June Update

Now, June is supposed to be notorious for birding, or the poor quality thereof. So here's my June so far in only NUMBER bullet points:

• Saw the Red Kites in Wales on 1st June (and actually got Wood Warbler and Dipper on my lifetime list, so not THAT bad).
• Spent five days in Lisbon, Portugal where I got very close to hundreds of Swifts, saw some kind of Treecreeper, and a group of what I can only think were Sardinian Warblers. Nice eh?
• Got an e-mail back regarding that Common Tern that I found the leg ring on - it was ringed in June, 2000 at Bedfont Lakes, West London. So it's 11 years old and breeding about 21 miles from its birth site! Assumedly male as it was feeding its mate who didn't leave the raft. Really exciting!
  
• Visited Dad and twitched (and subsequently 'dipped') a pair of Turtle Doves and a Spotted Flycatcher, but got a year-tick in the form of Bullfinch - ridiculously late, I know - and an Aylesbury tick in the form of Red-legged Partridge.
• Decided to start 'mothing'. So far I've identified 2 out of the 880+ macromoths in the UK. They were Heart and Dart and Rustic (ironically I think it COULD have been an Uncertain). Ah well, no doubt I'll find more soon and there'll be some stunners. A full post on mothing soon.

And that's it. I've been too busy with gigs and restaurant-work to do much in the way of birding but from what I've heard, June's not the most amazing time. No doubt July will be quite the same. Exciting news though - Dad and I are heading off to Dorset come 22nd August for four days of birding goodness. Can't wait!