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Sunday 5th February 2017

 * Brompton Cemetery: c 30 Redwing, singing Goldcrest (David Jeffreys)
 * Hogsmill STW Nature Reserve: Greylag Goose, 8 Shoveler, 2 Pochard, 20 Tufted Duck, 11 Cormorant over, Little Egret S, 7300 Black-headed Gull (6500 E), 420 Herring Gull E, 17 Great Black-backed Gull E, 12 Lesser Black-backed Gull (10 E), 11 Stock Dove, Skylark over, 4 Fieldfare (3 E), 9 Linnet (Andrew Skotnicki)
 * London Wetland Centre: 1 Bittern, 1 Water Pipit, 1 Peregrine, 5+ Snipe, 2 Shelduck (WWT Website)
 * Mill Hill NW7: male Blackcap on feeder & Goldcrest on peanuts (very odd), 6 Goldfinch, 2 Nuthatch, 3 Coal Tit, 2 Long-tailed Tit (Steve Blake); female Blackcap & 1 Fieldfare in garden (Xav) surname pls?
 * Primrose Hill: first obvious if modest northbound passage - 2 Stock Dove, 10 Woodpigeon, 3 Collared Dove (observer's 1st multiple patch sighting - landed briefly 0900 but harried by Magpies so continued N), Fieldfare, 6 Chaffinch, 8 Goldfinch all N - 0815-0945 (Twitter)
 * Sewardstone Marsh: 4 Snipe, 2 Stonechat, 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Bullfinch (Neville Smith).
 * Ten Acre Wood area: m Pheasant, Kestrel, c40 Lapwing, 13 Snipe, Jack Snipe, 10 Stock Dove (1 singing), 5 Skylark, 6 singing Song Thrush, singing Reed Bunting (Neil Anderson/G. Westley)
 * Yeading Brook meadows: pr Teal, Little Egret, 106 Common Gull, Little Owl, 2 Redwing, 3 singing Song Thrush, 9 Greenfinch (Neil Anderson)

Saturday 4th February 2017
Middlesex: Purple Emperor A.iris map for Middlesex (Andrew Middleton, Liz Goodyear)
 * Alexandra Park: 80+ Redwing mostly top of Golf Course before flushed by helicopter, also 2 Fieldfare, male Pochard x Tufted Duck with 8 Pochard Boating Lake (Bob Watts); 5 Common Gull in Boating Lake, Jay, Coal Tit, Mistle Thrush singing at sunset from top of a tree by NW corner of reservoir (Eduardo López-Salas)
 * Borehamwood: 2 Red Kites over playing fields near Football club (Simon Worsfold)
 * Brent Reservoir: 50+ Pochard, 200+ Tufted Duck, 12 Common Snipe, 3 Water Rail, 48 Redwing (feeding on Playing Fields with 100+ Starling), Cetti's Warbler, Chiffchaff, 2 Reed Bunting m f (Roy Beddard, Joe Taylor).
