Storm Dennis had passed (well almost) and a chance to get out and visit the London wetland centre in the hope of seeing a wintering Bittern.
I followed my normal route ending up at the Tower hide. The first hides had their normal selection of waterfowl. There were a number of Great Cormorants of the European race (as opposed to our normal Atlantic race) noticeable because of their white head markings.
Coot
Northern Shoveler
Great Crested Grebe
Mute Swan
Great Cormorant (European race)
From the Tower hide some fellow birders put me onto a Sparrowhawk perched on a fence. There was a deal of discussion about this bird due to the highly visible white patches on the wings and it was decided it was probably one of last years young.
Sparrowhawk
No Bittern emerged on the main lake so I set off to reservoir lagoon where two had been seen the previous day. It was to be an afternoon of quick views as a Kingfisher flashed over the end of the lagoon. As time drew on, I suddenly noticed a movement off to my left and focused quickly enough to see a flying Bittern disappearing from view below the vegetation on my side of the lagoon. Not the best view so will have to try again another day.
The first visit of the year to London Wetland Centre. In truth, it seemed very quiet with no sightings of any of the wintering specialities (Eurasian Bittern; WAter Pipit; Jack Snipe) during the day, so I was surprised to find that I had seen 37 species in the period of a couple of hours I was there.
Canada Geese
Northern Shovellor
Grey Heron
Moorhen
Eurasian Wigeon
Robin
Eygptian Geese
Morrhen
Tufted Duck
Undoubtedly, the highlight of the visit was watching the pair of Peregrine Falcons hunting over the marsh and lake for about 10 minutes giving a wonderful display of acrobatics.
The weather forecast had not been too promising so Keith and I headed for the London Wetland Centre. As it turned out all the rain had blown through the night before and we were treated to a dry day.
Eurasian Jay
The morning started well with a Sparrowhawk circling above the River Thames as we crossed Hammersmith Bridge. Arriving at the centre we followed our usual route and were soon getting good views of the wintering wildfowl.
Eurasian Wigeon
Passing the feeding station, a Coal Tit was a good sighting as were the large number of Eurasian Jays that were on the reserve. Arriving at the Tower Hide, we were soon watching Water Pipit and Stonechats on what remained of the scrape islands (The water level was very high due to the recent rain and most of the Islands had disappeared below the surface). We also had a distant view of a female Goldeneye.
Water Pipit. Photo by Keith
Eurasian Jay
Moving to the other side of the centre, we decided to stake out a good spot for Eurasian Bittern and also to look for the Yellow-Legged Gull that had been seen earlier in the morning. We did not succeed in either, although on a photo of some gulls Keith took, there was a good candidate for the Yellow-Legged Gull, but it was just to distant to be sure.
On Tuesday at the London wetland Centre, Keith and I came across these Hawaiian Geese in the wildfowl collection just looking for an opportunity to escape their pen. They have obviously made a habit of this as there are signs on the gates asking people to make sure they do not get out.
One of the hottest days of the Summer saw Keith and I at the Wetland Centre in West London in the hope of finding some migrant birds. As it was there seemed to have been little evidence of migration with just an early morning report of a Whinchat, which I don’t think was relocated during the day. There was plenty to see however with numerous dragonflies and plenty of butterflies, even if the latter was restricted to 2 species. We also saw a Little Ringed Plover and a Common Lizard.
Migrant Hawker
Migrant Hawker
Little Ringed Plover
Little Ringed Plover
Grey Heron
Canada Goose [sp] (Branta canadensis) Greylag Goose [sp] (Anser anser) Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca) Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata) Gadwall [sp] (Mareca strepera) Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos) Eurasian Teal (Anas crecca) Common Pochard (Aythya ferina) Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) Grey Heron [sp] (Ardea cinerea) Great Cormorant [sp] (Phalacrocorax carbo) Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus) Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra) Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) Little Ringed Plover [sp] (Charadrius dubius) 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 [sp] (Columba livia) Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus) Great Spotted Woodpecker [sp] (Dendrocopos major) Rose-ringed Parakeet [sp] (Psittacula krameri) Western Jackdaw [sp] (Coloeus monedula) Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone) Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus) Great Tit [sp] (Parus major) Sand Martin [sp] (Riparia riparia) Eurasian Reed Warbler [sp] (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) Eurasian Wren [sp] (Troglodytes troglodytes) Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris) Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula) European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula) European Greenfinch [sp] (Chloris chloris) European Goldfinch [sp] (Carduelis carduelis)
Peter Scott was born in September 1909. His father, the Antartic explorer, Robert Falcon Scott, died when he was only 2 years old. In his last letter to his wife, he encouraged her to get his son interested in natural history. Peter Scott read natural sciences at Cambridge but after graduation took up his interest in painting and had his first exhibition in London in 1933. He was also an excellent sailor and represented Great Britain at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where he took a bronze medal. He served in the Royal Navy during world war II seeing service in the North Atlantic and the English Channel and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Using his artistic talent, he designed a new camouflage scheme for ships and by 1941 this had been adopted by the Navy. For this, he was awarded an MBE. Leaving the Navy in 1945 he stood for parliament but was not elected.
