A free day and a chance to visit the London wetland Centre again. Arriving about 11 o’clock I was surprised to find that the ponds by the entrance were frozen. I hadn’t realised that it had been quite so cold last night. Still it was a bright sunny day and I set out on the trial to the wild side enclosure. Before I had left the centre I was pleased to find a Coal Tit perched in a tree. It gave good views,but as often happens decided to move off once I got the camera out. Moving on into the wild side enclosure I visited the first hide and got my first view over main lake. There was a good selection of waterfowl present
Moving on through the reed-bed, I came to the main hide on that side of the reserve. The Northern Lake was almost empty ( I later observed that they were working on the lake and this presumably accounted for the lack of birds). The first sighting was a dog fox which had somehow manage to infiltrate the ‘Fox-proof’ fence which surrounds the grazing marsh and which is there to protect the breeding birds during the summer from predation. Then a male Sparrowhawk was spotted flying into a hedge, where he could be seen perched. This time I was fortunate to be able to get some pictures both of him perching and later when he flew off.
Tracing my way back to the centre, I stopped for Lunch. I have been hassled at picnic spots by a number of species but this was a new one
I then went out on the other path, visiting the lake hides the way to the scrape hide.
I had hoped that there might be some early migrant waders, but apart from a few Lapwing and a group of Teal there was little to see.I walked onto the Peacock tower. Two Common Snipe could be seen on the grazing marsh and shortly afterwards we were treated to excellent views of the male sparrowhawk hunting over the Marsh. It was unclear whether he was successful, but he dropped into the reed-bed and did not re-emerge suggesting that he was.
I had hoped that I would be able to finally catch up with a Bittern, but it seems that there has not been a sighting for the past week. Nevertheless the final species count was 41 – which represented a very good return on four hours birdwatching
Greylag Goose [sp] (Anser anser) 7
Canada Goose [sp] (Branta canadensis) 9
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) 16
Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca) 3
Gadwall (Anas strepera) 6
Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope) 49
Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos) 29
Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata) 50
Eurasian Teal [sp] (Anas crecca) 16
Common Pochard (Aythya ferina) 7
Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) 95
Little Grebe [sp] (Tachybaptus ruficollis) 3
Great Crested Grebe [sp] (Podiceps cristatus) 3
Grey Heron [sp] (Ardea cinerea) 11
Eurasian Sparrowhawk [sp] (Accipiter nisus) 1
Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus) 42
Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra) 20
Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) 20
Common Snipe [sp] (Gallinago gallinago) 2
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) 23
Common Gull (Larus canus canus) 1
European Herring Gull [sp] (Larus argentatus) 1
Lesser Black-backed Gull [sp] (Larus fuscus) 3
Common Pigeon [sp] (Columba livia) 4
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus) 21
Rose-ringed Parakeet [sp] (Psittacula krameri) 8
Great Spotted Woodpecker [sp] (Dendrocopos major) 1
Eurasian Magpie [sp] (Pica pica) 12
Western Jackdaw [sp] (Coloeus monedula) 3
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone) 9
Coal Tit [sp] (Periparus ater) 1
Great Tit [sp] (Parus major) 5
Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus) 12
Long-tailed Tit [sp] (Aegithalos caudatus) 1
Eurasian Wren [sp] (Troglodytes troglodytes) 5
Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris) 8
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula) 8
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula) 2
Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii) 1
Common Chaffinch [sp] (Fringilla coelebs) 4
European Goldfinch [sp] (Carduelis carduelis) 1
Pete's Favourite Things 