 * Colney Heath: 2 Little Egret, 30+ Siskin (per TyttGP twitter)
 * Crossness: 2 Bearded Tit in protected area, Water Rail, Yellow-legged Gull ad, Common Sandpiper, 11 Black-tailed Godwit, 5 Curlew, 4 Stonechat 2pr, Chiffchaff (John Archer)
 * Dartford Marshes: Caspian Gull 1w by Bob Dunn Way (BirdGuides)
 * Finchley (Garden N3): 2 Stock Dove, 10 Long-tailed Tits as well as all the regulars, also M Blackcap (Samuel Levy)
 * Forty Hall CP: 2 Goosander pr incl male saluting, Tawny Owl hooting 1545 (Robert Callf)
 * Fryent Country Park: 4 Gadwall, 21 Fieldfare, 16 Redwing (Joe Taylor)
 * Greenwich O2: 1 Caspian Gull 2cy - thanks to Jamie Partridge's photos (Charlie Farrell)
 * Greenwich Square: Outside the new library 1 Chiffchaff in the handful of planted trees by Trafalgar Rd, also pair of Robins (Joe Beale)
 * Hogsmill STW Nature Reserve: 7 Shoveler, Pochard, Peregrine E, Kestrel, 6400 Black-headed Gull (6300 E), 690 Herring Gull E, 34 Great Black-backed Gull E, 24 Lesser Black-backed Gull (17 E), 10 Stock Dove, Redwing SW, 25 Linnet (Andrew Skotnicki)
 * Lamorbey Park: 2 Little Grebe, 7 Cormorant, Grey Heron, 2 Mute Swan, 4 Canada Goose, 2 Egyptian Goose, c12 Tufted Duck, Peregrine, c100 Black-headed Gull, 2 Herring Gull, 2 Common Gull, Kingfisher, Great Spotted Woodpecker, c20 Redwing, Goldcrest, probable Firecrest (Mike Amos); ad winter Mediterranean Gull on school fields 13.25 but flushed - first site record (Ian Stewart)
 * London Wetland Centre: 2+ Bittern, 11 Common Snipe, 3 Water Pipit, 1 Peregrine, 2 Shelduck, 6+ Pintail (Martin Honey)
 * Lonsdale Road Reservoir (St Paul's Playing Fields): c35 Redwing, 8 Fieldfare (David Jeffreys)
 * Neasden: roost of 50+ Ring-necked Parakeets by Iron Bridge (Andrew Self)
 * Oxleas Wood: Redpoll, Siskin, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Coal Tit, Stock Dove, Song Thrush (Ron Turner)
 * Park Royal: Powersgate (private site) 1 Common Chiffchaff by entrance, no sign of Waxwings sighted here on the 3rd (Charlie Farrell)
 * Pinner (HA5): 57 Redwing, Fieldfare, Great Spotted Woodpecker & 7 Goldfinch (Jon Ridge)
 * Rainham RSPB: R Thames Purfleet - Caspian Gull 1w (Fraser Simpson via Twitter)
 * South Croydon: 4 Waxwing still Denning Ave/Crowley Cresc 1020 (Jo East per John Birkett via Twitter); 1 still 1350 (Ian Jones via Twitter); 4 present in Goodwin Road until at least 16:30 (Croydon Birders)
 * South Harrow (Newton Park West): 40+ Redwing, Fieldfare, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Moorhen, 2 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 100+ mixed flock of Common and Black-headed Gull (Tim Rymer) is that 100+ each? sorry, no, now clarified (TR)
 * Staines Reservoir: 2m Scaup north basin, Black-necked Grebe (Dominc Pia via Twitter) Any explanation pls for deleting the Ruddy Duck sighting (reported on BirdGuides)? It's also on Twitter, so trying to suppress it here is futile albeit well-intentioned. I am surprised there are even any left & haven't seen any since 2011 - when it comes to eradicating a species of bird or anything for that matter, the human race always does a sterling job - sad (JR).
