Saturday 3rd August

A Lesser Whitethroat was the pick of another small fall of migrants along with two Willow and Garden Warbler. A Treecreeper was another new arrival, mobile through the woods in a mixed feeding flock. Overhead 13 Swallow and six Sand Martin.

Early morning at least 21 Balearic Shearwater were in the bay or heading south with eight Common Scoter and two Great Northern Diver also offshore. 

With two high tides the estuary was well watched but the highlight, a moulting adult Curlew Sandpiper was only present briefly on the dropping morning tide. 

Curlew Sandpiper - Lee Collins

Peak counts included 370 Curlew, 236 Black-headed, 19 Mediterranean and two juvenile Yellow-legged Gull, 191 Redshank, 107 Sandwich, five Common and a juvenile Little Tern, 84 Whimbrel, 54 Ringed Plover, 26 Dunlin, 11 Greenshank, seven Bar-tailed Godwit, six Eider and five Sanderling. Wader counts were similar on both tides but tern numbers and diversity was much higher during the evening.

Other Wildlife: In overcast conditions many of the insects were settled on vegetation. The pick being a False Ladybird Endomychus coccineus, a fungus beetle, found on the edge of Greenland Lake, the first for the Recording Area.

False Ladybird Endomychus coccineus - Alan Keatley

A selection of bugs included the leafhopper Eupteryx aurata and the distinctive mirid Heterotoma planicornis. The only dragonfly was a Common Darter in the Entrance Bushes.

Heterotoma planicornis - Alan Keatley

Common Darter - Alan Keatley

Hoverflies were represented by Grey-spotted Boxer Platycheirus albimanus, Pied Plumehorn Volucella pellucens, several Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus and  Broad-banded Globetail Sphaerophoria taeniata, a second new Warren species. 

Grey-spotted Boxer Platycheirus albimanus - Alan Keatley

Broad-banded Globetail Sphaerophoria taeniata - Alan Keatley