August 22nd-28th: Wryneck and Porpoise

With a Wryneck found at Rainham on Sunday it was a no-brainer to try for it at the beginning of the week. I aimed to get there just before opening time and two of my friends had the same idea as they boarded my train at West Ham. It was almost high tide so there were very few waders in Aveley Bay but I noticed something in the river which quickly submerged. It came up again briefly in the same spot and I could see a small triangular fin – a Harbour Porpoise! We watched it for several minutes feeding close in the bay before heading back to the centre. This was my third cetacean in the Thames after the Northern Bottlenosed Whale at Battersea and the Beluga at Gravesend.

We entered the reserve just after opening time and made our way up to the Numbers. As we were first there it was up to us to find the bird and once we’d located the Blackthorn bush it was using yesterday we stopped.

Almost immediately a bird flew across the path and landed in the bush – it was the Wryneck! A minute of chaos ensued as tripods went up and messages were sent before we could properly enjoy it. Interestingly, it was being pestered by a few warblers who seemed upset by its presence so the Wryneck dropped down into the bush for a bit before it was safe to come back up. By then we were joined by a few more birders and we’d unintentionally split into two groups. The Wryneck flew down onto the path between us allowing us all great views and photos.

Wryneck

It remained on the path for about ten minutes during which time you could really appreciate what a striking bird it is. Its plumage almost defies description because there’s so much of it: the blue-grey stripe that runs from its crown, down the back and onto the tail, the black-edged golden spots on its scapulars and wing coverts and a myriad of brown stripes. They’re quite a rare passage migrant in London but it was one I was hoping to see this year and it was definitely the most obliging one I’ve seen in the capital. It was also my fourth woodpecker of the year in London and, barring a miracle, my last one.

We left the Wryneck to the togs and twitchers and carried on going around the reserve. The scrape in front of Butts hide was virtually empty but there were a lot of birds at Aveley Pools. After a bit of scanning around I came across a wader lurking in the far corner which revealed itself to be a juvenile Spotted Redshank – not a plumage I see them in very often. A couple of Hobbies were hunting dragonflies and the Spoonbill was still snoozing at the back.

Back at Brent Reservoir for the next few days, the Wood Sand was becoming a permanent fixture along with its Common and Green cousins. The first Water Rails of autumn arrived during the week with two birds heard calling around the reservoir.

On Thursday I led a bat walk at Brent for a group of local residents along with a few fellow birders who helped out with their own bat detectors. It took a little time to get going but from then on we had bats calling more or less continuously for the rest of the evening with five species recorded: Common and Soprano Pipistrelle, Noctule, Leisler’s and finishing off with Daubenton’s. We also had a moth trap going but failed to trap anything other than a few grass moths.

I had another day out on Saturday with a visit to Wanstead Flats to look for migrants. Being over in East London, it’s not a place I often go to, with just a couple of previous visits for Blyth’s Reed Warbler and Rustic Bunting. It was a fairly quiet morning but we did manage to see a couple of Whinchats in the Skylark area and a Yellow Wagtail flew over. Also of note was a Clouded Yellow butterfly.

August 15th-21st: waders and flycatchers

 I popped up to Brent Res on Monday morning to look for waders from the hide but couldn’t find yesterday’s Wood Sand. All the others waders were equally matched with three each of Lapwing, Snipe, Common and Green Sands. My tentative plan for today was to go to Regent’s Park for the Pied Fly if it was still there and when I was in the hide I checked my messages and there was positive news so I didn’t explore the rest of the area, instead taking the bus down to Kilburn station.

It didn’t take long to get to Regent’s Park, arriving just before 9.00. I knew roughly where the bird was hanging out and walked up the west edge of the park, not stopping to look for any water birds on the lake. As I approached the area I heard the flycatcher calling. It reminds me of the opening note of a Goldfinch call and is often repeated for a while, making it easier to track down. I soon found the Pied Fly perched up high in a tree but it stopped calling when it saw me and promptly disappeared. I looped around the Chat Enclosure but there was nothing there. As I walked back it started calling again and I quickly found it but it did the same thing again and vanished.