 * Swanscombe Marsh: 1st-winter Caspian Gull, male Marsh Harrier, Common Buzzard, Avocet, Grey Plover, 130 Lapwing, 250 Dunlin, 10 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Turnstone, Water Pipit, 4 Stonechat, 5 Cetti's Warbler, 2 Raven, 33 Magpies (Andrew Self)
 * Thames Barrier Park: 4 Caspian Gull (2 first-winters (including a German ringed individual X319) and 2 third-winters) (Dante Shepherd and Richard Bonser) Pictures here
 * Turnford: 35 Waxwing still Turnford rbt in tall trees till 1000 then flew to estate behind New River Arms pub down Academia Ave (Tom Speller via Twitter); 20 Waxwing 1315 on rosehip bush along footpath betw Longlands school EN10 6AG & Felton Close (Stephen Middleton via Herts BC)
 * Waterloo Bridge: belated ID of Ring-billed Gull 2w seen & photographed y'day (BirdGuides)
 * Whitewebbs Park: male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker observed feeding in hornbeams 1407 - 1429, Firecrest 1429 - 1432 (Robert Callf)
 * Woodberry Wetlands: 2 Teal, 3 Reed Bunting, Shelduck, 2 Redwing, Fieldfare, Yellow-legged Gull, Cetti's Warbler (Chris Farthing)
 * Woodford Green: Male Blackcap in my garden (Steve Howey)
 * Worcester Park: Little Egret, 100 Redwing, Peregrine (Bob Smith)
 * Wraysbury GPs: 2 Smew m f, 16 Goldeneye, 3 Kingfisher, 1 Red Kite, 10 Fieldfare (Thomas Gibson)

Friday 3rd February 2017

 * Bow Creek Ecology Park: 7 Redshank, c25 Teal (Charlie Farrell)
 * Bulphan/Orsett Fen: 30+ Red-legged Partridge, 2 Common Buzzard, 3 Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, 50+ Fieldfare, 40+ Redwing, 2 Goosander, 30+ Skylark, 10+ Stock Dove, Grey Wagtail (Nick Croft/Marco Johnson)
 * City of London - Cheapside: Lively Pied Wagtail dodging lots of City workers (Simon Robinson)
 * East India Dock Basin NR: Pied Wagtail, 8 Shelduck, 4 Teal (Charlie Farrell)
 * Grays Riverside: Avocet, Curlew, 4 Black-tailed Godwit, 7 Turnstone, 3 Grey Plover (Nick Croft/Marco Johnson)
 * Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park: Little Grebe, Snipe, Reed Bunting (male) (John Bushal)
 * Greenwich O2: 2 Caspian Gulls 2cy (Jamie Partridge) photos etc here
 * Grovelands Park: 2 Firecrests (responded to XenoCanto), F Smew on lake (Quentin Given)
 * Hogsmill STW Nature Reserve: 4 Greylag Goose NE, 24 Canada Goose, 9 Shoveler, 22 Tufted Duck, 2 Pochard, Sparrowhawk, 2 Peregrine flying low over trees giving cacking calls, Kestrel, Water Rail, Snipe, 6900 Black-headed Gull (6650 E), 24 Great Black-backed Gull E, 13 Lesser Black-backed Gull (12 E), 17 Stock Dove (9 over), 2 Skylark SE, 16 Linnet (Andrew Skotnicki)
 * Horton Country Park: 2 Raven (John Gordon)
 * Lee Valley, Cornmill Meadows: male Stonechat showing well on fence in front of Wake Hide (Mike Oakland)
 * Lee Valley, Friday Lake: male Smew has returned to its usual haunt after a brief excursion over the county border to Bowyers Water (Mike Oakland)
 * Lee Valley, Seventy Acres Lake: male Goldeneye, female Goosander, Water Rail (Mike Oakland)
 * London Wetland Centre: 2 Bittern  (1 seen & 1 reported), 9 Common Snipe, 1 Water Pipit, 7 Pintail, 6 Mandarin and 1 Peregrine on Ch. X Hospital (Martin Honey); Caspian Gull 3w grazing marsh 12:25 (Josh Jones); 2 Water Pipit still (BirdGuides); 148 Shoveler (site count), 6 Black-tailed Godwit circled then E, Stonechat grazing marsh (WWT website)
 * Moneyhole Lane Park: 2 Red Kite in dead tree (Lee Fitz via Herts BC) TL271125
