Observations
Rye Meads site list increases by one more!
A summary of the birds of July – August 2025
July started blisteringly hot with barely any rain…for yet another month. Substantial rainfall finally arrived on 19th July (which of course was a Saturday) and July was briefly unsettled although without much rain (but at least it was cooler) before slipping back into the regular mini heatwaves which we’ve all come to know and love, and many warblers slipping away with it. Mid August easterlies brought some interest and a wave of birds in the third week but the onset of unsettled weather and westerlies dampened the month’s end in more ways than one.
It was the season when waterfowl become flightless as they moult. Flightless flocks included 22 Mute Swans and 22 Canada Geese, which unusually decided to moult on site, wandering the North in search of swan free zones and palatable short grass. By mid-August, Canada Geese were flying again, numbers swelling to a peak of 280. Few Greylags accompanied them, a peak of just 11. Egyptian Geese were also airborne again and a maximum of 13 flew over; and a pair have started incubating again on the tern rafts in the South!
Ducks were rather disappointing. Shoveler numbers remained low until the first ‘autumn’ arrival of 34. Likewise few Teals were about: no more than six moulting in July, then increasing to 31 by the end of August. There were no Garganeys and the only Wigeons were two late on. Moulting Gadwalls settled at around 250-300 with a peak of 370. Red-crested Pochards reared no young and soon departed, whilst Pochards dwindled toward the end of August as usual following a welcome productive breeding season for them, in that they reared most of the few ducklings they hatched. A female Shelduck was a seasonal oddity at the end of August, when most are at distant moult sites. The explanation became clear when she was seen to be wearing a blue avicultural ring…
Two unsociable Great Crested Grebes summered, one at each end of the site. Grey Herons seemed marginally more numerous and Little Egrets regularly topped double figures peaking at 15 in July, when it seems there was a major fish hatch in the North. The now expected Great White Egret put in an appearance in August.
Major excitement erupted when an adult Black-crowned Night Heron flew north over Draper reedbed at 0919 on 17th July. It was quickly lost behind trees at 3rd Reedbed, so no one knew if it continued north or dropped locally. That conundrum was solved two days later when it reappeared in willows on the east side of No.2 lagoon, and it continued to entertain visitors on and off until 26th July. It is the first for Rye Meads following an unconfirmed sighting in the 1970s by Dave Carr (which surely was one) and this finally completes the Rye Meads list of all the regular European ardeola –phenomenal for an inland site in Hertfordshire. It becomes the 232nd species on the Rye Meads list.
Raptors were surprisingly scarce with just the odd record of our regular five, until an autumnal Marsh Harrier dropped in. But the second star bird of the period was undoubtedly the ‘Ringtail’ Harrier seen briefly by a lucky few on the mid-morning of 15th August. Thirteen seconds of phone footage and some expert opinion soon had it identified as a juvenile Montagu’s Harrier, and it later emerged that Britain’s only nest brood (from ‘a fair way away’) had started to disperse the day before! The only other Montagu’s Harrier record at Rye Meads was a female heading north on 25th May 2013, although there are a very few unconfirmed ringtail harrier sightings from the migration periods in the record.
Despite breeding on Lee Marsh, Kestrels were only recorded on six days in the period under review; they were evidently foraging out west rather than the meadows. Hobbies have also been scarce with just seven sightings of singles. 1-2 Peregrines were regular.
Vocal Water Rails seemed unusually prevalent as we slipped through August (max 5) even calling from areas unassociated with breeding, hopefully indicating a good season from our rather mediocre breeding tally – we have fewer pairs in a dry year. Autumn Coot dispersal saw 332 by the end of August, mainly loafing around No 1 lagoon.
Waders made a very poor showing despite adequate habitat; 1-2 local Oystercatchers were intermittent throughout July with a juvenile then three (apparently the whole family) in late August, hanging on rather later than we have come to expect. Lapwings remained steady at 2-5 throughout and Little-ringed Plovers had gone by the end of July. Otherwise July produced a Common Sandpiper and a surprise Redshank – they are not usually an autumn bird. Green Sandpipers built up to seven and the first Snipe returned with the onset of light north-easterlies. Anticipation grew; an adult Dunlin and a Common Sandpiper whet the appetite…..it turned out to be nibbles…..there was no main course.
With dry conditions and a windfall funding event, HMWT had the meadows cut and baled by mid-August so we wait in eager anticipation for the surge in interesting birds out there.
A few more Common Tern sightings of 2-3 birds were probably Amwell families, but two noisy parties totalling eight birds moving southwere probably passage birds. The first Common Gull of the autumn pitched up early.
A Juvenile Cuckoo netted in the CC in July was the last of the year. The Swifts were away early with only two sightings in August. The first Swallow roosts were slow to develop and numbers have remained low, with a peak of only 30. Only a handful of Sand Martins have accompanied them. House Martins were very scarce through July (maximum only four!) but numbers grew as the weather deteriorated, with counts of 40, 60 and then 90 moving south around a storm front, which was actually our best count since 2018.
So to the warblers – early signs are of a bumper breeding season for warblers (which hasn’t been an over-used phrase in recent years) with big ringing days throughout July, but a slowing of the pace as we reached August and our home bred birds began to drift away. Summers with prolonged hot weather often stifle second brood attempts. Fears that autumn numbers would just fade were proved unfounded when an overnight sudden rush of birds in August logged 66 Chiffchaffs and a day total of 171 birds ringed. Clearly it has been a great year for Reed Warblers, Cetti’s Warblers and Chiffchaffs. Blackcaps showed early promise but have faltered (for now at least), and better ringing totals for Garden Warbler and Whitethroat are encouraging. The Lesser Whitethroats of late June were proved breeding but passage birds are all but missing. A slightly better autumn passage of Willow Warblers (there having been only one spring bird) was indicated by the ringing totals (19) and a maximum of six on site. With no Goldcrests recorded on territory this year singles on two dates in August were the first since March. Autumn passage of Yellow Wagtails was limited to three records involving just four birds.
No Chaffinches or Linnets were recorded in the period, but a small flock of Greenfinches were frequenting the South lagoons with up to 15, and a juvenile Bullfinch was caught and ringed – a rare bird now. Goldfinches were mostly recorded in single figures with a maximum of 15.
An astonishing butterfly record to end with: a Purple Emperor was seen (and papped) sitting on a car in the carpark on 28th June. So astonishing in fact that it got missed from earlier reports!