September, short but sweet

Funny month September, only half a month really, but a gem.

Highlights:

The Hobby fledge 3 young
Returning Siskin and Lesser Redpoll
Whimbrel heard on the 2nd
The mention of Osprey makes Jono smile (go on try it!)
Rock Pipit over Alex
Red-breasted Goose wins best looking goose award



With only half a month on offer, the hunt was on to get some good stuff before it and we buggered off. The Wryneck was a no show, but Jono finally got his much dreamed of Osprey (London and patch tick) on the 7th, it's early morning flap across Alex scattering hundreds of pigeons set us thinking: had it roosted in the park?



Other raptor news: the Hobby fledged 3 young in the ornamental waters with all five soaring majestically over the woods on occasions joined by the local Sparrowhawks. A Common Buzzard was seen at the other end of the park moving gracefully south on the 10th, and Kestrel became more apparent on the flats usually accompanied by a bevy of Crows, Jackdaws and Magpies.



Hirundine movement south peaked on the 17th with over 1,100 birds in just over 2 hours as observed at the tea hut of happiness by Tim Harris, with one flock of over 750 birds. Other smaller movements, but none the less still impressive, were of 100 + Swallow, 40 + House Martin and 30 + Sand Martin on the 12th and on the 20th when 300 + Swallow were followed south by 200 + House Martin. Large numbers of Meadow Pipit were also counted moving south during the month peaking at over 100+ on the 15th, Tree Pipit were recorded on several occasions (2 on both the 9th and 10th and 1 on the 19th), and a Rock Pipit made its mark on a day of more mass movement of Mipit on the 14th. Yellow Wagtail were heard most days with a high number of 11 on the 15th, and even Grey and Pied Wagtail put in appearances on a number of days.



Our favourite migrants, the chats, were well represented on most days with Wheatear reaching a high of 7 + birds on the 9th, Whinchat never reached the high numbers of previous years and could be pretty hard to find, especially at the weekends. Common Redstart were recorded on 3 days and a Stonechat even put in a showing on the 26th, only the 3rd record this year.



With strong winds on many days warblers were sometimes in hiding and during the course of the month their numbers gradually started to fall with the last Lesser Whitethroat seen on the 9th. Only Chiffchaff numbers held up at the end of the month, but there's still time for a fall if and when the weather changes in early October. By the end of the month Goldcrest had started appearing more regularly on the flats and were becoming more evident in the park too.



Spotted Flycatcher numbers peaked at 11 for the whole patch on the 10th (9 on the flats and 2 in the park), but, as with the warblers, some days they were hard to pin down because of the wind.



Finches started coming back, the first Siskin taking me by surprise on the 9th as it called but was not seen. In the following days small flocks were an almost daily occurrence and they would be joined by Lesser Redpoll (10 on the 15th) in the middle of the month. Chaffinch became more obvious, their numbers swelled by early migrants and Reed Bunting were seen on more than one occasion.

Local birder Gary Hewett, had a Whimbrel calling over his garden just to the south of the flats, the first record this year, and a possible Pink-footed Goose on the 13th could have been a feral bird, while the same day the RB Goose added a bit of colour to the Alex as it's tour of the home counties continues. Another could have been, and about-bloody time if it had have been, was a Redshank call on the 12th as Katia's last throws were experienced by the country as a whole, however one call does not a tick make, so we wait on.




Common Tern were recorded on one just one day, the 10th, with 2 flying east over the flats, and another fishing on Heronry. We've suggested a tern raft to the wardens, who appear quite happy at the prospect...

Finally our wintering ducks are coming back with Tufty numbers picking up in the park and Pochard hitting 19 on Heronry on the 10th.

Bring on the ouzels.....

... and it's June again

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!

It's June again, except for the better weather (now rather than then). Back from Shetland I had longed to get back on the flats and in the park to reacquaint myself with the Wheatear, Whinchat and Spotted Fly and the supporting cast of warblers. There weren't any, but what there was were people. Probably more than whole population of the Shetland archipelago, and their hideous dogs, children, toys, games and rubbish; none of which I had missed one bit.

I gamely had ago at kicking some cover and "swishing" half-heartedly but the magic of those northern isles had gone, and it was too bloody warm. Tony (Brown) and I tried to make a Dunnock into a Whinchat, a Robin into a Spotted Flycatcher, but it was no use June has tricked us and we're back in its thrall.

Can't say too much about Shetland, because as the title of the blog suggests, this is Wanstead, as far removed from the Shetland's as you can possibly get, unless of course your in the Scillies; and I can't say much about that yadda yadda....