I was really pleased to catch up with Pied Fly as I probably had a non-calling one at Brent yesterday but it also vanished quickly – too quickly as I wasn’t able to confirm it. It was another new one for my year list and not one that I was confident about getting. Unlike Spotted Flycatcher which I still haven’t seen yet but they are usually a bit later in August.

I decided not to explore the rest of the park as it was getting hot so just left by the nearest gate and roughly headed west where I thought there was a bus route. I emerged through the side streets at St John’s Wood station but carried on and took the bus home.

With various transport strikes going on during the week, that was my only real venture away from Brent apart from an evening visit south of the river to co-lead a bat walk around Southwark Park. The heatwave had finished and there had been some rain earlier in the day but luckily it was dry when we walked around. Common Pipistrelles were out before we even set off and everyone managed to see a few during the course of the evening. We also had Soprano Pipistrelles and probably a Brown Long-eared Bat in the same place we saw one last year but there was no sign of either of the two larger species that we should have got. Maybe they were full up after gorging on insects the previous evening.

Back at Brent, the Wood Sand reappeared on Tuesday and then remained all week, allowing quite a few people to come along and see this elegant wader. It spent most days in East Marsh so was really only viewable from the main hide but on Sunday it was briefly present in North Marsh. The same day I also heard a Greenshank calling as it flew past unseen behind some trees to add to this month’s wader list.

Wood Sandpiper on a raft after the water level rose

Passerine migration is now in full flow and the number of Willow Warblers fluctuated every day, peaking at a dozen. One of the favoured areas at Brent is the Dump and one morning I found a Common Redstart in one of the Elder bushes. The heat wave has caused the insect population to plummet with very few butterflies around and we still haven’t had a second generation Common Blue yet or even any Brown Argus or Small Copper all year. There’s also very few dragonflies around as well with just the occasional Migrant Hawker on the wing.

The only other thing of note was an exceptionally large specimen of Dryad’s Saddle that I found on a willow on the south side, measuring just over half a metre across.

Dryad's Saddle

I did manage a walk around Fryent Country Park on one day for a change. I was mainly looking for migrants on the hedges but it wasn’t a particularly good day with just a few Chiffs and Blackcaps seen. Most of the grass fields have been cut now and it’s looking very dry. The blackberry crop this year is looking pretty woeful but surprisingly the Blackthorns have produced a good crop of sloes.

Hedges looking good for migrants

Sloes

I did see a trio of Yellow Wagtails go over which is a good local record and found a perched Hobby.

Hobby

August 8th-14th: autumn magic

The second week of August may have been another heatwave but it was also full of migrants. On Monday 8th I was back at Brent Reservoir. The Blue-billed Teal was over in the East Marsh and was close enough to get a few photos. It’s a smart teal and appears to have taken up residence as it was present all week.

Blue-billed Teal

Also present all week was the juvenile Garganey in North Marsh although it can often be much harder to find as it tends to spend most of its time sleeping amongst a group of Shoveler. There were the usual three species of wader: Lapwing, Common & Green Sand. Around the reservoir, the numbers of Willow Warblers continue to increase but so far there’s not been much else with them.

There was little change on Tuesday so I needed a visit elsewhere so the next day I met up with some friends and we headed over to Rainham. The only waders in the bay were Black-tailed Godwits so we started off on a loop of the reserve. We had a look in Cordite but there was no sign of any Spotted Flycatchers so carried on to the Ken Barrett. The water level had gone down a lot since last week but does look in good condition for a wader or crake. John picked up two waders flying at the back so we carried on to Aveley Pool and checked out the pool with no name and found two Greenshank. The main pool resembled some sort of avian identity parade with a line up consisting of Cattle Egret, Great Egret, Little Egret and Spoonbill!

