The Season’s Report

The Holloway Survey · Holloway Valley · 01 Jun 2026 – 12 Jul 2026

The season, summarized

12 Jul 2026 season’s turn

Wind SW, light rain before eight, the river up a hand’s width on the gauge. Two months in one sitting: the terns came back thin in the first week of June — 9 at the low mark — and have built at every check since; 27 on the gravel spit this morning. The demoiselles nearly doubled over the slack water. The herons ease as the young disperse downriver. What June opened, July has filled in.

the spit is crowded now

Plate V — The terns return, six weekly counts

Counts are struck as tallies, five to the gate, one column to each week’s check; the column’s height is the week’s abundance. The exact counts are typed above the strokes and filed in the caption.

Plate V — The terns return, six weekly counts Figure a, a common tern in glide, drawn in slate wash and ink. Figures b through g, tally columns for six weekly counts of terns on the gravel spit: fourteen on 06 June, nine on 13 June, twelve on 20 June, eighteen on 27 June, twenty-two on 04 July, and twenty-seven on 11 July — the columns rising as the colony builds. 14 9 12 18 22 27 a b c d e f g

a, Common Tern (Sterna hirundo), adult in glide · b, 06 Jun, 14 · c, 13 Jun, 9 · d, 20 Jun, 12 · e, 27 Jun, 18 · f, 04 Jul, 22 · g, 11 Jul, 27 — counts on the gravel spit, one check each week.

The key — June against July

Eight species, both months’ counts, and the change between them. Change is July’s count less June’s, typed with its sign; the file records the difference and keeps its opinion.

Species June July Change
Common TernSterna hirundo 14 27 +13
Banded DemoiselleCalopteryx splendens 18 34 +16
Bottle SedgeCarex rostrata 40 46 +6
Water Avens *Geum rivale 23 31 +8
Grey WagtailMotacilla cinerea 5 8 +3
Reed WarblerAcrocephalus scirpaceus 11 11 0
Grey HeronArdea cinerea 6 4 −2
KingfisherAlcedo atthis 2 1 −1

* type specimen for the survey, designated 08 Jul 2026.

Notable records

21 Jun 2026 demoiselles

Midsummer, still air by ten. Banded demoiselles over the slack water — 34 counted between the two bridges, the most this book has held.

Banded Demoiselle Calopteryx splendens No. 2104 · 21 Jun 2026 · slack water, lower bridge
08 Jul 2026 avens filed

Overcast, warm. The avens by the weir pool flowered true to the first description — 31 heads counted on the south bank. I pressed one and filed it as the survey’s type.

Water Avens * Geum rivale No. 2117 · 08 Jul 2026 · weir pool, south bank

* type specimen for the survey.

11 Jul 2026 kingfisher once

Seven-o’clock light. One kingfisher upstream, fast and low — 1 only; June gave us 2.

Kingfisher Alcedo atthis No. 2121 · 11 Jul 2026 · below the weir

Request the bound copy

The season’s report is sewn and bound in the autumn. Enter the request as it will be filed; names are set, the address is typed. The copy follows by post.

August

12 Jul 2026 not yet

August is not yet surveyed. The valley will fill these lines in its own time.

Return to the journal