June 21st-30th: half the year gone

This blog marks the halfway point of 2022 during which I’m attempting a big London Year List. It hasn’t felt much like that during June with only one addition (Barn Owl) but it does tend to be the quietest month of the year. There were a couple of other birds I could have tried for but didn’t: a Quail at Canon’s Farm/Tadworth (scuppered by train strikes) and Wood Sandpiper at Rainham which only stayed a day. Hopefully I’ll get another chance at the latter, probably at the same site but Quail will most likely elude me all year.

For the last third of June I spent most days at Brent Reservoir where the autumn wader passage was just getting going with variable numbers of Green Sands and Lapwings each day and the odd Common Sand and Little Ringed Plover. It also gave me a chance to look for roosting moths and have regular hacks at the invasive Himalayan Balsam which is rampant in East Marsh. The official method of getting rid of it is to uproot each stem but when faced with thousands of plants it’s not realistic so I usually resort to decapitating them just before they flower. Usually they don’t have time to regrow and disperse their seeds so it’s pretty effective. And a lot more fun! In the sunnier periods there were plenty of dragonflies and butterflies to look for with Gatekeeper new on the wing.

Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet 

Marbled White

Comma, showing how it got its name

Black-tailed Skimmer

I ventured over to Fryent CP one day, showing a couple of friends around. It’s only a short walk from Wembley Park, albeit uphill so it’s easily done by public transport. At the end I left them by the bus stop to get back to the station although I didn’t realise they’d stopped running due to an event in the area. We had a pleasant walk around, admiring the views across the Thames basin and northwards towards Stanmore. The best bird was a Red Kite that flew over a couple of times and some Marbled Whites.

On the penultimate day of the month I visited another local green space for the first time: Roe Green. I’d been past it on the bus before and thought it looked worth checking out. I walked there from the top end of Brent Reservoir. Although there is a lot of open grass with sports pitches, there are pockets of woodland. It wasn’t the best time of year to explore it but it has potential. I just about managed a circuit of the park before a cloudburst and had to run for cover.