Sunday July 20

It was a largely overcast morning, but pretty warm with hardly any breeze. Dave and I started from Netherstead as usual, and steadily accumulated pretty typical bird species, including several family parties of Whitethroats, and also juvenile Sedge Warbler, Kestrels, and Green Woodpeckers. At the main pool the first brood of Tufted Ducks this season totalled six ducklings.

Perhaps it was the presence of this brood which caused us to hurry past and get to the flashes. Here, the despair I exhibited in midweek was proved to be unfounded. The near flash was full of water, and birds. Specifically two adult and three juvenile Shelducks, 67 Lapwings, seven Green Sandpipers, a Redshank, and two Teal.

The three juvenile Shelducks

During our walk we had been noticing that there were a lot of Skippers on the wing, some tatty Large Skippers, and about equal numbers of Small and Essex Skippers posing their usual identification challenge.

Essex Skipper showing its diagnostic dipped in ink antennae tips

We reached a gate over which we often peer. The hedgerow on the far side of the field can be good for migrants. Today came up to the mark when Dave spotted a juvenile Redstart shivering its tail and allowing me the opportunity of a poor quality photo year-tick.

86. Redstart

A little further on I got a nice shot of one of several Common Emerald Damselflies.

Common Emerald Damselfly

The area of long grass at the back edge of the patch is great for insects at this time of the year, and a faint "tip" at my feet led me to find two male Dark Bush Crickets squaring up to one another.

Dark Bush Crickets

The thistle heads were full of Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns, and also a single Small Copper. However, one butterfly which has been a little scarce here this year was pointed out by Dave.

A really tatty Red Admiral

We completed our circuit. Dave had to leave earlier than usual so I decided to head back to the flashes with a plan in mind. Last night I had phoned Mike Inskip to see if he had seen anything on his patch lately, and he said he had found some newly emerged Small Red-eyed Damselflies. I therefore headed back to the pool where they had been found last year, and sure enough about a dozen were present exactly where we saw them in 2013.

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

This species only turned up in the UK for the first time as recently as 1999, but since then they have successfully colonised pools across much of southern Britain. Including here.

I returned to Netherstead feeling pretty pleased with the day, and found it had one more card to play. The 50 or so hirundines were panicking over Netherstead and in their midst was a female Sparrowhawk.

87. Sparrowhawk

A photo year-tick to round the morning off.