Definitely the month of the juveniles. We have a good population of young Bluetits and also some young Great Tits. The latter caused some confusion since they seem to have rather prominent white nape patches and I confused them with the Coal tits at first.

The Magpies also seem to have multiplied (although it is hard to identify the juveniles with certainty). They have been very aggressive towards the Crows.

Sparrows, Starlings and Dunnocks have all been around in adult and juvenile forms and a young Robin has regularly visited the bird table, enabling me to photograph its progress.

Even the Sparrowhawk which dropped by late in the month was very indistinctly marked and landed clumsily in the hedge, so I suspect that it, too was on a training mission.

TJH.
July 2004