Just a quick hello to my fellow guidees, who I know will now be following the blog, and a big thank you to Martin Garner (him!) for letting me prattle on about what a great patch we have. Luckily for all my camera broke on day 3 so no irrelevant insertions from there. Have this Robin instead...

Can't get enough of a good thing

Time is running out for the return of the Wryneck, not because they've all but left our shores (according to Bridguides' weekly review there are more knocking about than last week), but because JL and I are hoofing it down to Cornwall tonight for a "Waderfest" and then flitting north next week to enjoy what Shetland has to offer - I am ill prepared.





Highlights this week: visi-migging Meadow Pipits in big numbers, Yellow Wags, Whinchat, Wheatear, the return of the winter finches in the shapes and sounds of Lesser Redpoll and Siskin, some Spotted Flycatcher, a solitary Rock Pipit, a mystery goose, a mystery warbler and an even more mysterious naked black guy wandering the brooms. I am sure it wasn't David Lindo out flogging his book, but you know I just didn't want to take a closer look.

Now I have nothing against nudity in public places, having had a lady strip off last autumn which wasn't too unpleasant, and this guy probably had the right to show off. However, 99% of the population should only consider such action in a dark room, away from public scrutiny, as in the case of the fat, bald, old geezer (and no it wasn't me - I am one of the darkened room majority) wearing budgie smugglers who traipsed around the broom fields in the spring stressing the nesting Skylark. That was entirely unnecessary and gross. I still shudder at its recollection.



Back to the present. Yesterday I caught sight of an interesting warbler feeding high in the trees on one of the islands on the Alex. Handily, I thought, it flitted across the water and into an Elder/bramble patch net to me. That's right, nice birdy. Unfortunately a passing dog walker took that opportunity to ask me if I'd seen anything interesting.

"Yes, it's just gone in that bush"

Not taking the hint he launched into the demise of the sparrows, and finches etc. and then asked are those Canada Geese floating on the pond...




Having rid myself of him I started peering in the bush, only to be interrupted by a jogger, then a horse rider, then someone asking the time, then a horde of screaming schoolkids. By this time I had circled the bush and found nothing. Fearing that I'd be mugged, offered drugs or other stuff I gave up. The bird, largish and very pale with a limey wash and quite yellowy in places will remain a mystery, and Wanstead still waits it's first Bonelli's, Icterine etc. etc.

August review

Just when you think the summer will never end along comes August. Hoorah for August. The weather's been crap: brilliant.

We said goodbye to the Swifts, the last being seen over the flats on the 23rd, and hello to whole heap of southerly moving migrants.

Highlights being:

Bullfinch in the old sewage works
Wheatear: a highlight anytime
Kittiwake over shoulder of mutton
Pied Flycatcher: not once but twice for one lucky chappie
Sedge & Grasshopper Warbler

The month started quietly enough and on the 2nd (why there was no 1st of August I cannot remember) with JL booting the first returning Snipe off the Alex early doors. A serious lack of interest followed over the next few days until the report of the first returning Wheatear on the 5th cheered everybody up and encouraged them out of their homes.

The 9th brought the first probable sighting of a Spotted Flycatcher, a whole two weeks earlier than last year, from the allotments backing on to the old sewage works. It was in the old sewage works that the first of the month's Bullfinch sightings was recorded, with 2 juvenile birds that flew around a bit, hid most of the time, and called constantly. They were back again the next day, buy savvy enough not to get seen or heard by anyone else. By this time the Park was getting seriously little attention as the flats took centre stage.



The first returning Yellow Wagtail sailed high over head on the 12th becoming an almost daily occurrence with up to 20 birds moving south during the month making it the most common wagtail on the patch. Pied and Grey Wagtail also put in an appearance during the month, but in nowhere near the same numbers. Meadow Pipit meanwhile had, it appeared, disappeared with only 4 birds seen on the 9th and 2 on the 13th; where the breeding birds vanish to is a mystery, and why, though it maybe they are all hiding like the Skylark during their moult. Their absence meant that when an unidentified pipit was seen over the east end of Long Wood, it was odds on it was a Tree Pipit. Then it called. It was the first of 3 birds seen that day (24th), and of 7 for the month, all of which had the decency to call, so no tiresome id-ing skills required there then. One even posed for the camera.



The 15th brought the first returning Whinchat (2) to the broom fields and with them 2 Wheatear (later upped to 6 birds by Stuart Fisher and the Lycra Lout (Steve Thorpe), and first decent sightings of Spotted Flycatcher in Long Wood (3). A good day also for Lesser Whitethroat (5), Garden Warbler (3) and a singing Willow Warbler (one of 3).



