Oct 8th-15th: invasion of the heath dwellers

I started the second week of October by finding a Jack Snipe at Brent Reservoir, my first there this year. They’ve become annual now on my local patch and they’re always great birds to see. Unfortunately it didn’t stay longer than a day.

Vis-migging at Brent remained fairly quiet all week but I did have a few highlights: a flock of 17 Linnets on Sunday, a total of 64 Redwing the next day and at the end of the period, a Skylark – another first for the year. There were a few Mipits and Chaffinches but it’s been a poor autumn so far. Hopefully, things will change next week with better conditions forecast.

I popped over to Roe Green Park one morning for a change and added one new species to the site list: Egyptian Goose. It was also my first wildfowl of any description which isn’t surprising considering there isn’t any water there. One of the locals must be feeding this pair of Egyptians as they were ignoring everyone who walked past.

Autumnal trees at Roe Green

Egyptian Geese

On Thursday I went down to the Wetland Centre to meet up with a friend. I’ve not been there this autumn so it was good to see what was going on. After a coffee and a Danish at the cafe we headed over to Dulverton Hide to look for the Bittern but there was no sign of it while we were there.

View from Dulverton Hide - how many species can you find?

We carried on to Peacock hide for a different view. There were a few Snipe on the grazing marsh but nothing on the wader scrape which is totally dry. I think they’ve had a problem pumping in water from the Thames rather than it being because of the heatwave and drought. Actually, there were some birds on the wader scrape as I heard Stonechats being mentioned. I wandered over to have a look and another dark bird appeared with them. Its long cocked-up tail was a dead giveaway and I called out Dartford Warbler along with Martin who had found the Stonechats.

Worst ever photo of a Dartford Warbler...

It was quite distant and it kept disappearing into the vegetation but did eventually sit up on a bare bush for a while so the few lucky people in the hide could get on it. We speculated on whether it was a first for the site; it seems there was one in 1957 when it was Barn Elms Reservoirs but today’s bird seems to be a new one for the LWC. And it didn’t take long for the news to get out and several of the staff descended on the hide to try and see it.

On Friday I had my regular visit to Rainham Marshes. I started off at Rainham station and walked to the barges and then along the riverwall. It was fairly quiet apart from Stonechats which kept appearing along the path and I saw at least 15 during the morning but there were probably many more around. I don’t recall having seen so many Stonechats in London before and wonder where they’ve all come from.

It was low tide so there were a lot of waders in Aveley Bay. Black-wit numbers are slowly increasing and I found a Grey Plover out on the mud with them. Surprisingly there were no small waders so the chances of getting a Little Stint there this year are rapidly diminishing.

Black-tailed Godwits

Skylarks and Meadow Pipits were on the move in small numbers and I had two Rock Pipits on the shore, my first ones this autumn. Once on the reserve I headed through the woodland hoping for a Yellow-brow but there was no sign of one so I carried on to the Ken Barrett hide. There was a single Ruff with the Lapwing and more Snipe but last week’s Green Sands seem to have moved on.

Raptors were thin on the ground with just a couple of Sparrowhawks and Kestrels seen but nothing larger. The ongoing boardwalk repairs are not making it easy for visitors and I’m not seeing any signs of progress, they really need to open up one end so you can at least get to Aveley Pools.

With October now half over we’re still awaiting a really good bird in London this month, let’s hope for something in the second half...