Off-piste

With patch being slightly in the doldrums, I decided a change of scene would be in order. Steve was not working so I offered him the choice of Rainham - lucking out on Penduline Tits, an ugly gull or two - or the chance to see Smew, Bittern, Black-necked Grebe etc. up the Lea Valley. There was only going to be one winner. As if to put sugar on the enticement I said we'd cycle, my fingers firmly crossed in the vain hope of rain. It didn't rain. So early doors we're off, first to the flats in a half-hearted check on the gulls. There were some. That obligation fulfilled we headed off to the nearest access point to the Lea valley which wasn't being built on. Already I was beginning to regret my cycling offer, but no-one could doubt our green credentials. Hackney Marshes held a surprising amount of Teal on the river and not a lot else. We passed the water works NR expecting Cetti's, but not expecting it to be open. A quick detour and a head-on collision with a bollard, brought us to this interesting little site. Not much on the pools: Gadwall, Shoveler, Tufties (of course), and a couple of Little Grebe and definitely no repeat of my Harlequin moment of a couple of years back (OK it was an escapee, but still a beautiful bird). On the marshy, reedy bits more Teal, some Snipe and a Green Sandpiper (my first of the year, and a probable first for Steve who couldn't actually remember seeing one). I thought I was being helpful by getting him on to the bird when he said: "Oh, I thought you had another one, I've seen that already". [Below Snipe, taken at Rainham - not a million miles away from Walthamstow]



With much to be done and so little time, we were off again. Through the stables - plenty of Redwing and Fieldfare in the paddocks - and up to the reservoirs where my first goal a London Eider was calling me. It was supposed to be on No. 5, and rather than pay a pound to get in we peered over the fence. Nothing. Meaning there was nothing for it but to cough up the money. Luckily we me a nice birder called Harry, new to the area, who told us that there was zip on the southern waters barring a few Goldeneye. So that meant we went Northside. Lockwood I fancied as the best place. Apparently an eider-down. As we made to leave, Harry called us back, the eider had just swam out from the shore where it had been hiding behind a pair of Shelduck. Even Steve, who up to this point had been complaining about seeing an Eider again, took some interest. Bingo London tick no. 186 (give or take some dodgy plastics).

Next the William Girling. Not much on the way bar a fly over female Goosander, while the WG was possibly the quietest I've ever seen it. A few Tufties, GC Grebe and gulls. I finally scoped the BnGs close in on the eastern shore. Another new tick for Mr Thorpe. It was getting decidedly miserable now and I was hoping someone would steal my bike rather than have to cycle it further. We made our way up the side of the King George through some particularly muddy patches - the joy of walking - where somehow I managed to acquire a puncture - rapture - which I was accused of deliberately achieving by ploughing through brambles. By that stage I would have taken a knife to the tires rather than subject my arse to the saddle any longer. So walking it was then. I sensed Steve was not amused, it got a bit quiet. A Grey Wagtail lifted the gloom a bit.



OK so I lied about how far it was to the next point of call, I knew he would thank me later. Maybe not today, or next week, but sometime! Hall Marshes held some Lapwing, Wigeon and a surprising amount of Pheasant. Goldeneye (another Steve first) on Friday Lake and the reason for this madness a male Smew on 70 Acres (year tick 106 - yeah pitiful!). By now Steve had had enough, and although I wanted to search for Pink Feet and Goosanders and other stuff, I had to agree. All the same a Water Rail squealing like a pig on the way to the station and a singing Goldcrest meant a rather good day. Except for the cycling.



Today on the patch: 7 Teal on Shoulder of Mutton, Grey Wagtail on Heronry (see pic above), and a singing Redwing, so not a lot really - I am tempted to go and see that ugly battery-raised gull at Rainham.

Wanstead Park public consultation

The good people at the City Corp, in an effort to get their hands on some lottery money are asking the public for their views on what should be done with dog exercise and fly tipping area we fondly know as the patch. The consultation does not quite cover all the flats, just that west of Lake House Road known as Bush Wood Flats. [http://www.wansteadpark.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=129:draft-conservation-statement-published-public-consultation-begins&catid=42:restoration-of-wanstead-park&Itemid=118] I leave the sensible arguments to the sane, but through my experience of the users of the park I think we should go the whole hog and make into east London's biggest dog toilet and tip. Then we could have gull masterclasses without having to go to Rainham. Sod the Skylark; they're a nuisance as some people believe dog's should be put on a lead during the nesting season. They're dogs! Enough said, apparently. As for the tipping: there have been 2 scooters and today a car in the very area covered by the report. Where else are cowboy builders and DIY enthusiasts going to dump unwanted materials; its not as if the council picks these things up if you ask them. As for the feeding the ducks, isn't it enough that people are willing to drag large buckets of rice, sacks of bread and other kitchen refuse without having to take away the containers. Wake up! And besides if it were used as a tip, wouldn't this negate the need to clear virtually all the scrub to stop the cottagers?




