Wednesday 22nd saw 5 Common Sandpipers on the lake early morning.Sadly they had disappeared by the evening.

It was still very gloomy but I managed this distant shot of four of them.
On Friday 24th a Hobby was chasing through the many Martins and Swallows without success.
Two Ravens over north was a great site as they called loudly before one came back south.

One of the Ravens

The following day (25th) there was a good fall of migrants following overnight heavy showers.

These included 20 Willow Warblers,a Sedge Warbler,12 Chiffchaffs, a Whitethroat,4 Blackcaps,3 Reed Warblers and best of all 2 Pied Flycatchers (102)(one found in the sheltered corner of the lake and one in birches on the Shirrenden side)Sadly neither could be found the following morning as alot of birds had cleared out overnight.

                                    SOME MORE SHOTS FROM A RECENT HOLIDAY

Purple Swamp Hen

Amazing birds

Juvenile Stonechat

A good day on the patch with a Sedge Warbler(101) added to the year list during an early walk before work.Also seen were 14 Mandarins and a couple of Reed Warblers.

This evening there were lots of hirundines over the orchard with 60+ House Martins and 25 Swallows. A whitethroat and 2 Blackcaps were by the pumping station and a Marsh Tit was also present. Two Yellow Wagtails flew from the bean field in swigs.

No photos to add from the patch so I've added some from a July holiday to Mallorca.

         Audouin's Gull 

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Little Bittern

I'll try to add a few more images in the future.

The patch has ben in the doldrums of late with occasional better days but autumn passage has begun with good numbers of Willow warblers, Chiffchaffs,Blackcaps and Whitethroats around the lake and in the bean field in Swigs.
Just one Lesser Whitethroat and a couple of Garden Warblers have been found amongst them.
A few Reed Warblers are around the lake and a Kingfisher has recently appeared.
Mistle Thrushes increased to a high count of 35 on 29th July.
Spotted Flycatchers have been hard to find on the patch year so I was delighted to find one in the horse paddock in Furnace Lane this morning.

A juvenile Peregrine was in Shirrenden on 6th August.

Yesterday a Yellow Wagtail went over S/E and Grey and Pied were also seen.It was pleasing to record all three in one day on the patch and probably the only time I have done so.

Another surprise this morning was a juvenile Little Grebe on the lake,

This mornings Little Grebe

Also of note today was a flock of  180+ House Sparrows on the wheat in Kirkins.

Just come back from a family holiday in Devon so I've attached a couple of shots of a Dipper I took there.

Devon Dipper