June birding

June is often a quiet month for birding and with long spells of hot dry weather in the capital, it was particularly slow. I usually turn my attention to insecting instead but even that was hard at times with dried out waterways and vegetation.

Beam Parklands

I visited my local patch five times in June and walked up into Beam Valley CP a few times as well. The Cuckoo was still calling and warblers such as Blackcap, Common & Lesser Whitethroats started singing again after raising their first brood. Small and Essex Skippers were both found after a bit of searching along with a few other common butterflies but the only dragonfly seen was Black-tailed Skimmer.

Pair of Black-tailed Skimmers

Dagenham Chase

I managed a respectable 14 visits this month. From the middle of the month there were clear signs of the autumn migration commencing with a rise in the number of Lapwings on The Slack (reaching 20 by the end) and the first returning Black-headed Gulls. The water level is severely low at the moment but they are proposing to start pumping water into it this week.

I spent a lot of time searching all the elm trees for White-letter Hairstreak but to no avail. Although there are a lot of elms, there's very few mature ones as the rest have succumbed to Dutch Elm Disease. 

Last year I saw a lot of damselflies on Crowfoot Marsh but haven't found any this year and I suspect it's because of the dogs that go into the water. If the dogs have been treated with a particularly toxic anti-tick/flea treatment it washes off in the water and kills off all the insects.

Despite all this I still managed to find a reasonable number of insects here this month. After finding the first Marbled Whites in the area last year, their colonisation continues and this year they've expanded their range out of Fels Field.

Black-and-Yellow Longhorn Beetle

Marbled White

Red Admiral

Ringlet

Rainham Marshes

I went to Rainham three times but only did the loop around the reserve once. I was particularly targeting dragons and damsels and managed six species, a fairly low total as it was a struggle to find any damselflies. I was especially pleased to find and photograph Norfolk Hawker as that was my main target for the day.

Norfolk Hawker

Ruddy Darter

Small Red-eyed Damselflies

I also had a wander around the country lanes outside of Rainham Village hoping to find some partridges. I didn't manage any but instead saw a Barn Owl which was probably bird of the month.

Goresbrook Park

This small park is a couple of minutes walk from my house but I rarely visit it as it's a bit hopeless. A river runs through it - The Gores - but is hideously choked with Himalayan Balsam. There's been some attempt to plant trees and shrubs but they're mostly dead which is a shame as it could be a nice place with a bit more effort. I had a wander round looking for butterflies, most of which were feeding on a Buddleia.

Comma

South London

I ventured south of the river a couple of times, first to Epsom Common to look for Black Hairstreak. It was just my second visit to this site, the first being many years ago to see a Little Bittern. It's a fairly easy journey on the train but there are some very specific instructions to follow to get to the hedge the hairstreaks live on. 

As we got there I saw one fly past and then never saw any more for the whole time we were searching. We met a few other people who were also searching but they hadn't found any although they had been seen earlier in the week. I'll give it another go next year. At least there were other butterflies and insects around and we got great views of White Admirals.

Variable Longhorn Beetle

White Admiral

The following week we went to Crossness where the Ruddy Shelduck was located on the foreshore. It was one of the hot days so we only walked part of the route and took a bus  back to Abbey Wood station.

Ruddy Shelduck

Small Red-eyed Damselflies

The dry summer has taken its toll on my garden and everything is looking like it belongs in the Atacama Desert. However, the few flowers that are thriving have been a boon for insects and I found a few Small Skippers on the lavender in my front garden and, best of all, a Bee Beetle in the back garden, a really stunning insect.

Bee Beetle

May Birding

After the rush of incoming spring migrants in April it predictably quietened down in May but I did manage to see a couple of hoped for good birds in London.

Rainham Marshes

I managed 12 visits in May, starting on the 1st when I left The Chase hurriedly on news of a Blue-winged Teal at Rainham. It was best viewed from the riverwall and showed well when it was feeding then it tucked itself up for a nap.

Female Blue-winged Teal, Rainham Marshes

It was the third Blue-winged Teal I've seen in London (the others were at Brent Res & Fairlop CP) but it was the first record of this American duck here so proved popular for the Rainham patchlisters during its short stay. A Ruddy Shelduck of unknown origin flew in while I was there.

A Little Egret in full breeding finery put in regular appearances right in front of Ken Barrett hide during the month and was very popular with the togs.

Little Egret

Another long-staying white bird was a Spoonbill, often seen on Purfleet Scrape; although I think there were actually two different birds.

Spoonbill eyeing up a Tufted Duck

It was also a good month for waders, particularly so in the second part of the month with several flocks of Ringed Plover and Sanderling occurring. My best day of the month was on 24th when I found a Bittern flying in from the east, an unexpected bird for this time of year as most Rainham records are in winter. Even better was to come whilst we were stood on the riverwall as Sam found a Roseate Tern on the Thames which we managed to see a couple of times. Surprisingly it was also seen the following day allowing a few latecomers to catch up with this fairly rare bird in London. We also managed to see two Curlew Sandpipers in with a flock of Sanderling.

Common Sandpiper

Knot

Whimbrel

Red Kites were seen regularly over the reserve and Hobby numbers increased during the month but no one was able to nail a Red-foot despite the national influx of this scarce falcon.

Corn Bunting on the Tip

As the spring migration petered out it was time to start looking for insects with more butterflies and dragonflies on the wing but this month happened to be good for moths as well. Wall butterfly seems to be having a good year at Rainham with frequent sightings along the riverwall.

