Lade and Kerton Quarry - cloudy, humid, light airs - Spent the morning on the local patch surveying the breeding birds in misty, murky conditions where fledglings were everywhere. Around the willow swamp seven species of warblers were present, while on the water Dabchicks appear to have had a good breeding season judging from the number of juveniles seen, but no sign of any Great Crested juvs as yet. Mallard, Coot, Gadwall and Mute Swan were all confirmed breeding. The mid-summer build-up of Pochards is already underway with at least 120 on north lake plus a drake Red-crested Pochard in eclipse plumage (thanks to Dave Scott for sending through his pic below), presumably the same individual that was on ARC earlier in the week. At Kerton Quarry, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Little Ringed Plover, Egyptian, Greylag and Canada Geese were all confirmed breeding. It was a busy night in the garden moth trap with 30 species of macros logged, including Small Emerald new for the site and a host of hawk-moths.
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