December 8th-15th: snow arrives in London

With the forecast being icy but bright I decided to explore a new area. I’d seen a reference to Davy Down by Ruth B which I’d never heard of so after a bit of Googling I took the train out to Ockendon. The plan was to take the bus the rest of the rest of the way but it didn’t show up so I walked down the road for 25 minutes and the bus only passed me when I was almost there. The path follows the lower end of the Mardyke, just where I leave it when doing Orsett Fen.

It’s a nice walk along the river with large meadows, scrub and mature woodland on the north side. I passed under the viaduct that carries the train between Ockendon and Chafford Hundred. The latter section also goes under the A13 and M25.

Railway viaduct

Road bridges over Davy Down

It was cold and there was a hard frost which enhanced the walk as all the vegetation sported a white overcoat.

Mardyke at Davy Down

A large and very old Oak 

At some point I should have crossed over the Mardyke and continued on the north side but I carried on until the path disappeared and I emerged by Thurrock Football Club. I knew where I wanted to go and found a way round to Ship Lane where I walked on to Aveley and got a bus to Rainham station. I didn’t see anything particularly outstanding but it was nice to explore a nature reserve that I hadn’t heard of before and I plan to revisit it another time.

On Friday I did the WeBS count at Brent Res. The cold weather hadn’t brought anything else in yet but the Pintail was lingering. The next day I headed back over to East London, this time to Rainham Marshes. With the ongoing cold snap, almost all of the pools on the reserve had frozen over so there were a lot of ducks on the river, mostly Wigeon & Teal. I kept scanning for seaduck but the winds weren’t strong enough to bring anything in up the Thames.

Among the regular waders on the exposed mud was a single Ruff but I couldn’t find the long-staying Grey Plover today. At the back of Target Pools one of the over-wintering Cattle Egrets was out tending its herd.

There wasn’t much on the reserve with it being frozen and I also required thawing out so stopped off at the cafe. A female Bearded Tit was showing well in the reeds by the dragonfly pond and a couple of Marsh Harriers passed by.

I went out through the turnstile for another look at Aveley Bay and immediately found a single Brent Goose on the shoreline with a few Shelduck.

Brent Goose

I spent the rest of the week at Brent Res due to a combination of severe winter weather and loads of train strikes. On Sunday we had fog to go with the frost but I did manage to flush a Woodcock as I walked through the woodlands on the south bank. That evening the snow started to fall and by morning there was a good covering of several inches.

Snow scenes at Brent Res

I walked along the south bank to where I had seen yesterday’s Woodcock and found new tracks but didn’t put it up. I must invest in a thermal imager to try and find them.

Footprints: Fox, Woodcock, Human

The snow hadn’t brought in anything new that day but a few sites around London recorded Golden Plover flying over. During the course of the week I made repeated attempts to find a local Goldie but to no avail. A trio of Wigeon were the only new arrivals on the wildfowl front. Wednesday night the temperature plunged even further and by the following morning most of the reservoir had frozen over leaving only a few small areas for the remaining waterbirds. The Pintail and Wigeon had been forced to leave. In previous winters these sorts of conditions have been good for Smew so I’m still hopeful something interesting will turn up.

Iced-over North Marsh at Brent