July birding

July typically sees the true start of autumn migration, especially with waders and this was definitely the case this year. There was also plenty of fine settled weather to look for insects as well.

Rainham Marshes

I've started increasing my visits to Rainham after the midsummer break and went seven times this month. I added two new birds to my London yearlist: a Crossbill heard flying over the woodland and a moulting Ruff that was present most of the month.

Ruff with a Black-headed Gull

Also around on the reserve were five Great Egrets, regularly seen feeding out in Aveley Pools. They appear to be a family party so may have bred in the vicinity.

4 of the 5 Great Egrets

A couple of Green Sands hung around but there was no sign of the hoped for Wood Sand so that'll have to wait for next month. Black-tailed Godwits streamed back in decent numbers, mostly still sporting their summer dress.

Black-tailed Godwits

Dragonflies were regularly seen, taking advantage of the sunny weather. On one particularly day I saw Norfolk Hawker, Lesser Emperor and Southern Migrant Hawker, all recent colonists. I still haven't photo'd the last two so I'll keep trying for those. Butterflies are still a bit thin on the ground, possibly due to the heatwaves we've had drying all the vegetation up. I did manage to see a Clouded Yellow on one visit. As usual, Jersey Tigers were frequently seen.

Jersey Tiger

Dagenham Chase

I put in a lot of effort this month with 18 visits. The Slack continued to dry up during the month despite the odd day of heavy rain and a few days of pumping water into it. Green Sands were present on most days with up to six seen but the best wader on show was a Black-tailed Godwit that remained for the entire day and was my first one on the patch.

Black-tailed Godwit and 2 Moorhen

A Great Egret decided that a stretch of the River Rom was to its liking and remained for a couple of weeks. Although mostly visible from the main road by the entrance to Grenfell Park, it often wandered down the river towards The Chase and could be hard to find.

I spent a lot of time searching the elms and oaks for hairstreaks but couldn't find a single one. Gatekeepers were everywhere and I did manage the odd Common Blue.

Common Blue

I also went round all the ponds and lakes regularly looking for the afore-mentioned London colonists but haven't had any success so far.

female Banded Demoiselle

Beam Parklands

I visited seven times in July. My local patch was in the news mid-month when a wildfire burnt a large section of it and got quite close to some adjacent houses. This is the third year in a row that there's been a fire here and while the grassland has already started to recover following some rain, the gorse bushes took a severe battering and may not recover.

Bird wise it was fairly quiet until the last week of the month when I saw my first Buzzard of the year and, even better, heard my first ever Green Sandpiper on the patch.

I also popped into Barking Riverside and Mayesbrook Park but both sites were fairly quiet. Hopefully things will be busier in August.