Meanwhile in Wanstead....

Had a pleasant if rather unrewarding wander round first the Flats, and then the Park. Best of the meagre pickings probably the six Teal on Alex, though there were quite a few Egyptian Geese and Greylags knocking about, and at one point, whilst in the Old Sewage Works, I had four Song Thrushes within about a hundred yards, all belting it out.

Spent a fair amount of time in the area between the Dell and the Ornamental Water looking and listening for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and Treecreeper, but could find neither. The recent cold snap wasn't really cold enough or long enough to induce any local movement, so I guess this is it now until mid March.

Nick scored a Blackcap the other day - it was almost inevitable that there be one knocking about somewhere - and Mike M booted a Woodcock out of the old allotments south of the Roding a few days before that, taking our 2012 total to 72 species. We're still missing Tawny Owl and Great Crested Grebe, so if you have any news, please do write in.