July 15th
On a sunny morning we walked from Chamber's Wall to Coldharbour and saw 31 Linnets, 2 Chaffinches, 1 Grey Heron, 4 Kestrels, 1 Common Buzzard, 4 Goldfinches, 6 Skylarks, 8 Reed Warblers, 1 Reed Bunting, 15 Swallows flying W, 4 Meadow Pipits, 2 Ringed Plovers, 4 Oystercatchers, 9 Mediterranean Gulls, including 2 juveniles, 1 juvenile Yellow-legged Gull, 2 Pied Wagtails, 2 Turnstone, 2 Coot and 1 Green Woodpecker.

Black-headed and Mediterranean Gulls with a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull standing behind

July 14th
I had to take the car to the garage in Canterbury this morning so we didn't get to Reculver until 0950 but at least the early mornng rain had moved through. We walked up to Coldharbour and counted 3 Pied Wagtails, 13 Oystercatchers, 4 Meadow Pipits, 6 Little Egrets, 11 Linnets, 23 Mediterranean Gulls, 8 Ringed Plovers, 2 Turnstone, 1 Sandwich Tern, a flock of 35 Gannets flying E close in shore, 80 Black-headed Gulls, 9 Cormorants, 1 Common Sandpiper and 1 Grey Heron.
We also saw 2 Marbled Whites.

A juvenile Mediterranean Gull preening

July 13th
On another very warm morning we walked from Chamber's Wall to Coldharbour and saw 6 Whitethroats, 31 Linnets, 7 Goldfinches, 10 Skylarks, 6 Coot, 1 Little Egret, 5 Ringed Plovers, 6 Oystercatchers, 9 Meadow Pipits, 4 Mediterranean Gulls, 1 Turnstone, 2 Whimbrel flying W and calling along the seashore, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Corn Bunting and 2 Kestrels.

Ringed Plover

July 12th
We spent a beautiful summer's morning ringing on the Marsh south of the railway and saw 1 Mallard, 40 Whitethroats, 4 Chaffinches, 25 Reed Warblers, 1 Green Woodpecker, 7 Yellow Wagtails, 6 Sedge Warblers, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 5 Goldfinches and 6 Linnets.

Birds ringed 85: Wren 1, Whitethroat 36, Reed Warbler 20, Sedge Warbler 4, Linnet 2, Great Tit 7, Robin 1, Chaffinch 1, Blue Tit 5, Blackcap 1, Dunnock 3, Blackbird 4.

Sedge Warbler

July 11th
We spent another morning ringing at Reculver where we saw 24 Swifts flying NW, 14 Blackcaps, 2 Grey Herons, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 80 Sand Martins, 6 Whitethroats, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 1 Kestrel, 5 Siskins flying W, 18 Reed Warblers, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Garden Warbler, 6 Cetti's Warblers, 14 Lapwings flying W, 5 Chiffchaffs, 4 Goldfinches and 1 male Marsh Harrier.

Birds ringed 38: Chiffchaff 3, Wren 3, Blackcap 7, Reed Warbler 13, Cetti's Warbler 2, Reed Bunting 1, Whitetroat 6, Blue Tit 1, Great Tit 1, Blackbird 1.

Whitethroat

July 10th
We nearly didn't go ringing at Reculver this morning but luckily the overnight showers cleared through by 0600. During the morning we counted 2 Avocets flying over and calling early on, 5 Cetti's Warblers, 1 singing Corn Bunting, 2 Grey Herons, 2 Common Buzzards, 550 Swifts flying NW throughout the morning, 100 Sand Martins feeding over the fields, 10 Blackcaps, 12 Reed Warblers, 2 Moorhens, 1 Kestrel, 1 moulting male Marsh Harrier, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 1 Hobby, 3 Whitethroats and 2 Lapwings flying N.

Birds ringed 20: Blackcap 7, Cetti's Warbler 3, Reed Warbler 6, Robin 1, Great Tit 1, Dunnock 1, Blackbird 1.