The first Common Redstart put in appearance on the 19th, a smart male in the scrub at the east end of Long Wood (Mike Messenger also picked one up on the plain in the park the same day), by the end of the month the total was up to 12 sightings, way better than spring. Another good day, partly because I didn't go to work, mainly though for the 5 or more Lesser Whitethroat (all smart birds), a Reed Warbler that took up residence in the blackberry bushes in Long Wood for at least 4 days, which at first look more exciting than it perhaps turned out (next time it will be an Icky or some such!), my first (on the flats) Common Tern flopped over the Alex, did a few cartwheels over Manor Park then disappeared south. In the park while chin wagging with aforementioned Mr Messenger, he espied a Buzzard as we watched Sand Martin wheeling over Heronry: his first for the year in the park, coincidentally last time we spoke he picked up his first Hobby of the year (for Wanstead), so I am lucky to talk to! The day had an even better denouement in the form of an adult Kittiwake that flew over me as I sat by the side of Shoulder of Mutton catching up on the cricket scores. A first for Wanstead, and a London tick for me too, yay!



Better (better?), was to come on the 21st when idling at the end of Long Wood with Cpt. Harris we picked up a Pied Flycatcher, my first for thousands of years and another patch and London tick for me. That a host of other people got to see the bird made it much more enjoyable than the poor old seabird that had lost its way, and it means I didn't have to go to West Ham park when the regular passage bird turned up there a week later. I have my suspicions that it was actually our bird, as Jono got the same or another flying through the brooms on the 24th, the day I was showing a couple of ladies from Brent our Spotties. The only Common Sandpiper made a brief appearance on Alex that day, and the only other wader, a Green Sandpiper, was heard calling shortly after on the 29th.

The 23rd brought our second larid of interest in the form of a Yellow-legged Gull, and a second sub-adult bird on the 26th, which Jono ummed and aaahed over for far too long in my opinion. It's got Yellow legs, and dark mantle and seriously mean looking disposition, I mean job done. 3 calling Arctic Tern put in a first appearance on the Wanstead list that day too, part it appears of a larger movement throughout the capital.

Also on the 23rd, Mr Fisher, pulling the afternoon shift on the flat, hear what he considered was a calling Grasshopper Warbler in the scrub to the east of the Alex, subsequent searches failed to find the elusive bird the next day, but victory was ours when it was booted from its hiding place behind a blade of grass on the 28th, another first for Wanstead and long overdue and sought after. No problems with the first Sedge Warbler of the year that Mr F found flitting through the bushes on the side of the basin later that day. A second sighting of this unusually rare bird was delivered on the 29th in the reeds on the Roding where it should be all the summer, with another Reed Warbler in attendance (where it should be too!).

In other news: Hobby sightings picked up with the main centre of action being the ornamental waters where it was assumed the birds had chosen to nest this year, though Mike Gotts (soon to be retiring Park Warden) suggested otherwise by his remarks that he had been hearing calling birds daily in Bush Wood by his house. It seemed unlikely that there were 2 pairs nesting in the area, else would have more sightings, wouldn't we?



Ring-necked Parakeets have taking a liking to the copses on the flats, and instead of passing harmlessly, if not noiselessly, over they now have brought their cacophony of screeches to each and every wood. A new record of 80 + birds were seen on the 15th, then I gave up counting.




Swallows are passing through in increasing numbers, sometimes going in the right direction, while the House Martin based round the church on Aldersbrook Road, appear to have had a good year and up to 14 birds have been seen having a great time. I'll miss them when they leave.

Katia's coming

Expect one of these in a puddle near you soon...




Tuesday morning and this will be floating round Alex with the ducks.

August ending

 

Bit of a struggle all told this week, with tiredness, birds not wanting to be found, and a new camera. The tiredness will persist at least till dawn breaks around 08:00 am, the birds will have probably scarpered by then and the new camera is going to be fun.  Not for you, and not for me having to process the buggers, or from the extra weight I'll have to carry around (and that's not just me getting more rotund!).

A disappointing 63 species this week, highlight 5, that's 1, 2, 3... er hang on I'll have to use my fingers here... 4, 5 Hobby in the air at one time over the Ornamental Waters.  Captain Tim's hunch was right they did get it on in that local and while not quite Lakenheath in the early summer, a fantastic air show none the less (including as it did 2 Sparrowhawk).

More Redstart, Whinchat, Spotted Flycatcher, Yellow Wagtails (in danger of becoming the most common wagtail sp on the flats) and a Tree Pipit. Nothing new, nothing rare, but there is always tomorrow....