Well thank you July...

My first SFYT since May I reckon. 

Greenshank 1 - Quail 0

Well, yesterday I managed to find a Greenshank (at last) on GLE, and also get gripped off by Carrie with a Quail from our bedroom while I was at The Lodge!

Some you win, some you loose.

Stuff to find in July

I had a little think about what we might be looking for in July.  Below are a few reporting rate graphs from BirdTrack showing a few species of interest.

It looks like our chances of bumping in to a Quail are diminishing, especially as we head further in to July:

Two gulls should be at their 'most findable' in July - Med Gull and Yellow-legged.  So if you haven't manged to find these two, get in to some fields and scour some gull flocks.

I put Greenshank in as jammy Bashford has found the only one in Beds this year.  However autumn, from July onwards, is by far and away the peak time for this regular wader to pass through.

Nothing

Has anyone found anything in the past month?  I know I haven't.  Been too pre-occupied with looking for Corn Buntings (and hoping I'll bump in to a Quail or Monties).  I have found over 110 singing Corn Buntings though!

BBP

It's the season for BBQs but all I seem to get is BBPs... Bikes, Barley and Partridges.
A good number of Corn Bunts with a few Yellow Wags and Reed Bunts in the fields to pass the time though.
Still not going to self-find a Quail standing in the garden wearing an apron and cooking burgers...

Non-singing Quail

Went up to 'Potton Heights'  (Hatley Road) this morning with no specific targets in mind, although when I arrived, I said to myself ''I'll have to come back this evening and listen for Quail.'' This is a site that I was getting fed up with visiting at dusk in the vague hope of Grasshopper Warbler and/ or Nightingale last month.

Bugger me if twenty minutes later, I didn't flush a Quail from a grassy farm track - the first I have actually seen in the County. I must have been no further than five yards from it before it flew into the crop. I wouldn't exactly say I am a loud person, but neither do I possess the stealth of a ninja. What struck me about the bird's behaviour upon being flushed was how Jack Snipe-like it was - completely silent and a low flight over only a short distance and into cover.

ATB,

DOM

jip jip jip jip jip

Lucky I only found five Crossbills around New Wavendon Heath on Sunday morning otherwise the title of this post would have been even more tedious. One more on the SFYL but not found a new Firecrest colony yet. Quail may be the only other thing to really look/listen for this month specifically, I'll have to join the carbon friendly crew and get the bike out in the evenings