In 1947 he founded the Severn Wildfowl Trust near Slimbridge (now the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust) and in 1951 he was a co-founder of the World Wildlife Fund. At Slimbridge in the 1950’s, he made his name in conservation by masterminding the Nene project which ensured the survival of the Hawaiin Goose which was on the brink of extinction in its natural habitat. From 1955 until 1981 he appeared regularly on the BBC programme Look as well as doing other documentaries. He continued to be an acclaimed wildlife artist and was the founder of the society of wildlife artists.
Peter Scott died, aged 79, in August 1989. One of his biggest wishes was to have a Wetland Centre in an urban environment and this was achieved when the London Wetland centre opened in 2000. This statue of Peter Scott stands at the entrance to the centre as a memorial to the man, his life work and his legacy.
Here are a couple of pictures of a Bittern taken at London Wetlands centre (6 miles from the City centre) a couple of weeks ago.
Gives an idea of how well camouflaged they are in the reeds.
When I was younger it was very rare to see these birds. I remember traveling to see them in NW England at Leighton Moss and then the excitement when they first re-appeared in the Lea Valley in Essex. Now we have them in central/west London. A great story of species revival.
Am travelling a lot this week so a chance to look back at some posts from one of my favourite spots, The London Wetland Centre
The wetland Centre collection shows off the wonderful work that the Wetlands Trust do in helping to save and re-introduce endangered species from around the world. The centre collection area has also become home to native species such as the Moorhen, Tufted Duck and Mallard and helps promote other plants and insects.
Keith and I made a trip to the London Wetland centre in search of spring migrants. Surprisingly, there wasn’t much initial evidence except for a number of singing Blackcaps.
On reaching the tower hide we were alerted to a male Yellow Wagtail on the marsh, which was an unexpected bonus.
Yellow Wagtail (m)
Keith thought he heard a Chiffchaff calling near the secluded walk but it didn’t erupt into song and we never did locate it. Otherwise, the resident birds were getting on with preparing for the breeding season.
Tufted Duck (top left), Mute Swan (top centre), Common Redshank (top right) with Grey Heron (bottom)
The Sand Martins were back in evidence over the lakes having completed their journey from their wintering grounds in Africa.
Cowslip (top right), Common Shelduck (top centre), Common Snipe (top right), Tree Bumblebee (bottom left) and Great Crested Grebe (bottom right)
So apart from the Sand Martins, the Blackcaps and the Yellow Wagtail we didn’t find many migrants but there were plenty of other signs of spring with flowers blooming, Bumblebees on the wing and birds preparing sites for nesting.
Greylag Goose [sp] (Anser anser)
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca)
Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)
Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata)
Gadwall [sp] (Mareca strepera)
Eurasian Wigeon (Mareca penelope)
Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos)
Eurasian Teal (Anas crecca)
Common Pochard (Aythya ferina)
Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
Great Crested Grebe [sp] (Podiceps cristatus)
Grey Heron [sp] (Ardea cinerea)
Great Cormorant [sp] (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Eurasian Sparrowhawk [sp] (Accipiter nisus)
Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus)
Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra)
Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)
Common Snipe [sp] (Gallinago gallinago)
Common Redshank [sp] (Tringa totanus)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)
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)
Great Spotted Woodpecker [sp] (Dendrocopos major)
European Green Woodpecker [sp] (Picus viridis)
Rose-ringed Parakeet [sp] (Psittacula krameri)
Eurasian Jay [sp] (Garrulus glandarius)
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)
Sand Martin [sp] (Riparia riparia)
Cetti’s Warbler [sp] (Cettia cetti)
Eurasian Blackcap [sp] (Sylvia atricapilla)
Eurasian Wren [sp] (Troglodytes troglodytes)
Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris)
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula)
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula)
Dunnock [sp] (Prunella modularis)
Western Yellow Wagtail [sp] (Motacilla flava)
Common Chaffinch [sp] (Fringilla coelebs)
European Greenfinch [sp] (Chloris chloris)
European Goldfinch [sp] (Carduelis carduelis)
Common Reed Bunting [sp] (Emberiza schoeniclus)
