July was very quiet. On the 2nd I returned to one of my former local patches in Surrey, Tices Meadow, for their BioBlitz. The highlight was five species of clearwing moth during a short, guided tour by Sean Foote. These are stunning animals, and it was the first time I had seen any clearwing species.
On the 25th, whilst on a site visit in Essex, there was an obvious movement of swift, and over the course of 48 minutes, I counted 66 all moving in the same direction.
At the very end of the month, I started searching for returning waders on the patch, as well as at Oare Marshes where I completed the first of several planned autumn visits.
The first returning sanderling, turnstone and golden plover were at Reculver by the month end. Here, four whimbrel, two common sandpiper and three dunlins on the 30th were the first signs of wader movement of the autumn (at least for me).
At Oare, the habitat looked amazing for waders. I managed to count 53 avocet, 19 lapwing, 2 snipe, 1 greenshank and estimated up to 550 redshank and 2100 black-tailed godwit on the afternoon of the 31st. A hobby sat out on the mud, water rail moved at the bases of reeds, but there were no dunlin, stints, or sandpipers. I didn’t mind because there was hope that August would deliver if the habitat remained.
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