April 1-7th: a slow start to spring

I started the month at Rainham Marshes hoping for some spring migrants. Alas, it was a continuation of previous visits, with the regular little flock of Barnacle Geese still on Wennington and the same mix of ducks including Pintail and Wigeon reminding me that wintering birds were still dominant. The only concession to spring were a few singing Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs.

Things began to change a couple of days later. I’d spent the morning at Brent Reservoir seeing little on the 3rd and had returned home. Early in the afternoon, my phone pinged and there was a message from Magnus who’d just found a Garganey at Brent. I dashed straight back up to look for it but couldn’t locate it from the bridge so I went to check out the top end from the hide. As I walked back to the bridge I got another message to say it was now on view. A minute later I was watching a fine drake Garganey, they really are a spectacular duck.

Garganey

There had been a particularly large influx into the UK at the end of March including a few in London; having one on my local patch justified my decision not to chase after one. It swam back into the bank and disappeared so we went round to the park on the opposite shore to look for it again. It wasn’t immediately obvious but then swam out of a patch of Yellow Flag and we managed a few distant photos before it once again disappeared. If you ever get challenged to play a game of hide-and-seek with a Garganey you should decline as they are masters at it.

The following day I was back at Brent and sitting in the hide scanning when I picked up a small raptor flying over the treetops. Its behaviour with its twisting flight and small size immediately alerted me and I switched to the scope. It continued flying away but it looked greyish and was clearly a small falcon with a medium length tail – a Merlin! It dived down behind the trees and may have been chasing a small bird. I’ve seen a few at Brent, usually flying through in spring or autumn and it’s always a good bird to see, but particularly this year as  it was new for my London year list and one that’s difficult to get.

After I left the hide I hadn’t gone far along the path when I heard the sweet song of a newly arrived Willow Warbler. They used to be so common here and several pairs bred but now it’s just a passage migrant in small numbers so it’s always good to come across a singing bird in spring. I didn’t see the Garganey that morning but didn’t spend a long time looking for it. It was still there the following day and swam past when I was sitting in the public hide in north marsh. It also called a few times, the first time I’ve heard one call at Brent. It was still a bit far off for a decent photo in the overcast conditions but better than the first day.

Garganey

What may have been yesterday’s Willow Warbler was now singing on the north side of the bridge, known as the north triangle.

Although the weather forecast wasn’t great I decided to go a bit further afield the next day and went down to Crossness. The rain was supposed to come at lunchtime but it arrived three hours early and meant I saw very little. There were no new summer visitors since my last visit here but a singing Skylark was new and a few more Blackwits had acquired summer plumage.

Black-tailed Godwit

I finished off the first week of April at Brent as the wind had strengthened and made a trip elsewhere rather pointless. There were fewer birds than earlier in the week as I didn’t see the Garganey or Willow Warbler. At least I had a few new birds during the week pushing my year list up to 132.