Brent Res Jan 17th
After seeing virtually nothing in wet & windy conditions yesterday I was hopeful for today with the forecast being calmer and even sunny! I spent the first hour and a half doing the monthly WeBS count. It did mean I did a proper check of all the gulls and made sure thetre wasn't anything intersting hiding amongst them. I did see a small flock of gulls fly over with a Great Black-back amongst them which was new for the year and when I was in the hide, I also heard a Linnet going over. Once the count had been completed I had a long walk around the area with Andrew Verrall. The sky looked good for something flying over and we saw a flock of 17 Lapwings and a single Skylark. As we walked up the slope we heard a Treecreeper although we couldn't…
Rainham Marshes Jan 15
I got a text from Dominic Mitchell this morning saying he'd just found (or refound) a Glaucous Gull at Rainham, a bird I still needed for my London list. After mulling it over and checking I had a clear afternoon I decided to leave work at 12.00 and head over there. Fortunately getting there from work on public transport is pretty easy, got the tube from Westminster to Tower Hill, walked up the road to Fenchurch Street and even had time to buy a coffee before getting on the 12.35 train. Arriving at Purfleet just before 1.00 it was then a 15 minute walk to the reserve, although I had to go a slightly longer way round as the bridge over the river was closed as they were resurfacing it. I did see they were building a new bridge at the mouth o…
Brent Res Jan 12th
Popped up the res for a little while before work hoping that yesterday's Red-crested Pochards would still be around. Unfortunately they'd gone overnight and nothing much had replaced them. I did notice that there seemed to be a lot of Gadwall so proceeded to count them and ended up with a new site record: 447!
Tried various places in the North Marsh for Woodcock after two were seen there yesterday but no luck with those either. As I walked back over the cricket pitch with Andrew Verrall we noticed a big commotion and found ourselves looking at our second Common Buzzard in four days - this one being chased by a big group of Crows and Magpies. Eventually it gained height, all but one Crow had given up, then flew off west.
Westminster Jan 11
First lunchtime visit to the Thames this year. I popped over to the little park by the Houses of Parliament for half an hour - it was a bit too cold to stay any longer. While I was feeding a fair chunk of my sarnie to a Black-headed Gull, I noticed a Great Crested Grebe suddenly surface on the river below - this is the first one i've ever seen here on the river although they're quite regular in St James's Park. So that made up for the lack of a Med Gull which had been seen on this stretch of the Thames over the weekend. I'll have to try again when the tide is lower as there weren't many gulls today.
As an aside I also added Woodpigeon to my office window list today - 18 months after moving in! Just shows how bleak it can be for very common…
Brent Res Jan 10th
Another cold day at Brent, no more snow though. And seemingly not much of anything really. No change in duck species apart from one Ruddy Duck (no doubt taking refuge at Brent to avoid being shot!). I decided to look for Chiffchaff in East Marsh but no sign of the 5 that were there in December, then I walked around to Neasden Rec to check the Alders for Siskin. No luck there either. As I walked back home I was thinking there must be Woodcock here somewhere. The path by the side of reservoir takes a big detour to avoid a wet copse with a little stream. As it was unfrozen it looked perfect for a roosting Woodcock so in I went - and out went a Woodcock!! Excellent. A little while later Roy Beddard called to say he'd flushed one from the path …