Obviously I would like to see the whole of the flats made into a National Nature Reserve on account of it being rare acid grassland: no footie, no model planes, no dogs, no joggers, no barbecues and a few more scrapes please. You could start with Cat and Dog, nicely full at the moment and even hosting its own pair of ducks. The Snipe was there too, and even the Heron has had a sniff round in the past.



Today a flock of Siskin flew south, just one of the 50 species noted in just a couple of hours. In the SSSI there seemed to be Reed Bunting everywhere, and Meadow Pipits - 20 flew off the fairground at one point - best count I've had since the autumn.





On Alex a crash of gulls were trying Indian cuisine, which looked as if it were making them go slightly mad, as they started diving into the water to rid themselves of the taste. Had a quick look through the host of roosting gull for our Med, but they wouldn't settle as a Sparrowhawk was cruising the area. Ominously a fleeting glimpse of a large common gull-a-like could mean that bird might have come back. Got a fairly good look at the wings, enough to draw a terribly sketch. So its back out early doors tomorrow to see if can catch the bugger before the footy starts. Then maybe Rainham for some more gull fun!



Above the Egyptian Geese from Alex, not the same ones as on Heronry

A good day

Sometimes the sun shone, and sometimes it didn't. It shone on the Little Owl Steve refound at the weekend, sitting in the crown of a tree at the west end of Long Wood, the last place I had seen the bird in 2010. This pleased me all the more because I hadn't got up that early in the first place (tick 62 for the Flats). It was a morning of endless possibilities, wherever we looked we were rewarded. In the SSSI two Reed Bunting sang while a flock of Meadow Pipit rose off the sodden fairground and gave us close views in the silver birch. Tim had earlier counted 19 on his tour before setting off to work - and more pleasingly for him 14 Skylarks of which 6 were up and singing. Since he had reported nothing from Jubilee and Steve had already done the rounds there, we headed back to the eastern side of Centre Road. As we waited to cross I noticed a small bird get smacked spectacularly by a car, it fluttered briefly on the centre line and seemingly expired. We moved closer to check what it was before it became part of the road surface - a Dunnock - but then it was gone. I presumed sucked up by the wake of a passing car. It flew says Steve - a somewhat unbelievable happy ending. What a day!


Above the clay pit fields a couple of Redwing, one singing quietly to itself, and Fieldfare sat in the virtually berry free bushes. Steve wanted to go and find Coal Tit, rather than the Med Gull, so we moved on to the park. 4 male Teal made for the willows as we approached the Shoulder of Mutton, and I pointed out a singing Coal Tit to the north, which Steve couldn't hear. Since we were here I suggested to check out the basin for the GC Grebe seen at the weekend, and as a long shot Waxwing that had been reported off one of the side streets. A text from Jono, while on the school run, confirmed the grebe still in residence. Within ten minutes it was in the bag (tick # 65 for the Park). "Look out for Waxwing," I said, more in hope than expectation. First side road we come to there are 6 of the beauties feeding in a small tree (tick #66). What a morning! Of course before Jono could get there they'd buggered off, and I had cause to rue forgetting my camera - so here's a truly awful pick of Wanstead's first for yonks from last October.



A quick scurry down to the cricket pitch to count wagtails and a bit of trespass across the fairways to get back into the park, we finally catch up with a viewable Coal Tit near the grotto. That chuffed Steve. It was now surely time to chase gulls. He had other ideas and produced some bread. We fed the ducks!

A couple of Little Grebe edged along the side of Heronry giving me the opportunity to introduce another paragraph and a image of spurious context.



Back at Alex the Med was not showing well and Steve quickly got bored and returned to the Old Sewage Works. Five minutes later wandering through the sea of swirling white, I put it up. A good day.

Taken to task

I wanted to have the title "sent to the naughty step", but I thought that might be considered glib and rather diminish what is basically a serious (to me anyway) matter!

The reader may have come across Nick Tanner's comment regarding my probable/possible Ring Bill of Friday. Firstly I would like to say that I have nothing but admiration (sometimes grudgingly) for virtually every birder who is better than me, but in particular for those who experience, knowledge and field craft far exceeds my own. Not least because on many occasion I have benefited from it, and on occasion learnt from it. Without these dedicated people I would not have a good number of cracking birds on my life list or any hope of finding them on my own. Nothing can beat years of birding.

There lies my problem, I've only been "seriously" birding for just under 2 years now so it comes as no surprise to me that I am absolutely hopeless at many aspects of bird identification, and not just in the larid field either. I would however like to think that I have, in that time, improved in certain areas, but perhaps not moved on as much as I would have liked in others. Books, DVDs, apps are all well and good, nothing comes close to actually seeing, hearing and experiencing things in person, or to have people around you to correct your mistakes and give you some inside gen from their own experiences. So an opportunity to thank Jonathan, Tim, Stuart, Marco Johnston and Adrian Pearson for there guidance over the last year and a bit.

