June 1st-7th The first day of the month saw me and a couple of friends at Minsmere for a few hours where the highlight was the sight of three Bitterns together in flight over the reeds to the west of west hide. Further single birds were noted from the Bittern Hide later in the afternoon. Apart from that a Nightingale was right out in the open on the path close to the Sand Martin colony near the visitor centre whilst typical Minsmere fair, such as Bearded Tits, Marsh Harriers and singing garden warblers were also seen.
Little further birding was done until the 7th when a visit to Paglesham Lagoon on a drizzly afternoon resulted in at least 200 Swifts low over the lagoon, often zooming past along the embankment a few feet away, 70+ House Martins and 40+ Sand Martins. A Hobby spooked the lagoon for a while whilst an adult pair of MedGulls inspected one of the islands. There was also a couple of first-summer MedGulls and a Cuckoo. However a Swift that had been seen shortly after arriving was a fair candidate for a Pallid but despite seeing it twice both views were both brief and inconclusive. It was unfortunately not seen again despite spending a further few hours searching. The one the got away perhaps.
June 14th Pretty quiet locally so visited nearby Paglesham Lagoon where the non breeding adult pair of Mediterranean Gulls were again present. As with the short visit last weekend many hundreds of Common Swifts were present giving stunning views but other than that very little else here.
June 20th A juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker was in the tree in the back garden early morning for half hour or so. Not a major birding event but is the first juv to be found in the garden to date. Also the juvenile Robin still lingering and the Squirrels have made a feast of the bird food, will have to put a stop to that.
June 28th Spent half an hour counting the Mediterranean Gulls at Southend Seafront between 11.30 and midday on the falling tide. There was already about 100metres of exposed mud which held an increasing number of birds. I ended up with a total of 54; 36 adults and nine each of first and second-summers; this is the highest ever June count in Essex, things are looking good for a new county record this summer. The Meds outnumbered the Black-headed Gulls in a ration of 2-1. There were a couple of colour ringed birds, Green 272 and Green 3XE3. 272 has been returning here every summer since July 2006 when it was a second-summer and originates from the Pas-de-Calais colony. 3XE3 has been coming back every year since 2005 and it originates from a colony at Antwerpen, Belgium. There was also a crisp brown juvenile Black-headed Gull.
In Belfairs Woods early afternoon a tip off led me to getting possibly the areas first twitchable White Admiral. It made a couple of flights along the ride in Dodd's Grove and spent about 10minutes perch on a leaf, excellent. There was also at least 30-40 Heath Fritillaries out here also.
June 29th Return visit to Dodds Grove, Belfairs Woods to try and get some images of the yesterdays White Admirals, which had increased to three by mid afternoon. Due to it's local rarity most local birders have made a visit to see these fine flutterby's with at least one being seen by all visitors. I had one possibly two which kept visiting the very same bush every 20minutes or so where I was able to get a few shots. It, or they, were generally very active and only settled for a few seconds at a time, longest time settled was probably about 15seconds when I got these shots. Most other butterflies in the areas spent some time just sat up which included a bonus Purple Hairstreak by the path in the grass. Heath Fritillaries were out in numbers again today with probably 50+ along the rides. Commoner butties were also here, such as Meadow Browns and Ringlets as well a couple of Large White's and a few skippers.
June 30th Spent a few hours over at Paglesham Lagoon photographing the Black-headed Gull colony which resulted in numerous pictures of recently fledged juveniles plus adults. Also amongst these birds were four Mediterranean Gulls; two non paired adults and single first and second-summers. Shelducks had several broods of various stages, from a month or so old to recently hatched fluff balls. Apart from 11 flyover Black-tailed Godwits and a couple of Common Terns there was little else of note.