Azure Damselfly

Cinnabar

Cream-spot Tiger

Dewick's Plusia

Small Copper

Small Tortoiseshell

Small White

Dagenham Chase

I visited here 12 times this month, one of which was an afternoon trip to see a fine drake Garganey having spent the morning at Rainham where I had seen another Garganey.

Garganey on The Slack at Dagenham Chase

Beam Valley

I made weekly visits to both Beam Parklands and Beam Valley CP. With most of the summer migrants now seen with the obvious omission of Hobby here, I was mainly recording breeding birds but did still manage one new bird for Beam Parklands when a Shelduck flew over. I also called in to Breton's Park to check on the heronry.

Warren Gorge

I visited this nature reserve at Chafford Hundred for the first time. I took the 372 bus to Lakeside Shopping Centre then walked through the car park and railway station to the Gorge.

Greylag Goose family

Other sites

I also made single visits to King George V Res, Beckton Creekside, Barking Riverside, Parsloes Park and Hutchinson's Bank. The latter was at the end of May and was a bit disappointing for butterflies apart from Small Blue which were everywhere.

Small Blue, Hutchinson's Bank

Peacock, KGV Res

April birding

April is my favourite month of the year as it sees the arrival of the summer visitors, both birds that are coming here to breed and others that are just passing through on their way to breed elsewhere, as well as a big emergence of insects. 

Patch year lists increase at almost every visit and the bird song goes up to number 11. Some years a rare bird or two will pitch up in London and I'll be tempted to go and see it but that didn't happen this year, most likely a result of the almost continuous fine weather that allowed birds a clear passage. Apart from Hoopoes which had a bumper year in the UK with maybe up to half-a-dozen in London.

Rainham Marshes

I visited Rainham 14 times this month, just one short of half the month. I made sure I was there on the days it actually rained but they surprisingly didn't produce any interesting migrants. During the month I did manage to connect with my main targets on the Thames: Arctic Tern, Black Tern and Little Gull. The only one I missed was Sandwich Tern which typically appeared on days I wasn't there.

The wader passage picked up from mid-month with a decent showing of Bar-tailed Godwits and regular Whimbrels with a few Grey and Ringed Plover sprinkled in as well as two Greenshank. Again, more birds were seen whilst I was elsewhere: Knot, Ruff and Little Stint but there's always May which is traditionally better for waders.

Grey Plover

Grasshopper Warblers were reeling from at least three different spots and all the other regular warblers were around but I never did manage to track down the elusive Garden Warbler. Wheatears were playing hard to get, no doubt taking advantage of the nice weather and going straight to their breeding grounds until late in the month when a few were along the river wall.

Great Egrets and Spoonbills were seen on the reserve but the best water bird was a drake Red-crested Pochard that I found which then proceeded to hang around. They're fairly rare here and the few that have turned up before didn't stay long. I missed the last one as I was in Costa Rica last year so it was a nice one to add to my patch list.

Red-crested Pochard

Raptors were on the move as well in April with frequent Red Kites over, high-flying Buzzards and an arrival of Hobby at the end of the month.

Red Kite

I had hoped to put in a 'big day' again this year but it was hard to find a day with the right conditions and on the only potential day the reserve was closed due to a lack of staff so that scuppered that plan.

Another April favourite - Orange-Tip

Dagenham Chase

I managed 13 visits this month, often walking up through Beam Valley and one afternoon twitch when there were a few waders around. I'm sure we miss waders here as there was no one here on the wet morning when Bar-wits were seen at several London sites.

On one notable day mid-month I found a singing Garden Warbler and was just on my way back to The Slack to see a Wheatear that had just arrived when a Weasel ran out in front of me - three patch ticks! Out of all the spring arrivals I think Wheatear is the one bird I look forward to seeing the most. I added another patch tick later in the month when I popped up in the afternoon to see a Dunlin that had come in with a Little Ringed Plover in the rain.

Wheatear

Dunlin & Little Ringed Plover

Sum-plum Dun

Swallows breed at the riding school at The Chase

Beam Valley

Most of the regular summer visitors arrived this month with Cuckoo being pretty vocal on recent visits. Reed Warblers, Blackcaps and Whitethroats quickly settled in and later in the month Lesser Whitethroats arrived but no Garden Warbler yet.

Chiffchaff

Egyptian Goose on a tree stump

Tylers Common

I popped over here early one morning for my annual Nightingale fix. As usual there were a couple of rival males singing at each other around the pond. There were also Cuckoo, Garden Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat singing.

Pages Wood

As I didn't spend long at Tylers Common I decided to visit the nearby Pages Wood as I hadn't been here before. It's a little bit in the middle of nowhere, between Upminster and Harold Wood. I started at the north end, near the 346 bus stop. There's a good path network around the wood.

The most unusual birds here I discovered was a pair of Bullfinch, a hard bird to find in London nowadays. I exited in the SE corner and walked towards Upminster and caught the bus back to the train station.

Barking & Becton

I found time for a couple of Thames-side visits late in the month, at Barking Riverside and Becton Creekside. I was hoping for a few waders but there were none around on the days I went. The Ravens are nesting on one of the pylons at Becton, probably the closest pair to the centre of London.

Raven

On the foreshore at Becton I watched a Heron battle an Eel. Every time the Heron attempted to eat the Eel it formed a loop making it difficult for the Heron to swallow it. The Heron kept dropping it and biting its head and eventually it succumbed and the Heron was able to swallow it.

Heron with Eel

On one walk down to Dagenham Dock station I heard a Black Redstart singing and saw it on subsequent visits.

1st-summer male Black Redstart on a security light

With April now over, I'm hoping that May will produce some much needed rarities as I've caught up with all the regular summer visitors.