Portuguese Tufted Duck returns

Tufted Duck numbers at the basin have risen from three to four since my last visit but the new arrival is the female Red-saddled bird from Portugal, last seen with the red-saddled male on June 4th. Common Teal numbers continue to rise with at least 85 noted today along with a very good local count of 169 Mallard; other wildfowl noted today were six Mute Swans, four at Bow Creek and two on the basin, and four Canada Geese flying south-east. A pair of Sparrowhawks were at Bow Creek including a female perched up on a fence on the Pura Foods peninsula, a Stock Dove was also there and four Common Sandpipers were at Bow Creek. There was a small passage of Common Terns on the Thames totalling 11 birds, most moving west, quite encouraging considering the paucity of this species at the Lower Lea this year. Passerine migrants were virtually non-existent with two Meadow Pipits flying south the only definite movers although two Linnets which stopped over briefly at the basin could have been migrants rather than local birds; the only warbler noted today was a calling Chiffchaff in the Ecology Park. Three species of butterfly were on the wing, several Small Whites, mainly in the Ecology Park and singles of Red Admiral and Common Blue, the latter a pristine male which suggests a recent emergence.