16th August

A family group of Spotted Flycatcher were present at the eastern end of the site today.
S Bradley...

5 Crossbill flew over (first site record this year) and 2 Common Sandpiper were present.
S Cawthray...

August 12th

Another addition to the site year list today came in the form of a partially moulted juvenile Spotted Flycatcher. The bird was present late morning at the eastern end of the main pool. Another relativley unusual site record this morning was the presence of 4 Shovler, also at the eastern end of the main pool. Dispite this species being common throughout the middle tame valley, records from Shustoke are rather sparodic. Also present was a single Common Sandpiper, 4 Common Tern and 2 Swift.
L Johnson...

August 6th - About time...something a little more interesting!

The last few weeks have been rather quiet with 2 Common Sandpiper and the regular 3 Common Tern. The first real sign of any movement occured this morning with 2 Garganey, present with the Mallards at the eastern end of the main pool. This is the first addition to the site year list for two months, and comes several years since the last site record of the species. The birds still seemed settled feeding in amongst the Mallards at 11:30, so hopefully will hang around for a while. Also present this morning were singles of both Common Sandpiper and Common Tern.

L Johnson...

June 30th - 14th July

Usual story for the summer months with the site being generally very quiet. Highlights of the last few weeks have included 3 Common Tern (including 1 juvenile), several records of up to 3 Oystercatcher and a single fly over Redshank. There have been good numbers of Meadow browns and Ringlets around the site, and the last week in particular has been exceptional (especially given the low numbers last year) for Small tortoiseshell, with up to 40 in the meadow.

As wader passage begins to gather a little more momentum locally and large numbers of crossbills move through the country, hopefully it will only be a matter of time before something a little more reasonable turns up.

L Johnson...

June 30th

4 Oystercatcher were present briefly late morning. A Red admiral butterfly was along the north shore of the main pool, with good numbers of Ringlets and Meadow browns around the site.

During the last two weeks numbers of Lapwing and BH Gulls have increased on site. The hot weather has produced good numbers of Common blue and Azure damsels, with a single Southern Hawker also noted.

L Johnson...

June 5th

New additions to the site yearlist are rather rare during June and July, so a singing Reed Warbler was nice surprise this morning. Although this species is relativley common throughout the Midlands, due to the lack of habitat on site this represents just the second site record of the species. Also noted today were 3+ Painted Lady and a Small copper butterfly, 1 Black tailed skimmer, 5+ Blue tailed Damsels and 30+ Common blue damsels.
L Johnson...

End of May to June 4th

Visited the site several times since my last post, but as spring migration draws to a close, the number of interesting species at the site decreased rapidly. Very little of note has been present in the last fe weeks. Highlights have included a pair of Gadwall on one date only and single Oystercatchers over on several dates. A Large Red Damselfly was by the bridge earlier in the week. Butterflies have been relativley thin on the ground, with the exception of Painted Ladies; with the highest count being at least 50. Small Copper has also been noted on most days.
L Johnson...