Juvenile Cetti's Warbler

July 9th
Matt was out early and between 0545 and 0815 walked from Reculver to Plumpudding and back. He counted 2 Bar-tailed Godwits flying W, 6 Little Egrets, 163 Swifts W, 52 Sand Martins W, 1 male Stonechat and 2 juveniles, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 4 Whimbrel flying W, 53 Mediterranean Gulls, 10 on the beach at Coldharbour and 43 on the beach at Plumpudding, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Grey Herons, 1 Gannet W, 6 Curlew W, 2 adult Common Terns feeding 2 juveniles at Coldharbour, 1 Sandwich Tern, 1 Greenshank in Coldharbour, 1 adult summer plumaged Dunlin at Plumpudding, 8 Ringed Plovers, 8 Oystercatchers, 3 Turnstone, 1 juvenile Rock Pipit at Plumpudding, 30 juvenile Pied Wagtails and 60 Linnets.

Greenshank at Coldharbour

Mediterranean Gulls at Coldharbour

We arrived at Chamber's Wall at 0730 and walked up to Coldharbour and recorded 11 Goldfinches, 4 Green Woodpeckers,13 Skylarks, 3 Chaffinches, 1 female Tufted Duck with 5 ducklings, 2 Cetti's Warblers, 6 Linnets, 96 Swifts flying W, 1 Grey Heron, 3 adult Common Terns with 3 juveniles, 4 Mallard, 1 Coot, 2 Sand Martins W, 1 Greenshank in Coldharbour, 3 Reed Buntings, 8 Meadow Pipits, 4 Oystercatchers, 2 Little Egrets, 7 Reed Warblers, 3 Sedge Warblers, 3 Whitethroats, 4 Ringed Plovers, 1 Turnstone, 5 Mediterranean Gulls and 1 Pied Wagtail.

Skylark

Female Tufted Duck hiding with it's five ducklings

Common Tern family at Coldharbour

July 8th
After the heavy morning rain had passed through we walked from Reculver to the Green Wall and back and recorded 1 Pied Wagtail, 6 Goldfinches, 3 Grey Herons, 13 Cormorants, 4 Little Egrets, 3 Stonechats, 2 Oystercatchers, 12 Linnets, 4 Meadow Pipits, 23 Mallard, 3 Reed Warblers, 3 Great Black-backed Gulls, 1 Redshank, 4 Reed Buntings, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull flying W and 1 Kestrel.
During the rain this morning we had a Humminbird Hawk Moth feeding from a Buddleia bush in our garden.

July 7th
On a glorious summer's morning we walked from Reculver to Coldharbour and back. Birds we saw included 4 Pied Wagtails, 4 Lapwings W, 35 Linnets, 2 Swifts W, 12 Swallows W, 1 Kestrel, 5 Oystercatchers, 4 Meadow Pipits, 3 Sedge Warblers, 5 Little Egrets and 5 Stonechats consisting of 2 adults with a second brood of 3 recently fledged juveniles. We also saw 8 Cormorants, 3 Reed Buntings, 1 Grey Heron, 4 Reed Warblers, 2 Ringed Plovers, 64 Black-headed Gulls W, 1 Common Tern, 5 Whitethroats, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull and 4 Goldfinches.

Male Linnet

July 6th
It wasn't quite so windy today as we walked from Chamber's Wall, along the Green Wall and back via Coldharbour but there was nothing new to see. We counted 45 Linnets, 4 Green Woodpeckers, 11 Skylarks, 15 Reed Warblers, 12 Whitethroats, 3 Swifts, 3 Chaffinches, 2 Sand Martins, 1 Corn Bunting, 8 Reed Buntings, 5 Oystercatchers, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 3 Little Egrets, 1 Turnstone, 2 Ringed Plovers, 1 Pied Wagtail, 2 Meadow Pipits and 1 Cetti's Warbler.

