Thirty Years Ago - July 1994

2^nd July:

Roy and I headed up to Adrian’s in Cambridge late the night before and as he had been to yet another faculty function [Eds: Sorry Dr W!] I drove us to Titchwell.  We were there by 4am in the hope of getting a space in the hides. We had only been settled in for five minutes when someone found the Collared Pratincole on the nearest island. The relief was audible but patience was required to get all the salient id criteria. A smart full breeding plumaged adult and a much wanted tick. This, the ‘commonest’ of the Pratincoles has been untwitchable since at least 1985 or 1987 and since 1988 I have seen two each of Oriental and Black-winged!.

The Black-winged Stilt – Sammy, was almost up to his first year in residence and he landed just outside at one point.  My 5^th in Norfolk.  During our four hour stay the Pratincole only had one very brief fly round but with that we all cheered, packed up and headed for home with a Barn Owl over the road at Snettisham on the way.

10^th July:

It was a hot and sunny day and Pete and I headed to the sultry Surrey Heaths and embarked on a circular walk around Thursley Common. It was a great success with everything hoped for seen well. Dartford Warblers seemed particularly obvious with at ;east four pair and some young seen and the males were still in song and obviously second brooding.

Families seemed to be the order of the day with Redstart, Stonechat and Woodlark added to the list of commoner species along with Crossbills and Woodpeckers.

Dragonflies were much in evidence and saw 16 species including Golden Ringed and Beautiful Demoiselle and three new ones with Small Red Damselfly and White-faced and Black Darters. 

[Eds: I am not sure when the last year for the WFDs was at Thursley but I had to wait over 20 years to see them again – this time in the Lake District]

18^th July:

Roy and I had a walk up the Lee Valley from Waltham Abbey through Cornmill Meadows. Amongst the Odonata seen were Red-eyed and White-legged Damsels (another new one), Banded Demoiselles, Darters and Hawkers. We popped up to Wake Arms in Epping Forest afterwards and as hoped the Downy Emeralds were still on the wing and one or two had red dots painted on the wings as part of a local study. Azure Damsel was new for the recent growing tally [Eds: my notes say Common Hawker but mmm…] taking me to 23 species in the week and only missing Four Spot Chaser and Migrant Hawker from my total UK list!  Purple Hairstreaks were coming down to drink.

19^th July:

A long and almost birdless walk down the track at Trimley with lots of Skippers, Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers and Black-tailed Skimmers.  [Eds: The growing interest in other lifeforms is evident]

25^th July:

Roy and I popped down to Cliffe to search for the Marsh Sandpiper but to no avail. Lots of other waders were seen with six Little Stints and ten Curlew Sands amongst the usual bits and bobs.

We left and visited Sheppey passing a Little Egret just over the bridge but unfortunately the tide was wrong for fossil hunting at Warden Point so we opted for dropping into Cliffe again in the way home and this time we scored and found the Marsh Sand. A moulting adult with a very white head and upper breast and I am always struck by how small this Tringa is. My 2^nd at Cliffe and 3^rd in Kent. A Wood Sand was also seen and amongst the Tufted Ducks and Pochards a juvenile Black-necked Grebe swam.