The return appearance of Little Owls, the first Ruff for seven years and a one night visit by a probable Night Heron were the highlights of another good month. July also saw Garden Warbler belatedly added to the annual list along with a second Nuthatch of the year. In all, 82 species were seen with the three additions taking the year list to 131 - just one behind both last year and 2021 and eight ahead of 2022.
With the exception of good numbers of Common Terns, it has not been a great breeding season. Last year's successful pair of Barnacle Geese, after losing their entire brood earlier in the summer, had a second attempt but their five young again soon disappeared. Shelduck fared no better with the last remaining young bird, despite being well grown, also vanishing early in the month. The parents departed for the coast as usual, almost immediately.
Tufted Duck and Pochard breeding numbers continue to be disappointing. By the end of July, only five Pochard broods had been seen compared with 15 last year. While the Pochard breeding season will be pretty much at an end, August will likely see more Tufted Duck broods appear. But here too - despite the picture above showing a female marshalling two broods - the story is worrying. By the end of the month, just 15 broods had been recorded compared to 46 at the same time in 2022 with only a handful of individuals surviving to maturity.
Whether it is the result of a poor breeding season nationally, the impression that more Tufted Ducks had already arrived to carry out their moult was confirmed when 2320 were counted across the reservoirs on the 31st. It is the highest total for years and very likely to be the largest gathering in London. A few Shoveler and a couple of Teal had also arrived back by the end of the month.
The Wetlands appears ideal habitat for Night Heron but the species remains a mega rarity here with the only recent record a one-day bird six years ago. But hard on the heels of an individual at the Waterworks earlier in the summer, PW had a probable fishing from the south island on No 3 late on the 6th. It was looked for over subsequent days with no luck but there are plenty of places for a Night Heron to remain out of sight.
Just as last year, only one Lapwing was seen pic @Elliott81758817 The five male Ruff - seen by HW and SD - as they circled East Warwick before continuing south were the star waders of the month. They are the first record since a single in April 2017. July also saw, as expected, a selection of other shorebirds moving through. Single Oystercatchers were recorded on the 3rd, 8th, 9th, 22nd and 23rd with the only Lapwing on the 13th.
One of just three Little Ringed Plover seen this month pic @IvorHewstone
Little Ringed Plover were scarcer than usual, with records on the 3rd, 9th and 11th compared to six days last year, but they were the exception. There was a strong passage of Common Sandpipers across the month with a peak count of 19 - one more than last year - on the 20th. Five Curlew flew over on the 20th with two more, or perhaps Whimbrel, distantly two days later.
Three Redshank were seen on the 7th, increasing to four next day with singles on the 12th, 17th and 18th. Black-tailed Godwits, which were remarkably rare in 2023 with only a single bird, seem to be be back to normal in their frequency. After the first of the year at the end of June, there were six over on the 21st and another on the 30th.
It wasn't a great month for large raptors with only one record of a Red Kite on the 2nd and no sightings of Buzzard. But Hobby was seen more regularly than some years with birds on six dates while Peregrine, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel also hunted over the reservoirs.
It was Little Owls, however, which caused the most excitement this month. MLP photographed one, almost a year after the last appearance by the species, hunting near the anglers' hut on the 19th. With luck and patience it could be seen over the next couple of days when close scrutiny of the photographs taken showed there were actually two birds present with an adult and very young juvenile.
It seems unlikely, although not impossible, that birds had been present unrecorded for a year so perhaps a pair had bred nearby and an adult brought the youngster to the reservoirs soon after fledging. The same may have happened last year when two birds were also seen and heard for a few days in August. This year there were occasional sightings, usually of the youngster, until the 25th when two were heard calling but there was no reports for the rest of the month.
Great Black-backeds raised two young on No 5 pic @Chris_Farthing
For the second year on the run - and perhaps the only pair in London - Great Black-backed Gulls successfully bred on No 5 with two young seen. Black-headed Gulls had a good year with 75 youngsters counted around the rafts on Lockwood on the 11th . More emerged from the vegetation in the following days so numbers could have reached over 100 across the season.
Common Terns also had a successful season with perhaps 11 pairs raising 23 young on the rafts on West Warwick. Their success is all the more heartening given that numbers seem to have collapsed this year elsewhere in the Lea Valley. RE's annual hunt for young Yellow-legged Gulls on Lockwood produced a good candidate on the 28th. The Kingfisher pair on No 5 raised their second brood successfully with four young fledging on the 31st.
Swift numbers feeding over the reservoirs began to fall sharply from the middle of the month suggesting local birds were already moving south. The appearance of two Swallows on the 7th for a few days also indicated that the seasons were changing as did the passage of small numbers of Sand Martins south.
A Garden Warbler took up residence by the picnic tables pic @Elliot81758817
Another early migrant was an adult Willow Warbler caught on the 7th with, as expected, small numbers including bright juveniles appearing over the last days of the month. RE found the first Garden Warbler of the year on the 18th which kindly fed around the picnic tables for a few days. The second Nuthatch of the year - and only the fifth record across the entire wider patch over the last 15 years - was recorded by SD along the side of Lockwood on the 20th. Yellow Wagtails continued their good year with early migrants over on the 22nd and 28th.
DB @porthkillier @davidbradshaw52.bsky.social
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