I paid a second visit of the summer to the Grand Union Canal at Wilstone and Wilstone Reservoir on the 2nd. An unidentified emerald damselfly, caught in a spider's web and close to death, was the only notable sighting along the canal but the reservoir, with plenty of mud around the fringes as water levels continued to fall, provided a bonanza of wader species (greenshank, redshank, dunlin and common sandpiper along with the ever-present lapwings). A water rail emerged on more than one occasion to feed on the mud and I was able to pick out and photograph the garganeys (a female and a juvenile) that had been present for a few days beforehand. As I was leaving a bird watcher pointed out to me a juvenile black-necked grebe that had flown in after I had arrived. I was lucky to catch this bird, because it had gone the following day. The only disappointment was that I couldn't pick out any Mediterranean gulls (seen on the previous and following days) from amongst the hundreds of black-headed gulls that were loafing around.
Female (right) and Juvenile Garganey, Wilstone, 2 August
Female Emerald or Scarce Emerald Damselfly caught in Web, Wilstone, 2 July
The lure of adding another bird species to my UK list saw me driving down to Romsey in Hampshire on the 4th. My target bird was a whiskered tern, the only one of the three 'marsh terns' (the others being black tern and white-winged tern) that I had yet to see here. The bird spent most of its time perching on various branches of dead trees, at one point coming close enough for me to get a few 'record shots' With a bit of imagination the dark belly, dark red bill and legs of the tern can be seen in the image below! An osprey was also present and I noticed that an artificial nest had been erected, presumably with the plan of attracting ospreys to breed here. On the way home I stopped off to look for silver-spotted skipper butterflies at Aston Rowant nature reserve on the Oxfordshire - Buckinghamshire border. I arrived in the early evening and the site was very quiet (except for the noise of the drone being flown by an annoying individual) - I did eventually manage to see a couple of the skippers, but they proved to be too fast for me to photograph.
Record Shot of a Whiskered Tern, Romney, 4 August
Spotted flycatchers are becoming quite rare in Hertfordshire, but on a family visit to Althorp (the Spencer family seat and last resting place of Princess Diana) on the 6th I was amazed to see these flycatchers in three separate areas. A recently-fledged juvenile was sitting on a seat in a shelter, with its parents calling to it outside. I managed to get a photo of it before quickly moving on.
Recently Fledged Spotted Flycatcher Chick, Althorp, 6 August
It isn't every day that a mega, 'UK first' bird species is discovered less than an hour's drive away from home, but this happened on the 7th when a 'Cape gull' (African sub-species of kelp gull) was found at Grafham Water (Cambs.). I let 'the great and the good' share the bird on this Sunday, before visiting on the following day, when only 30-40 bird watchers were present. The bird didn't exactly play 'hard to get', spending most of its time perched on the railings leading from the dam to the water tower, but my first view of it was on the side of the dam, maybe 40 feet away! When the bird was perched on railings it was accompanied by at least four other species of gull (yellow-legged, herring, lesser and great black-backed) and at one point (image) one of each species was photographed side by side! A possible first summer Caspian gull was also present on the railings for a short time. What an afternoon for gull watchers!
Cape Gull, Grafham Water, 8 August
Five Different Gull Species (Cape Gull in the Middle), Grafham Water, 8 August
In another hot week I visited Eyebrook Reservoir (Rutland) on the 10th to (successfully) see a white-rumped sandpiper. I think that the heat really got to my head on the 12th because, having heard that hundreds of Balearic shearwaters had been seen in 'wrecks' or passing by Portland Bill, I decided to go there to look for them for myself - a 188 mile, four hour journey each way. The last time I had visited, in July 2020, I had wonderful views of Balearic and Manx shearwaters close in to 'The Bill'. I also saw a very localised species of butterfly, the Lulworth skipper. I had visions (Dreams?) of something similar happening again, but instead when I arrived at 10.30 I was confronted with hundreds of holiday makers and nothing other than a few hundred gulls out at sea! Was this to be my biggest ever bird watching trip disaster? Well, possibly not because after about 40 minutes of sea watching a single Balearic shearwater flew east past the bill, giving good views (it's a pity that my camera was still in my rucksack). Another hour of sea watching produced nothing, so I wandered east along the coastal path, past numerous disused quarries, counting at least 16 wheatears in the fields, but nothing much else. I was too late to see Lulworth skippers. My misery was compounded by a return journey that took 51/2 hours, thanks to roadworks and an accident on the M25. 'Serves him right', I hear you say.
Wheatear, Isle of Portland, 12 August
Black-tailed Godwit in Flight, RSPB Titchwell Marsh, 16 August
Sand Wasp at Dersingham Bog, 16 August
On a visit to The Chilterns on the 26th I looked in at Weston Turville reservoir, hoping to see the purple heron that had been present there for a few days - a bird that I have never seen in the UK. However, apart from a possibly erroneous early morning report, it appeared that the bird 'had flown' and it was not seen again. However, a visit to Wilstone Reservoir, nearby, provided me with sightings of black-tailed godwit, greenshank and hobby, all 2022 'firsts' for me. The trip also included a visit to College Lake, and I was back there on the 28th, leading an RSPB Local Group walk on which 53 bird species were seen.
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