 * Park Royal: Powersgate (private site) c12 Waxwing flew in and perched on tree on site (Stuart Fisher)
 * Rainham RSPB: 5 White-fronted Goose 1200-1600 then E, Water Pipit still (BirdGuides)
 * Rye Meads RSPB: 2 Green Sandpiper & Water Pipit still fr gadwall_hide 1250 (Pete Waldron via Herts BC)
 * Scratch Wood: 3 Goldcrest, Firecrest still am (Graham Harris via DH & SW Facebook)
 * South Croydon: 1 Waxwing heard apparently from large dense conifer outside Fairhaven Court Warham Road CR2 6LF at 10:50; 4 Waxwings in Goodwin Road at 11:30, 2 Sparrowhawks hunting Warham Road area around 10:00 (Peter Phillips/Croydon Birders)
 * Stocker's Lake: Little Owl farm, Kingfisher, Blackcap, Siskin (Chris Sharp via Twitter)
 * Sutcliffe Park: 8+ Redwing, Little Egret, Common Snipe, Drake Teal (P Kite)
 * Swanley Park: Barnacle Goose (not ringed. Site First) (Andy Meaton)
 * Thames Barrier Park: Caspian Gull 4cy still (Jamie Partridge)
 * The Ridgeway, Mill Hill: 2 Coot on sheep wash pond 15:40 (Samuel Levy)
 * Trent Park: 2 Goosander, 4 Pochard 2m 2f, 8 Mandarin 5m 3f, 3 Tufted Duck m 2f, 2 Teal m f (Pete Lowman).
 * Turnford: 23 Waxwing commuting betw Turnford rbt & Canada Fields estate EN10 7NL (Roland Power via Herts BC)
 * Tyttenhanger GPs and Willows Farm: 4 Little Egret, Red Kite, 2 Buzzard, Caspian Gull 1w main pit still, 2 Green Sandpiper, Snipe, 2 Kingfisher, 5+ Tree Sparrow Tytt Farm, c60 Linnet Willows Farm, Yellowhammer h (Tyttenhanger birders via Herts BC)
 * Walthamstow Reservoirs: No sign of Black Redstart this morning (Quentin Given); Black Redstart on Walthamstow Filter Beds 12:00 best viewed from SW corner looking West along the base of the green slope which runs parallel to Coppermill Lane (Paul Whiteman, Lol Bodini)
 * Waterloo Bridge: Ring-billed Gull 2w (BirdGuides)
 * Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park: m Firecrest trapped & ringed (BirdGuides)
 * Yeading Valley (Minet Country Park): 1 Red Kite, 1 Kestrel, 3 Little Egret, 4 Reed Bunting, 4 Stock Dove, 1 Green Woodpecker, 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Skylark, 30+ Linnet, 20+ Goldfinch (Dave Bookless)

Thursday 2nd February 2017

 * Amwell GP: 2 female Smew from Gladwyn Hide (Quentin Given)
 * Aveley (Mardyke Valley): Great White Egret flew S fr Aveley end of valley toward QEII Bridge 1010 (BirdGuides); Bearded Tit (per ELBF Facebook)
 * Bedfont Lakes CP: Bittern sitting on reeds opp black hide 0800 (BirdGuides)
 * Brent Reservoir: Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Common Snipe, 68 Pochard, 4 Great Black-backed Gulls, 2 Redwing, Black Swan (in flight), Cetti's Warbler calling around Main Hide, 2 Goldcrest (Magnus Andersson & Simon Worsfold)
 * Brookmill Park: Little Grebe, 5 Redwing {Conrad Ellam}
 * Cheshunt GP: 2 Woodcock (Adam Wilson)
 * Canons Farm & Banstead Woods: Red Kite W yr-1st, 50 Fieldfare, c300 Redwing (David Campbell via CFBW blog)
 * Cowley, Uxbridge: Raven low north over the garden at 09.13 mobbed by the local pair of crows (Roger Morton)
 * Croydon: 4 Waxwing Warham Rd CR2 6LB feeding on 3 small berry trees in front gdn by rbt c1:30pm (Jack Barnes via Twitter) TQ319643
 * Eastcote: Field End RG - 80+ Redwing, 5+ Fieldfare, 300+ mixed flock of Black-headed Gulls and Common Gulls, 2 Lesser Black-backed Gull, Mistle Thrush, c40 Starling, Roxbourne Pk - Goldcrest, Mistle Thrush, 6+ singing Song Thrush, 5 Redwing, Moorhen, 2 Long-tailed Tit (Tim Rymer).
