A free day and a chance to get out and do some birdwatching. Keith had been to the wetland centre the previous week and had some good sightings so that was where I headed to.
I arrived at the Tower hide and was greeted sights of a Marsh Harrier which had roosted in the reed-bed the previous evening. It was having a torrid time as every time it tried to fly it was hounded by the Carrion Crows who drove it back into the reed-bed, where it eventually perched.
My attention was diverted elsewhere and so I didn’t see it leave but it hasn’t been reported since so I imagine that it had had enough and departed for some other place where it would get less hassle from the locals.
On the wader scrape a Water Pipit wandered in and out of the vegetation and in the same area a Jack Snipe fed in a pool and showed its characteristic bobbing motion. I also got to see a Water Rail.
All in all this was turning out to be a very good day and just as I was wondering what to do next – try to get some photos of the Pipit and Snipe; look for a Bittern or go and have some lunch – the news came through of a Bluethroat found at Walthamstow Wetlands – but that’s another story.
Canada Goose [sp] (Branta canadensis)
Greylag Goose [sp] (Anser anser)
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)
Eurasian Wigeon (Mareca penelope)
Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos)
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)
Eurasian Teal (Anas crecca)
Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
Little Grebe [sp] (Tachybaptus ruficollis)
Great Crested Grebe [sp] (Podiceps cristatus)
Grey Heron [sp] (Ardea cinerea)
Great Cormorant [sp] (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Western Marsh Harrier [sp] (Circus aeruginosus)
Water Rail [sp] (Rallus aquaticus)
Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus)
Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra)
Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)
Jack Snipe (Lymnocryptes minimus)
Common Snipe [sp] (Gallinago gallinago)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
European Herring Gull [sp] (Larus argentatus)
Lesser Black-backed Gull [sp] (Larus fuscus)
Rock Dove (Feral) (Columba livia ‘feral’)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Rose-ringed Parakeet [sp] (Psittacula krameri)
Eurasian Magpie [sp] (Pica pica)
Western Jackdaw [sp] (Coloeus monedula)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Great Tit [sp] (Parus major)
Long-tailed Tit [sp] (Aegithalos caudatus)
Eurasian Wren [sp] (Troglodytes troglodytes)
Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris)
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula)
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula)
Dunnock [sp] (Prunella modularis)
Water Pipit [sp] (Anthus spinoletta)
Common Chaffinch [sp] (Fringilla coelebs)
European Greenfinch [sp] (Chloris chloris)
Pete's Favourite Things 