We received an interesting ringing recovery this evening concerning a ringed Goldfinch that Matt controlled in his Tilmanstone garden on July 2nd. It had been ringed on 26th April 2020 at Portland Bill, Dorset and had flown 273 km ENE. 
British Goldfinches are partial migrants with some remaining in the UK in the winter and others moving into France and Iberia. This bird could very well have been one of the latter caught at Portland on its return flight from Europe and then being controlled at Tilmanstone where it was breeding.

July 5th
On another very windy, but surprisingly humid, morning we walked from Chamber's Wall to Coldharbour where we sat on the beach for half an hour. We counted 260 Swifts flying SW into the wind, 2 Green Woodpeckers, 4 Whitethroats, 2 Chaffinches, 4 Mute Swans, 6 Skylarks, 7 Reed Warblers, 3 Reed Buntings, 2 Coot, 2 Linnets, 1 Common Tern, 2 Meadow Pipits, 3 Oystercatchers, 3 Cormorants, 3 Sand Martins, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 3 Turnstone, 2 Mallard, 2 Ringed Plovers and 2 Sedge Warblers.

Skylark

July 4th
On an unpleasant and very blustery morning Matt walked in from Reculver and we walked in from Chamber's Wall and met at Coldharbour. Between us we recorded 1 Kestrel, 72 Swifts flying SW, 1 Green Woodpecker, 4 Chaffinches, 4 Whitethroats, 5 Reed Warblers, 2 Swallows, 5 Linnets, 8 Skylarks, 1 Coot, 6 Reed Buntings, 5 Mediterranean Gulls, 4 Oystercatchers, 2 Ringed Plovers, 1 Sandwich Tern, 2 Common Terns, 1 Greenshank in the Oyster Farm, 2 Little Egrets, 12 Turnstone, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Meadow Pipits and 2 Sedge Warblers.

July 3rd
We arrived at Shuart early to spend a morning ringing and were amazed by one of the first birds we caught which was a superb male Redstart.

Male Redstart

During the remainder of our stay we counted 3 Green Woodpeckers, 2 Chiffchaffs, 6 Blackcaps, 24 Whitethroats, 25 Reed Warblers, 3 Skylarks, 8 Goldfinches, 5 Swallows, 12 Lapwings, 2 Lesser Whitethroats, 4 Kestrels, 10 Sedge Warblers, 2 Greenfinches, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Little Egret, 2 Mallard, 3 Crossbills flying S and 9 Swifts flying W.
We also saw 6 Marbled White butterflies.

Birds ringed 59: Wren 2, Whitethroat 16, Blackcap 2, Common Redstart 1, Reed Warbler 16, Sedge Warbler 7, Goldfinch 3, Linnet 1, Great Tit 4, Blue Tit 2, Reed Bunting 1, Dunnock 2, Blackbird 2.

July 2nd
On a pleasant sunny morning we walked from Chamber's Walll to Coldharbour and back. We saw 11 Skylarks, 10 Whitethroats, 14 Reed Warblers, 3 Chaffinches, 2 Swifts W, 5 Swallows 14 Linnets, 1 Coot, 5 Reed Buntings, 3 Goldfinches, 1 male Marsh Harrier, 4 Oystercatchers, 3 Sedge Warblers, 7 Meadow Pipits, 13 Mediterranean Gulls, 11 adults and 2 first summer birds, 2 Ringed Ploverss, 2 juvenile Pied Wagtails, 1 Little Egret, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 16 Turnstone, 1 Mallard and 1 Lesser Whitethroat.

First summer Mediterranean Gull

A pair of Mediterranean Gulls with the male behind the female and still displaying

July 1st
We spent the morning ringing at Reculver where we saw 548 Swifts flying W, 4 Whitethroats, 69 Sand Martins, 14 Blackcaps, 2 Common Buzzards, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Garden Warbler, 5 Cetti's Warblers, 2 Sparrowhawks, 10 Reed Warblers, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 4 Chiffchaffs and 1 Jay.

Birds ringed 23: Chiffchaff 2, Wren 1, Cetti's Warbler 2, Reed Warbler 5, Blackcap 10, Whitethroat 1, Dunnock 1, Blackbird 1.