 * Enfield Town (River View,EN2): fem Blackcap,15 Goldfinch, 9 House Sparrow (Robert Callf)
 * Grays Gorge: Firecrest again (per ELBF Facebook)
 * Greenford UB6: While in garden topping up feeders 15.50 Starling gave alarm & Peregrine flew low over garden (garden first) (Neil Anderson)
 * Hogsmill STW Nature Reserve: 3 Pochard, 14 Tufted Duck, 11250 Black-headed Gull (11050 E), 280 Herring Gull E, 18 Lesser Black-backed Gull E (16 E), 15 Great Black-backed Gull E, 4 Stock Dove, Fieldfare SE, 9 Linnet (Andrew Skotnicki)
 * Heathrow: 40 Golden Plover in field north of A4 by Hyatt Hotel (Adam Cheeseman)
 * Lee Valley, Bowyers Water: drake Smew still in north-east corner of lake (Simon Papps)
 * Rainham RSPB: 2 Water Pipit fr purfleet hide (Brenda & David Hale via EBwS News); 3m Blackcap (Howard Vaughan via ELBF Facebook); Great White Egret reported (RSPB online sightings board)
 * Staines Reservoirs: 1 Brent Goose on N basin along E bank late pm (Franko J Maroevic)
 * The Ridgeway, Mill Hill: 1 Coot on sheep wash pond 16:55. Also large Gull and corvid movement E, but nothing unusual. (Samuel Levy)
 * Trent Park: 2 Goosander, 2 Teal (m f), f Tufted Duck, 3 Pochard (m 2f), m Mandarin (Pete Lowman).
 * Walthamstow, Lockwood Reservoir: Peregrine, Kestrel, m Goosander, 2 Goldeneye, 8 Meadow Pipit, Little Egret (Chris Farthing)
 * Wanstead Flats: singing Skylark, 3 Linnet, Reed Bunting, Stonechat, 26 Tufted Duck, 3 Pochard, 29 Shoveler, 8 Gadwall, 3 Teal, singing Song Thrush, Ruby Tiger caterpillar (Nick Croft)
 * Wanstead Park: 48 Shoveler, 28 Teal, 17 Gadwall, 19 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe, 2 Little Egret, Coal Tit, Goldcrest, singing Song and Mistle Thrush, singing Stock Dove, Kestrel, and Eel in Ornamental Waters (Nick Croft/Sean Kerrigan)
 * Warley CM14: 4 Waxwing in Headley Chase gdn on rose hips briefly 0945 (David Dunn via EBwS News)
 * Warren Gorge EWT: Bittern 0820 (BirdGuides)

Wednesday 1st February 2017

 * Alexandra Park: 30 Redwing perched on trees N of Rose Garden, 5 Common Gull on football pitch (Eduardo López-Salas); 2m Blackcap one alarming persistently in tree near Priory Rd main entrance and another within minutes in garden further along Priory 16.30 hrs (Jonathan Cooke).