Returning to the main topic: Nick was not convinced by my "description", and in retrospect it wasn't very good, although I obviously thought at the time I had ticked enough boxes for me to report it. If Tim hadn't been rushing round after his first Med Gull for Wanstead, the matter would have probably been resolved in a matter of minutes. But he was, so I had to go on my own feelings, which may or may not have been totally wrong. More worryingly for me is on discussing the bird with Tim on the phone, he asked: "... and the iris colour was it yellow?" I had no idea. Today a RBG was reported from Sands Lane GP, Yorks (http://www.birdguides.com/bne/details.asp?thread=617996). I had a look. How could have I have missed eyes like that? True the image was in sunshine not drizzle, but still I can recall nothing particularly special about the eyes of my bird. I have subsequently realised I rarely if ever notice the eyes of any bird. On many occasions I've walked away from a sighting realising I can't actually remember too much about the individual. This to me seems like a more serious problem and one that needs to be addressed (in light of some descriptions and notes to be written as required by the London recorder), especially as I move out of my comfort zone of the familiar. At the moment this would point to a compromise between rushing round the patch(es) and taking a longer more considered approach to my observations.

A master class in gull ID would help - I wonder what Martin Garner is up to at the weekend? In the end its a matter of learning by your mistakes, weaknesses and through experience. So a thanks to Nick Tanner for the wake up call!

Since Friday I have removed the bird from my count for the flats and only included it in the sightings column in brackets (in good faith), which will have a disclaimer come the day I put my year list on the LB site.

It lives!

Our errant Little Owl has finally put in appearance. Steve managed to track down the elusive bird to the western edge of Long Wood during the week, which is all the encouragement I need to get up at some stupidly early time tomorrow when I should be catching up on zeds. Work today meant only a few hours on the patch, more than enough time for Jono to pick up the Med for its 3rd day after some sterling work by two dog walkers and their 3 hounds who ploughed straight through the assembly of gulls we had been scrutinising with no luck for half an hour. Once the masses had spread over the playing fields the standout bird stood out.




Could have been a good day if the football hadn't started at ten, and I hadn't got to go to work. 2 Siskin over Cat & Dog, singing Reed Bunting and a male Teal circling over the brooms in the SSSI before flogging it eastward. We found a pair later on the Alex which gives me an opportunity to drop this one in I took yesterday at Rainham (as the sun shone I watched its green flash turn to a wonderful blue and back again).



While we watched the aforementioned gull, Tim arrived. He was doing a WEBS count, which meant I didn't have to take my hands out of my pockets, which was good. I tagged along down to the little tea shop of happiness where the WREN group were meeting. They invited me to sign their insurance claim form so I am now covered for the dangers that lie in wait for the innocent birder. Dangerous activity this!



With short time left at my disposal Steve and I trolled round the OSW with little success bar an extremely quick weasel crossing our path (4th mammal tick of the year). I wandered, lonely, and all at once I came upon a host of crocus... and a Goldcrest singing in the ivy.

Med Gull redux and a lot of Dogs.

Started off on the Flats scanning Gulls in the hope of pulling out the candidate Ring-billed Gull from yesterday. No joy, although there are enough Common Gulls on the Flats that finding a Ringer wouldn't come as a total shock - probably in excess of 700 in total, with several hundred Black-headed Gulls. With all the rain of late, the football pitches are proving extremely attractive for worm-hunting, and are thus swarming with Gulls early morning. On the western Flats where I started, I had around forty Herring Gulls, which was my highest "normal" count (the record is from late February 2010 when Wanstead Flats resembled a large puddle, with 3000+ Gulls including 82 Herring Gulls).


On the plus side the Med Gull from yesterday was still around, though mobile and unhappy posing for photographs. Gradually the footballers took over, so I headed with Tim to the Park, Nick having forsaken God's own patch for Rainham (honestly, who would do such a thing?).

The Park was crawling with dogs. A 360 degree scan from the Tea Hut of Happiness (and openess) revealed no fewer than 22 dogs, including an enormous one that bore more than a passing resemblance to a Grizzly Bear. You couldn't move for canines, ninety percent of them out of control. A tip for those who contemplate sitting down to enjoy their cup of tea - stand. We observed two dogs pissing against the Tea Hut's chairs, it's disgusting. Today was all about dogs, until about lunchtime they ruined my walk, running amok through habitat, jumping on me, in all the ponds, even swimming in the Roding. It was so bad I briefly entertained renaming this blog Wanstead Dogging, but somehow it had a slightly unsavoury ring to it. Mind you, it would probably get a lot more hits. By mid-afternoon dog levels had declined to something bordering on tolerable, but the birding remained quiet. Not sure how many miles I covered, but on my third visit to the OSW I managed to connect with a Little Egret that flew south and out of sight.

 
Other birds of note included a drumming Lesserspot at the far northern end of the Ornamentals (and another in the centre Copse on the Flats), and finally a Kingfisher on the Roding, calling stridently as it zoomed past south roughly level with the Canal. The regular Egyptian Geese were on Heronry in the afternoon, though not in the morning, and the Treecreeper was reported from near the Grotto.

And finally a plug for the 2010 Bird Report, a link to which you should see over on the right, or there is a tab at the top where you can also access 2009. Tim has put together two top-notch reports that show how good this area is, illustrated lavishly with stunning photography, ahem. The 2010 is hot off the metaphorical press, and it's free!