Spoonbill (far left) and assorted egrets

It got hot quite quickly so we didn’t linger too long. Butts hide had Snipe and Green Sand but there was not much else to see so we left before we melted in the afternoon heat but we did manage a pair of Ravens near the now dry dragonfly pond.

I was back at Brent for the rest of the week. Thursday saw yet another new record count of Egyptian Geese, 29 this time. I expect next week there’ll be over 30. It still doesn’t seem that long ago that they were rare in London, how quickly things change.

On Friday I did the WeBS count and had just finished in the North Marsh when I was joined by Samuel Levy. Once he was caught up with the Blue-billed Teal and Garganey we went for a walk over the dump, through Woodfield Park and along the North Bank ending up at the Bomb Crater  Pond. Just as we approached the shore of the reservoir Samuel pointed out a large bird flying over the other side. It was a White Stork! I phoned another birder who was on site while Samuel took some photos. It was just below tree top height and was slowly circling upwards, suggesting that it had been flushed off Neasden Rec.

I quickly grabbed a few photos and then watched it gain height over the next five minutes before heading off in a southerly direction. It would have likely gone over Wormwood Scrubs and then perhaps the Wetland Centre but it was really high so it wasn’t surprising that there were no later reports of it. It was one of those really lucky moments you get in birding as normally I would have gone to Rainham on Friday and I probably wouldn’t have spent so long at the reservoir if I wasn’t showing Samuel some of the migrant hotspots around the area.

White Stork

We couldn’t detect any rings when looking at the photos so it seems like it might have been a wild bird. Although there was a big release of White Storks at Knepp they had been tracked along the South Coast so I felt justified in counting this as a genuine vagrant. This was my first at Brent and takes my all time list to 210 (not counting last year’s Ruddy Shelduck...yet). It was also new for my London Year List. It was one I thought there was a chance of getting as I had been fortunate enough to see one in each of the previous three years, all at Rainham, but it was an outside bet.

Things were much quieter at Brent on Saturday although three Snipe were new in. The last day of the week was again another good one. I was first into the hide and was scanning around for waders when I came across a sandpiper feeding front on. I couldn’t make out much on it but it looked too pale for Green and the supercilium looked distinct. It took a while but it eventually turned to reveal the neat spangled back of a Wood Sand which was what I was expecting. I put out some messages and then spent some time enjoying this delicate wader before the first local arrived.

Wood Sandpiper

Wood Sands are almost annual at Brent but I don’t always catch up with them and they’re always a good find. I’ve seen them more regularly at Rainham over recent years so it was good to have a local one. I carried on and refound the Garganey in North Marsh. As it felt like a good day I headed up to the dump to see if there were any passerine migrants around. As I scanned around I saw a small brown and white bird fly into an Elder. My initial impression was of a Pied Flycatcher but I couldn’t see it in the bush. Ben arrived and I left him to keep an eye on the bush while I went round the back. Unfortunately I couldn’t see anything in the bush and it had just vanished. I remained there for a while in case it reappeared. A few minutes after Ben left a Tree Pipit flew in, landing briefly on a tree before carrying on.

Even though I ended up with two good birds, both of which were new for my London Year List (now up to 175) I couldn’t help being annoyed that I couldn’t nail the Pied Fly. It’ll have to wait for another day – hopefully!

August 1st-7th: sarnies, waders and a dodgy duck

When the calendar page turns over to August it always feels like the start of autumn proper and although the wader passage has been going for about six weeks, it’s now time for the passerines to start their southbound journey. This week was notable for the beginning of the Willow Warbler passage, with the first on Tuesday and then slowly building up with seven birds seen on Saturday.

Associated with these were a few Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and Whitethroats. In the past, the start of the Willow Warbler passage meant it was time to look for Wood Warbler but they’ve become so rare in London now that the chances of finding one have plummeted. Still, you have to look otherwise you’ll never find one.

