February 22-27: waiting for spring

I started this week with a day out at Rainham Marshes as the gales of last week had finally abated. It was a bright morning as I walked across Rainham West and the Cetti’s Warblers were in good voice. At one point one sang (shouted?) about a metre away and it reminded me of the time I saw Motorhead at The Marquee and stood next to the speakers. Fortunately, this time I didn't have to wait two days to get my hearing back!

I spent some time looking out over Wennington from the Serin Mound but there wasn’t much around. I glimpsed something running past my feet which went into a bramble bush. I guessed what it was and when I started squeaking it popped out for a look and I rattled off a few photos. I so rarely see Weasel but it was the second one I’ve seen at Rainham in the past few years.

Weasel

Bumblebee - the first one I've seen this year

Despite the acres of mud in Aveley Bay there was a severe shortage of waders with just two Curlews and a handful of Redshank. Perhaps yesterday’s mega tide had moved them on. I called into the centre where the talk was of how quiet it was, which I noted after doing a circuit of the reserve. Roll on spring!

After a couple of local visits to Brent Res, mainly to see how the management work was progressing in East Marsh I ventured out east again for another visit to Epping Forest. This time I started at Theydon Bois (I always think it sounds like a football club) and headed through the forest, past Long Running (where Tree Pipit used to breed) and up to Copped Hall. Last time I was here I saw my first London Ravens (another football club!) and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker but there was no sign of either today.

Long Running

I heard several Treecreepers whilst walking through the forest but surprisingly no Nuthatches. It was a lovely sunny morning and after I crossed over the M25 I stopped to look for any raptors that might be up. There were several Buzzards, a Red Kite and a Peregrine that powered its way west over the forest which was rather a surprising place to see one.

Bridge over the M25 to Copped Hall

Buzzard

As there was nothing else moving I carried on past the mansion and took the rather muddy footpath through the fields to Epping and eventually to the tube station which is the eastern end of the Central Line and made my way home from there. 

I rounded off the week with a couple more visits to Brent Res where the highlight was the over-wintering flock of Siskins which had started singing.

Siskin

I thought the spring like conditions may have induced a bit of visible migration but I didn’t see anything flying over; however overnight the number of Great Crested Grebes increased from one to 11 and the Redwing flock had disappeared so it looks like the spring passage has started.

Feb 15-21st: Storms stop play

I spent Tuesday morning up at Brent Res, it was fairly quiet until a group of parakeets started squawking away, more agitatedly than normal. I looked up and a Red Kite drifted overhead being pursued by a few long-tailed green darts. It didn’t seem particularly bothered by these noisy interceptors and carried on heading west towards Wembley leaving the parakeets to turn around and head back to base.

Red Kite with attendant Ring-necked Parakeets

The next day I headed over to the east again, back to Orsett Fen following a tip-off from Ruth. I took the train to Ockenden, and headed along my normal route to the Mardyke, running into several singing Yellowhammers as I had last week. I couldn’t find the footpath that was on my map so went round the field and onto to a path that runs parallel to the Mardyke. I hadn’t gone far when my quarry took off from the adjacent field – Red-legged Partridge, my only London year tick this week. I carried on the path for a while and kept checking the fields and various lumps kept turning into more partridges, all of the Red-legged variety. I couldn’t turn any of them into Greys which are now fairly rare in the London area.

Yellowhammer

Red-legged Partridge

After a while I turned round and headed slowly back. It’s a nice walk and I don’t often visit farmland so will probably try again in spring when there will be different birds around; it’s the sort of place a Turtle Dove might just hang out.

My only other expedition this week was the following day when I headed over to Highams Park Lake as there had been a recent report of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. I’d not visited this spot before which is a fragment of Epping Forest: a lake surrounded by ancient woodland that is now in suburban northeast London. Getting there was straightforward, it’s just a short train trip from Liverpool Street station and then a ten minute walk.

