The clear highlight of the month was successful breeding by two pairs of common tern (above). From around the middle of May, terns had been permanently present on one of our tern rafts, and it certainly looked like there was an incubating bird. However the same situation seemed to be happening last year, with no actual breeding being seen. This year though, two tern chicks were seen early in the morning on June 11^th in the area where the apparently incubating bird had been. Soon after that on the same morning, another chick was seen jumping about in the ‘pit’ in the middle of the raft, and this chick already looked about a week old! The older chick (below) eventually fledged on the last day of the month. Around one hundred pairs of common tern breed in London each year, but these are the closest to central London, and this is probably the most urban site in London where they are breeding. It is believed they nested here in the early 1990’s, though the outcome of that breeding attempt is not known. This site would have been much less urban in those days.

The other highlight of the month was a brief one, when a hobby flew northbound over the woodland trail on the 3^rd. We generally get a few sightings of this species here each year, with their nearest breeding site being only a few miles away.

Shoveler (below) is a species which is usually present here in the winter, disappearing in late spring to breed before returning for moulting season in late summer. This year though, there doesn’t seem to have been any discernible gap between the leaving and arriving dates, so up to three birds were seen throughout June.

The situation with shelduck was similar, with a pair being seen frequently in June, although not after the 22^nd. Little egrets breed not far away at Walthamstow Wetlands and were seen here regularly through the month, with a maximum count of four on the 29^th.

The four common warbler species here, reed warbler, Cetti’s warbler, chiffchaff and blackcap all bred in good numbers this year and were all feeding young by mid-month. There were a few species which usually breed here but apparently didn’t this year. Reed bunting (below) are a declining species in the London area and didn’t breed here this year although there was a singing male in the reed-bed on the 15^th. We usually have one or two pairs of breeding sedge warbler but we had no sightings at all in June. Little grebe are a secretive species in the breeding season, and although we did have a well-grown juvenile here on the 25th, they probably didn’t breed here this year. Coal tits didn’t breed on site but did breed nearby at the Castle Climbing Centre, and presumably that family was seen here frequently in the last week of June. Another bird which bred close-by (in Abney Park) and visited here often was sparrowhawk, which were seen hunting regularly including one bird which has a distinctive hunting technique of flying across the reservoir very close to the water before swooping upwards to catch prey species in the reed-bed.

The total number of bird species seen here in June 2024 was 55, a figure a few lower than the recent average but equal to the 2017 total and 12 behind the total for 2016!