My best day of the week was actually on the 1st. I was halfway through my second count of the waders when I stopped as I thought I heard a distant Sandwich Tern. It called again, close this time so I abandoned the scope and scanned down the res with my bins, only to see three Sarnies flying in!

They did a circuit of East Marsh, deemed it was safe to land and settled in amongst the mass of Black-headed Gulls. It was clearly a family party with two adults and a nice scaly juvenile. They presumably flew into The Wash and carried on southwards overland to cut off the SE corner of the country and just stopped for a rest. They were still there when I left the hide but weren’t there an hour later when someone else looked for them.

adult Sandwich Tern

juvenile Sandwich Tern

It isn’t a species I see in London every year but this was actually my second sighting at Brent this year as I saw one fly straight over in March. I carried on with my circuit and headed over to North Marsh. As I sat down in the public hide and looked out I immediately saw a Black-tailed Godwit feeding in the water not far out. It was an adult still in summer plumage and was the first at Brent this year.

Black-tailed Godwit

I scanned through all the ducks and found a sleeping Garganey, possibly the one I saw last week. It turned out to be my 60th species of the day, not bad for an urban reservoir tucked up against the North Circular!

On Wednesday the wader flock in East Marsh included a Redshank, another new one this year at Brent. The sandpiper numbers are different every day but it’s hard to tell what the turnover is as some birds often stay a while and it’s quite easy for birds to remain hidden at Brent, especially in the area known to regulars as Bermuda Triangle which isn’t visible from either of the two hides in East Marsh.

On Friday I headed eastwards for a change of scenery and visited Rainham Marsh. I decided to do the full walk from Rainham station although it proved to be fairly quiet. By the time I reached Aveley Bay the tide had dropped sufficiently for some mud to be exposed and it was fairly crowded with a large flock of over 50 Black-tailed Godwits and last week’s Harbour Seal was still present.

After coffee and cake I set out on a loop of the reserve. Yet again the promised Spoonbills were not showing but there was a white mass of roosting egrets in front of Butts hide which included a Great Egret. Also out in front were Green Sand and Yellow Wagtail. I was also on the lookout for dragonflies but despite the sunny conditions there were very few seen.

I finished the week with two more days at Brent, the first of which gave me a new ‘escape’ tick when I found an exotic looking teal in north marsh. I knew I’d seen one abroad somewhere but couldn’t initially remember where or what it was called. I suspected it was African so a quick search online gave me the identification or so I thought as since I’d last seen one its name had been changed and was now called Blue-billed Teal. 

Interestingly though, the offending English name is still present in its scientific name. Regardless of its name, it’s a smart looking duck with blue bill (obviously!), dark crown, beige cheek with a smudge at the rear. Who knows where this individual came from – it’s only the third one to be recorded in London but unlike last year’s Ruddy Shelduck I won’t be building it up to be counted as a wild bird. 

For anyone interested in what it looks like or why its name was changed here's a link to the Wikipedia page.

July 24th-31st: black and white herons

After a week’s holiday in Scotland where we escaped the 40 degree temperatures it was back to London and thankfully more normal summer temperatures. On Sunday I popped along to Brent Reservoir and found a Garganey. It’s already been a good year for them locally and I’m not sure if this was a new bird or one from earlier but this one stayed all week and appears to be a young male.

One of the pair of Dabchicks have youngsters while the wader passage is beginning to pick up with five Lapwing and six sandpipers (three of both Common and Green). By the next day these had risen to four Common and eight Greens. There wasn’t too much change the following day but on Wednesday I discovered Brent’s third Cattle Egret on a beached raft with some Coot. It eventually walked over to the roosting gulls on the mud where it blended in a lot better. Unlike the previous two it remained all day which allowed a few of the regulars to add it to their Brent list.