I did a virtual circuit of the lake but instead of completing the loop, retraced my steps as the most likely area for woodpeckers looked like being north of the lake. I found several Great Spots, including one drumming but there was no sign of their diminutive cousin.

Apart from the exceptionally muddy paths, it was a nice walk and I photographed quite a lot, both on the lake and in the woods. The day had a touch of spring to it with quite a lot of song and territorial Coots having a fight like boys in the school playground. And I saw yet another Red Kite that flew low over the canopy heading south. Hopefully, there will be more chances for Lesser Spot this year.

Fighting Coots

Peaceful Moorhen

Siskin

Blue Tit

With Storm Eunice blowing through on Friday and strong winds remaining all the way through to Monday, I stayed local and visited Brent Res each day. Unlike the Great Storm in 1987, there were no seabirds blown into London this time apart from a couple of Little Gulls at Staines on the Monday. I hope to connect with them at some point this year although I failed to see any last year. I spent a couple of hours at the weekend cutting down and removing fallen branches but one large tree that had fallen across the path was too big for me and requires a chainsaw.

 

February 8-14th: London and Kent

The first three days of this week were local with two visits to Brent Reservoir and one to Fryent Country Park. Fryent is an interesting place to visit, sandwiched between Wembley Park and Kingsbury in northwest London. It’s mostly grassy fields with ancient hedgerows with some good wooded areas. There are a lot of ponds, mostly small ones with very little bird life but on this visit I actually found a first for the site: a drake Teal. Normally they’re shy birds and will fly off as soon as you come near them but this one stayed put, trying to look inconspicuous.

Teal

View from Fryent looking towards Wembley Stadium

I followed my local days with two days either side of the Thames, firstly at Crossness for third time this year. Funnily enough, I actually got a year tick on my way to the bus stop with a Blackcap singing along the river Brent – spring must be on its way!

At Crossness, a Buzzard flew low over the paddocks and I spent some time looking through the ducks on the reserve before going up to the river wall. The tide was quite a way out so with a lot of mud exposed there were plenty of waders, including a new one for the year: Oystercatcher. These are generally absent in London during winter but return to the Thames-side marshes to breed in the spring and there had been a few other sightings during the week.

Oystercatcher with a tasty snack

The regular Common Sandpiper was still by the outflow as was the Little Egret who had now been joined by a friend. One of the egrets indulged in a bit of high-stepping when it would show off its yellow socks, like it was auditioning for the Ministry of Silly Walks. The Grey Heron was having none of this nonsense and carried on its own fishing technique by standing as still as possible.

Common Sandpiper

Little Egrets showing off their yellow socks

Grey Heron

Walking back home from the bus stop I saw a large raptor circling slowly overhead which turned out to be a Red Kite. They are most often seen flying over here in spring but winter sightings are starting to pick up as the population increases in northwest London.

The next day was an early start so I could get down to Rainham for dawn. It was a glorious day with bright blue skies and hardly a breath of wind although that did mean walking straight into the low sun to start with. It felt quite spring like with many birds singing, especially Dunnocks which seemed to be in every patch of bramble. Other than that there was little change in birdlife to my last few visits with the flock of five Barnacle Geese and Spoonbill still present.

To round the week off I ventured outside of London for the first time this year. I met up with John & Janet at Victoria station and we took the first train down to Sittingbourne in Kent. We boarded the shuttle train on the adjacent platform but before we were due to depart the driver announced there was a problem with the rail and there was a team on site looking at it. Ten minutes later the train pulled out with no further updates so I can only assume they used a dollop of blu-tac to fix it.

We got off at the desolate Swale station and crossed over to the footpath that runs around Chetney Marsh. It was another bright sunny day but unlike yesterday it was windy which made it feel a lot colder. 

Chetney Marsh

We took our time, scanning the marshes one side and the River Swale the other side with its muddy edges full of waders. Buzzards flew overhead, at one point there were five over us, mewing away and one pair even talon-locked and tumbled downwards at great speed. Brent Geese were around in several small flocks and we scanned the large flock of Greylags for anything more interesting but there was nothing on this occasion.

