mainly bright & sunny, odd brief showers, mod/gusting SW
Lesser Whitethroat - 2
Common Tern - 6+
House Martin - 45
Common Swift - 120+
Sand Martin - 3
Kestrel - 1 f
Pochard - 7
Gadwall - 14
The first time on patch in more than a week (the longest absence for many weeks) after consistently poor conditions and blustery south-westerlies. Surprisingly good numbers of hirundines and especially Common Swifts, many being brought in on a sharp shower, and feeding low over the water. Also at least 6 Common Terns present, using both Reservoirs (and the boats on the West for courtship feeding). The Lesser Whitethroat is still singing on territory at SW corner of East Res., with a second bird about 40 metres east; all other breeding warblers are as is.
Duck numbers remain generally low, but for slight increases in Pochards and Gadwalls; gull numbers are also at a predictably low ebb, with 10 Lesser Black-backs and 4 Herring Gulls (plus 7 of the latter over SN Common later). The water levels of both reservoirs are particularly high, preventing the possibility of any passage waders dropping in, and are expected to remain so for the forseeable future.