Cattle Egret blending in with the local Coots

It was quite relaxed when with the gulls but at one point it made the mistake of flying up to a willow tree to roost on its own. A Magpie decided to harass it and kept getting nearer and attempting to bite it before the egret decided it had had enough and flew down out of the way. I’ve not seen this behaviour from Magpies towards the Little Egrets which occur here quite regularly so it clearly recognised it as being different. When Little Egrets first started turning up here Carrion Crows used to do the same thing but they don’t bother to annoy them anymore.

The Cattle Egret unsurprisingly wasn’t present on Thursday but I did manage to catch up with the Dunlin which arrived after I left yesterday; this was Brent’s first of the year as there weren’t any in spring. Also on the wader front, there were now nine Common and nine Green Sandpipers. Things are looking good for a rare wader this autumn!

Also new in was a fresh juvenile Mediterranean Gull in its smoky-silvery finery. I rarely see them in this plumage and there’s only a short window before they start to moult to first-winter plumage.

Juvenile Mediterranean Gull

On Friday it was over to Rainham for my first visit there for several weeks. We decided not to start at Rainham West as it was going to be hot and all of Wennington Marsh is now dry so we met up a little later than usual and took the train to Purfleet. It didn’t take long to find one of the newly returned Yellow-legged Gulls as it was just about the first bird we saw. It was low tide so we walked up to Aveley Bay for a scan of the waders, picking up a Curlew in a small group of Black-tailed Godwits along with Dunlin and a trio of Avocets.

Yellow-legged Gull

As we walked back to the centre I looked over the reserve and could see a distant Great Egret. By the time we reached the centre Pat had found two Great Egrets there so we had a look in the scope before ordering coffee and cake. I’d barely taken a bite out of my cake when a radio message from Pat had us leaping up out of our seats as he’d found a drake Common Scoter on the river. Luckily we could see it from the centre although the incoming tide was fast taking it upriver. This was a new bird for my London year list, now up to 172 so I was particularly pleased with it. Although they regularly turn up in London they can often be tricky to catch up with as they tend not to stay long.

Fully refreshed we walked around the reserve although it was a little quiet. The Spoonbills of recent days weren’t visible but they were seen much later in the day so must have been napping out of sight. At Butts hide there were at least seven Little Ringed Plovers and a few Yellow Wagtails flew over. Two Peregrines zoomed over the Target Dust Bowl while we had lunch. We left through the turnstile as the Scoter was back in Aveley Bay and had much better views as it was closer. As it was getting hot we called back into the centre for a celebratory Magnum (ice cream rather than one of my favourite rock groups!) before heading back to Purfleet station.

I finished the month with another two days at Brent, partly because the rail network was closed on Saturday because of strike action. I met a couple of Brent birders in the hide and each scan of the mud seemed to produce more waders. They’d already found our first Snipe of the autumn and the Dunlin was still present but a lot closer today.

Dunlin

I picked up the juv Med Gull again amongst the large flock of Black-heads. It was presumably the same bird as a couple of days ago. The gull flock suddenly took flight as a large dark shape flew in. It was clearly a heron, could it be a Purple? It landed at the back of the mud and we grilled it but the plumage was all wrong, black instead of brown and the shape was just that of a Grey Heron. But not just a Grey Heron, a melanistic Grey Heron. I would have called it a Black Heron but there’s already a bird with that name in Africa – sometimes called the Umbrella Bird and likely to be familiar with anyone who’s been to Gambia.

I had seen a melanistic Grey Heron before, many years ago at East Tilbury and it’s a curious beast, being mostly black with just a hint of normal plumage being visible. Interestingly this bird behaved strangely as well, feeding deep inside the reed bed and constantly catching and eating small prey. They appeared to be newts which was what a Purple Heron gorged itself on when one spent a few days at Brent in 1999.

melanistic Grey Heron, photo by Steve Blake

So, another month is over and I added two birds to my London year list. And now we’re really into ‘proper’ autumn, hopefully the next few months will be even more productive.