging away at the patch since the start of July; there are a few waders starting to trickle through, and water levels at Mons Pool look promising for the main passage period. Fingers crossed for something good, but birds so far include peak counts of 5 Green Sands, 2 LRP, 2 Avocet and single Redshank (a juv, not bred here) and Greenshank. 

On the breeding bird front, the Coots and Great Crested Grebes on Ferry Lane Lake continue to do well, with the young growing fast and more on the way (with another batch of Coots just hatched, and another Grebe nest). The picture at Mons Pool is less good, with almost no young waterfowl at all so far - a couple of young Shelduck disappeared fairly quickly, but there were 5 Mute Swan cygnets there today; there are currently two active Grebe nests, but a bit more rain will see those flooded out. However, the Little Egrets have clearly bred successfully (with an incredible 34 nests this year, apparently), with several juvs around, including a CR'd bird today (blue BL), and there are at least 2 young Kestrels in the box.  

Cow-wath has produced a family of Little Grebes (with 4 young), plus several more young Coot. There are also plenty of young Coots at Meering, but more exciting are the two nesting Common Terns; one of these had a chick and an unhatched egg today, with the second bird sitting tight, except when it flew up to harass a passing Sparrowhawk. Also there, a female Tufted Duck had five ducklings today.

And finally a word about Turtle Doves; the most I've had this year at Collingham have been two singing concurrently near the Parish Field. One of these, or possibly a third, was purring by the works on another date. However, I haven't seen or heard one at Meering at all this year, which is a bit of a disaster, and maybe the beginning of the end for this species around here, which would be tragic.