 * Bedfont Lakes CP: m Smew again on south lake fr wooden pier 1545 (BirdGuides) TQ075725
 * Belhus Woods CP: 2 White-fronted Goose E 0935, 27 Pochard, Water Rail, 2 Lapwing, 3 Snipe, Barn Owl, 7 Green Woodpecker, 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2m Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Kingfisher, Nuthatch, 8 Fieldfare, 9 Redwing, 18 Siskin, 2 Bullfinch, 2 Reed Bunting ('RB' per ELBF Facebook)
 * Bernards Heath: 5 Waxwing h Lancaster Rd but not relocated (Luke Massey via Herts BC)
 * Brent Reservoir: Snipe, 2 Green Sandpiper, 2 Cetti's Warbler (Roy Beddard, Neale Hider)
 * Brookmill Park: Little Grebe, 4 Redwing (Conrad Ellam)
 * Cely Woods: pr Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Ken Copleston per ELBF Facebook) Where is Cely Woods? site info
 * Collier Row: 48 Waxwing Chase Cross Rd still (BirdGuides)
 * Dagnam Park: m Lesser Spotted Woodpecker seen well feeding in Harold Hill street trees then flew toward moat in Park 1110-1115 (Colin Jupp via EBwS News)
 * East India Dock Basin: Blackcap female in copse (John Archer)
 * Ewell: R Hogsmill pm - 3 Little Egret, 2 Kingfisher, 4 Grey Wagtail - no winter thrushes (Geoff Barter via Twitter)
 * Finsbury Park, N4: c100 Redwing plus a Fieldfare and a Mistle Thrush; 7 Red-crested Pochard 6m f on lake (Ann Feltham)
 * Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park: Goldcrest, Water Rail, Little Grebe, Song Thrush, 2 Tufted Duck pair (John Bushell)
 * Grovelands Park: Little Grebe, 11 Egyptian Goose, male Pochard, 32 Tufted Duck 17m 15f, fem Smew - very tame, Green Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush, 2 Goldcrest including singing male, Firecrest feeding in holly near Rangers Hut 1311-1338 (Robert Callf)
 * Kensington Gardens: 2 Great Crested Grebe (Pair displaying), 1 Shoveler, 7 Pochard, 2 Redwing (Charlie Farrell); m Kingfisher still Long Water (Ralph Hancock blog)
 * Lamorbey Park: Firecrest still near W end of lake c08.30, 2 Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, 26+ Canada Goose, Greylag x Canada hybrid, 10+ Mallard, 6 Tufted Duck, 4 Little Grebe, 4 Cormorant, Grey Heron, Peregrine, 10+ Moorhen, 5 Coot, 100+ Black-headed Gull, 5 Common Gull, Herring Gull 3cy, 1w Lesser Black-backed Gull, 3 Redwing, 4+ Goldcrest (Ian Stewart)
 * London Wetland Centre: 2 Bittern main lake (N & S shores), 10 Common Snipe, 1 Jack Snipe (grazing marsh), 6 Pintail (main lake) (Martin Honey); 3rd Bittern, 2 Water Pipit (BirdGuides); 8 Pintail, 2 Yellow-legged Gull 1w 2w marsh, 40 Fieldfare, 18 Redwing, Stonechat (WWT website)
 * Muswell Hill: Buzzard mobbed by crows near North Circular road 15.15 (Andrew Bailey)
 * Pinner (HA5): Redwing, Coal Tit & 7 Goldfinch - not too great today (Jon Ridge)
 * Rainham RSPB: m Waxwing 1w by visitor centre still (Max Hellicar via Twitter)
 * Rye Meads RSPB: Water Pipit still (RSPB twitter)
 * Stoneleigh Station: 163 Herring Gull ne, 6 Ring-necked Parakeet (Neil Batten)
 * Trent Park: 2 Goosander (m f), 4 Pochard (2m 2f), pair of Mandarin (Pete Lowman).
 * Tyttenhanger GPs: 10 Tree Sparrow, 5+ Bullfinch, Green Sandpiper, Little Owl, Kingfisher, 5 Little Egret, c250 Lapwing, c60 Linnet, 12 Redwing, Peregrine (TyttGP twitter)
 * Walthamstow Reservoirs: Black Redstart Coppermill Ln filter beds still (Jason Ward via Twitter) Where does it most frequent/ Any news on the Glaucous Gull or Swallow? Black Redstart has been all over site. Swallow departed, last seen 28/1. Glauc last seen 31/1. Dan Barrett 

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