Oct 21st-31st: a quiet end to October

To start off the last third of the month I began at Rainham Marshes. A few Redwing went over as we walked round from Purfleet station and a Ring-necked Parakeet called. The latter aren’t yet established in the area but I’ve started hearing them more regularly in Purfleet so it’s only a matter of time. The tide was up so we didn’t go far along the riverwall and instead went straight into the reserve at opening time.

The woodland was quiet so we carried on to Ken Barrett hide. The water level had gone up again and there were even fewer birds than on my last visit so we gave into the lure of coffee and cake at the cafe. Purfleet scrape is beginning to fill up with the recent rain but it’s got a long way to go. There was the usual Ruff at Butts hide but little else.

Over the next few days I did some local vismigging, either at Brent Res or Fryent CP. Woodpigeons are just starting to move around now and on Tuesday 25th I saw the first proper movement with 723 logged over Brent. Finch migration is still really poor with just odd Linnets, Siskin and Redpolls going over.

At Fryent on Wednesday I had quite a few patch year ticks with Skylark, Siskin & Lesser Redpoll but the best was a pair of Egyptian Geese which were new for the site. I’ve been expecting them at every visit so it was nice to finally see them. There was also a high count of 429 Ring-necked Parakeets flying north in many small groups. They are obviously dispersing from a roost further south, possibly as far as Wormwood Scrubs. Although we know where many of the large roosts are it would be interesting to find out how far birds are coming from.

Fryent CP at dawn

On Thursday I ventured over to south London for a change and visited Crossness for the first time this autumn. I met my mate John at London Bridge and we were soon at Belvedere, where it’s just a short walk to the reserve. A pair of Stonechats greeted us but there was no sign of a Dartford Warbler which was found there the following day. I added two new patch birds, both overdue waders: Green Sandpiper and Avocet.

Avocet at Crossness

There was a Common Sand by the outflow in exactly the same place where one wintered last year so is most likely the same individual. It was low tide so there were a lot of waders on the exposed mud including a flock of over 100 Black-tailed Godwits but no Dunlin. There don’t seem to be any along the Lower Thames yet this month. We cut back down to the Southern Marsh and finished up by the lake on a total of 64 species, my best at this site. It’s always a nice walk and I really should visit it more often.

A couple of days vismigging at Brent followed with more Woodpigeons on their way to Spain for the winter with daily totals of 458 and 670. There hasn’t been a really big day yet although that typically occurs in the first week of November. While at the vismig spot at Brent I did find a couple of newly emerged Shaggy Inkcaps. I had a look for Fly Agaric but there was no sign at the usual spot.

Shaggy Inkcap

Water Rails have arrived for the winter and I saw two scurrying along the edge of the reeds at Brent within a minute on Saturday. 

To finish the month I spent Halloween at Rainham. It was a fairly quiet day despite the fair conditions but that’s really been the story of October. It usually produces the most rarities in London but this month there’s been nothing gettable. Scarce migrants like Short-eared Owl, Ring Ouzel and Yellow-browed Warbler have been thin on the ground and it’s not been cold enough to get the wildfowl moving. So I finished the month on 181 for the year and with just two months to go it’ll be hard to get many more.