July 1st-8th: back in the game

I had a rare visit out of London on July 1st, albeit not that far out with a day trip to Box Hill with friends. Principally a trip for butterflies it usually turns into a general nature walk, often beginning with looking for moths at the underpass. This time was pretty good with Swallow-tailed Moth being the best.

Common Footman

Marbled White Spot

Riband Wave

Swallow-tailed Moth

We began the slow climb up the steep slope, finding Pyramidal and Common Spotted Orchids although the latter were going over compared to last year when we were here at exactly the same time.

Common Spotted Orchids

Common Spotted Orchid

Pyramidal Orchid

There were plenty of butterflies on the wing including Marbled Whites, Ringlets and the hoped for Dark Green Fritillaries. Once we reached the top of the hill it was time to admire the views and have a short rest.

Dark Green Fritillary

Marbled White

We walked along the ridge path, stopping to look at the headstone of a local who chose to be buried vertically before we reached the National Trust car park and cafe.

After a pause for hot drinks we had a look over the road, adding a brief Silver-washed Fritillary to the butterfly list. Usually we take the stepped path down to the river but it was closed for repairs which according to the signs should have been finished several weeks ago. So we had to descend the hill and walk around to the river where we stopped for lunch. As we got back to the station a Little Egret flew over and we heard our first pesky parrot of the day, a recent arrival in the area.

On Saturday I popped down to the Wetland Centre for a few hours. I wasn’t expecting to see much although recent reports of Black-tailed Godwit and Wood Sand suggested there may be some waders. In the event there was no movement and the only waders were local breeders including a pair of Oystercatchers with two half-grown young. One of the adults sat on an island and called to them continuously as if trying to get them to come over but as they bred on a raft the young will have to stay there until they’re much older and can fly. A pair of Little Ringed Plovers were unaccompanied by any young so presumably failed to breed this year.

The following day I went to a new area: Ten Acre Wood and Gutteridge Wood, collectively called Yeading Woods. Surrounded by meadows and a golf course that’s in construction this large green space in suburban west London has a lot of potential. It’s been an area I had wanted to visit but wasn’t quite sure how to access it so a friend showed me around the place. July isn’t the best time to visit but we did see several Red Kites which presumably breed nearby, including what I think is the first one I’ve actually seen perched in London.

Haven't identified this fungus yet

Red Kite

We also saw Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and heard a singing Skylark. Hopefully, I’ll get back here later in the year.

I was back in West London the next day, this time at Staines Res where I was hoping to catch up with a Red-necked Grebe that had been present for the previous few days. A couple of local birders on the causeway told me where they had last seen it and after a few minutes scanning I picked it up, swimming against the north bank on the north basin. It was an adult in summer plumage so looked very smart despite the distant views. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one in this plumage and as I didn’t go for the one on KGV earlier in the year it becomes number 171 on my London year list, the first addition for a month.

Also on the reservoirs were a little gaggle of Egyptian Geese, the first ones I’ve seen here and six Black-necked Grebes, all in summer plumage. Two of these were close to the causeway, giving great views and were even calling as well. On the banks I located a roosting Black-tailed Godwit but I didn’t venture to the other end of the causeway to look for the pair of Oystercatchers that were there.

Black-necked Grebe

Egyptian Geese

Instead I left early to head over to Kensington Gardens to search for Little Owl. It meant taking the train back to Waterloo then the tube up to Lancaster Gate. By the time I arrived it was lunchtime and quite hot as well as heaving with people so it wasn’t a great time to be looking for these birds. I wandered down towards the Round Pond and checked the area out but couldn’t find any. At one point I heard some mobbing so I paused my lunch and went to investigate. A pair of Chaffinches were berating a Magpie that was eating something in their tree, possible one of their nestlings.

With no hurry to get home I took a bus up the Edgware Road to look out for interesting restaurants to visit at a later date.

I managed a couple of visits to Brent during the week. There hadn’t been much change since last week with a few Lapwing, Green and Common Sands around but one of the breeding pairs of Common Terns had hatched a chick.

On the intervening day I joined a Herts & Middx Butterfly walk at Ruislip Woods. I met my friends at Wembley Park and we took the Met Line to Ruislip where we ran into Neil at the bus stop. At the Lido there was time for coffee and cake at one of the beachside cafes before the walk started.

The group set off at 10.30 and headed into a meadow to look for butterflies and whatever else took our interest including moths, ladybirds, flowers and birds. We entered the woods and found the two main targets there: White Admiral and Silver-washed Fritillary. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen White Admiral so it was good to catch up with it again although they didn’t settle for photos. We worked our way along Poors Field over to the northern side where the Purple Emperor spot is.

Silver-washed Fritillary

We had lunch and waited for the sun to come out but the overcast conditions meant we only had fleeting glimpses of one probable Purple Emperor over the canopy. Rather than walk all the way back to the Lido we walked the short distance to the local bus stop and took the bus to Northwood Hills station.

On Friday I decided it was time to visit Rainham for the first time in over a month. With an early start I arrived at Rainham station at 07.30 and by the time I started walking through Rainham West it was already fairly hot. A few warblers were still singing but most of the Cetti’s had now shut up as they undergo their post-breeding moult.

Looking out from Serin Mound almost all the pools had dried up but I did manage to find a solitary Avocet. It was high tide in Aveley Bay so there weren’t any waders there either. I did a circuit of the reserve but it was pretty hot and there wasn’t a lot moving. Purfleet scrape only had a little water in it but there were no birds there as there was someone cutting the vegetation in front of the hide.

I had a look in the Cordite in case the Long-eared Owl was back but it wasn’t so plodded on to the KB hide. The Great Crested Grebes had bred successfully and a well grown youngster was following its parents around. In front of Butts Hide there were three juvenile Little Ringed Plovers and a group of feisty Little Egrets which kept chasing each other off. The best sighting was at the dragonfly pond which was almost dry but a male Bearded Tit was feeding on the mud the whole time I was there. At least one juvenile also came in but didn’t hang around.

Bearded Tit