Tuesday 7th July

Another day of Mediterranean Gull passage with 95, including three juveniles, in the Railway Saltmarsh and others elsewhere, taking the day's tally well into three figures. Also in the estuary 18 Sandwich and four Common Tern, including the first juvenile of the latter. 

Wader counts included 38 Redshank, 14 Whimbrel, eight Turnstone, six Bar-tailed Godwit, three Greenshank, two Dunlin and two Grey Plover. The first juvenile Redshank and Turnstone showed that early returning birds are not necessarily failed breeders.

Elsewhere the female ‪Eider was on the breakwater at Langstone Rock with a Kingfisher and a Little Grebe at the Main Pond.

Other Wildlife: Another good day for butterflies with a Brimstone along the Back Path alongside the usual species. Nectaring insects included the cuckoo bee Black-thighed Epeolus E. variegatus and a Willow Mason Wasp Symmorphus bifasciatus. 

Black-thighed Epeolus E. variegatus - Alan Keatley

Willow Mason Wasp Symmorphus bifasciatus - Alan Keatley

Species of cuckoo wasps noted included Glowing Cuckoo Wasp Hedychridium ardens and Golden Cuckoo Wasp Pseudomalus auratus searching for hosts.

Golden Cuckoo Wasp Pseudomalus auratus - Alan Keatley