November 1st-15th: Woodies and Whooper

With the autumn migration tailing off, I’ve not being going out and about as much, mostly concentrating on local areas apart from a few days in Norfolk which I covered on my last blog.

The first week of the month traditionally sees the bulk of the Woodpigeon movement and there were several days at Brent Res where I recorded a few thousand going over. Weather is really key in the overland passage of these birds which come from Scandinavia and head over the UK to winter in Spain. Blocking weather systems over the North Sea may mean they take a different route altogether and go along the south coast rather than up the Thames Estuary and over London. In some years they pass over in large numbers on a single day, my best count being 50,000 plus over Swanscombe. This year my highest count was 4,200 over Rainham.

Part of the Woodpigeon migration over Brent Res

Winter thrushes aren’t as common this year, especially Fieldfares. I always hope to see a Ring Ouzel in with them if there’s a good passage but I didn’t get one this year. I did venture over to Rainham on the 4th, aside from the Woodies going over, the number of waders has started to pick up with 180 Lapwing and 60 Black-tailed Godwits counted but still no Dunlin yet. Water and Rock Pipits are both in now for the winter and the latter are often showing well along the lower concrete wall near the visitor centre.

Rock Pipit

The only other place I visited in the first half of the month was Rye Meads RSPB. There had been a juvenile Whooper Swan hanging around for a few days so I thought I’d head up on Monday morning. As I was on the bus from Brent Cross to Edmonton I was wondering if it was such a good idea as there was thick fog around. I got off the bus at Silver Street and took the train up to Rye House. It was still foggy but the visibility had improved a bit. I don’t often visit Rye Meads but am determined to make an effort to get there more often as it is a nice little reserve and easy to get to.

My first port of call was the Draper hide, just missing a Kingfisher which had been posing for the togs on a nearby branch. Out by the island was a sleeping immature swan. It seemed quite long-legged and I suspected it was the Whooper. It woke up briefly and stuck out its head to confirm my suspicion and then went back to sleep. A Green Sandpiper flew in and some Water Rails called over the far side but there wasn’t too much else to see so I carried on walking around.

I visited the main hides and ended up in the Kingfisher hide where a few more togs were waiting for a blue-and-orange piscivore. I didn’t think that winter was the best time to be staking out a nesting site so left them to it and headed back to the Draper hide. By now the Whooper Swan was out feeding and with the fog clearing a little bit more I was able to get a few photos.

Whooper Swan

It's only the second Whooper Swan I've seen in the London Area, the first being on Lockwood Res quite a while back and of course it was another new one for the year, bringing my total up to 172.