Brent Geese

Buzzards

As we left the river wall and headed across the promontory, several coveys of Red-legged Partridges zipped past. We had lunch by the farm and had a look at Funton Creek before heading back. Amongst the hordes of waders we found some Knot and Grey Plovers. A single House Sparrow was heard by the farm – when we first started coming here there was a huge flock as well as other birds like Corn Buntings but they’ve all vanished.

Several flocks of Golden Plover flew over the fields but it was hard to see anything else new as the wind had gotten quite strong by now so we spent most of the return leg just walking. I stopped and went through the waders a few times and added Turnstone to the day list before we got back to the station and waited for the hourly shuttle to take us back. At Sittingbourne, the first train to London was cancelled and the cafe was already closed so we just had to wait for the next one. As we sat on the platform a Sparrowhawk flew past and snatched a Sparrow from the industrial estate opposite us.

I finished the week with a couple more visits to Brent Res, seeing the usual roosting Tawny Owl and making a start on cutting some willows down in North Marsh that have grown up in the reed bed.

February 1-7: East London

The first week of February saw me visit three sites in the eastern half of London with local walks to Brent on the other days.

My first expedition this week was to Rainham on Wednesday. It was a lovely sunny morning which tempted the local Skylarks to start singing. The now regular flock of Barnacle Geese was still on Wennington and a Buzzard sat on a fence post. The Dartford Warbler returned to being elusive again despite seeing lots of Stonechats along the riverwall. There were no new waders in the bay and a circuit of the reserve failed to add anything new until we bumped into Neil who had seen the pair of Ravens out on Purfleet scrape. Oh well, they can wait another day as I’ll see them eventually.

The following day I went across the river to my old haunt of Swanscombe. It was my second visit of the year here and I enjoyed the walk around. It wouldn’t be as pleasant if they build that damned theme park. I still don’t understand why anyone would build a one billion pound theme park on a flood plain next to the Thames! As I completed the Botany Marsh loop I heard the unmistakeable sound of a cronking Raven, and shortly one flew into view, my second best flyover of the morning following the Spitfire that went over earlier.

Raven

It landed on a pylon and continued to call, presumably confirming its territory as I heard another one call not far away. I had lunch on the sandy beach – the only one in the London Area (20 miles radius from St Paul’s Cathedral) and kept an eye on the Thames in case the incoming tide brought an interesting gull or duck with it. Needless to say it didn’t. The only wader was a flyover Curlew. I’ll have to come back another day at low tide as there are usually a lot more waders here. I completed my circuit of the new Thames path and returned up the hill back to the station, pleased that I’d finally managed to see Raven this year.

Swanscombe beach, with a background of Tilbury Docks

Spitfire

After a few days staying local and popping up to Brent Reservoir I ventured further afield again, this time to Orsett Fen. I took an early train from Fenchurch Street to Ockenden and walked up the road to the start of the footpath which covers a lot of farmland, scrub, woodland and river valley. I first walked this route last year and enjoyed the change of habitat so was keen to try it again.

There’s an active landfill here and gulls were coming and going all morning although it was a bit too early in the year for Med Gull, which I saw in good numbers last spring. Skylarks were singing up in the clouds, always great to hear and a reminder of how useful well-managed farmland is for these fast declining birds. When I first started visiting Brent Res, there were still a few pairs breeding there but they’re now long gone.

I had a couple of targets in mind for today and it didn’t take too long before I found my first: Yellowhammer, another declining breeding bird. I came across several singing birds in the hedgerows. One of their colloquial names is Cheese Bunting, not because of their yellow heads or their following of the Green Bay Packers but their tuneful ditty which includes the word cheese. 

Unfortunately there was no sign of any partridges, my other targets, but there are some other paths to explore which I’ll do on my next visit. I followed the Mardyke down to South Stifford after walking just over six miles and took the bus back up to Ockenden and the train home.

Yellowhammer (AKA Cheese Bunting)