Nov 19th-30th: Bittern hunt

The second half of November this year marked the transition from autumn to winter as visible migration petered out except for winter thrushes. Even those are more likely to be seen on hedgerows gobbling Hawthorn berries rather than just flying over. At Brent Reservoir, I virtually stopped my vismig mornings on the Dump as there was nothing flying over. A few Siskins and Redpolls can be found feeding on the alders and Silver Birches around the reservoir.

Lesser Redpoll

One morning I heard a Blackcap in sub-song along the path to the hides at Brent. We usually have a few over-wintering individuals but they’re hard to track down as they’re usually silent. Duck numbers have been going up and it feels like cold weather will be arriving soon although there’s not even been a frost yet.

On the 22nd I wandered up to Fryent CP for a change of view, one of the other large green spaces I can easily walk to. I don’t tend to visit it a lot during the winter months as it is often quiet and the paths are atrociously muddy. It was a nice walk around this morning, helped by it being bright and sunny. Redwings and Fieldfares were in the hedges and a Red Kite circled around over me looking for food although I’m not sure what it was expecting to find.

Fieldfare

Red Kite

The following day I met up with Frank down at the Wetland Centre. Despite coming from opposite sides of London and using public transport we both arrived at the same time. After coffee and cake we headed straight to Dulverton hide to look for Bittern. On our last visit we spent over an hour here and didn’t see one, this time it took just ten minutes before one crawled through the reeds and stopped on the edge for several minutes before slinking back out of view. Over the course of the next half an hour we saw it two more times, including once when it flew along the reeds to another spot.

Bittern

We carried on to the Peacock hide where we were the only birders for a while. I found a second Bittern on the edge of the reeds along Reservoir Lagoon. This one was bolt upright in its sky-pointing stance and from a distance looked like a wooden post. A couple of other birders joined us and found two Stonchats along with a Dartford Warbler on the wader scrape which at least had a bit of water in it. When these birds first turned up a month ago the scrape was bone dry. A second Dartford Warbler had subsequently arrived and after a lot of scanning we managed to see both of them. Water Pipit and Goldeneye have both been seen recently but we couldn’t track down either today.

Bittern

On the 25th I met up with my regular Friday birding friends and at Liverpool Street station and we went up to Cheshunt for another Bittern hunt. Unfortunately we weren’t successful as both Bitterns had been flushed by a working party and had flown to the far side of the lake. We also couldn’t locate the redhead Smew that is back for another winter. It was another sunny day which encouraged the local raptors and we saw at least three Red Kites and four Common Buzzards.

Red Kite

We also explored around Holyfield Hall Farm and Hall Marsh Scrape but didn’t turn up too much else. It was a bit tricky at the latter site as someone’s nicked the benches from the hide and the slats are too low if you stand up!

I popped down to Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens on 28th but didn’t spend a lot of time there as it actually felt cold and there weren’t many birds around apart from Egyptian Geese which seen to have taken over the area near the Round Pond.

I finished the month at Crossness, meeting John & Janet at London Bridge earlier than planned. This was fortuitous as the Barn Owl was showing as we walked past but had gone in to sleep shortly afterwards as a local birder who we met later by the outflow didn’t see it. There weren’t as many waders as on our last visit and all the Wigeon had disappeared but it was still heaving with birds. Two Little Egrets fished from either side of the outflow and the usual Common Sand was there along with a few Redshank plus several Grey and Pied Wagtails.

Little Egret

Redshank

Grey Wagtail

As we walked back beside the area where the Great Reed Warbler was a few years ago we stopped to watch a large flock of Goldfinches bathe in the puddles on the path. Another finch was with them which, at the distance we were at, appeared smaller and darker. As it bathed it flashed a yellow rump but then flew off before we could get close enough to identify it. We waited for a while but the finches had finished their ablutions and some of them were resting in the trees; unfortunately there was no sign of this particular bird so we’ll never know what it was despite our suspicions.

We crossed over to the Southern Marsh which certainly lived up to its name as the path was really wet and there was a large pool at the end of one stretch of boardwalk which we had to wade through. Large numbers of Redwing with a few Fieldfare were again feeding in the hedgerows but there wasn’t much else there until we got to Thamesmere and found a large assortment of wildfowl.

With eleven months of the year now gone, my London Year List has stalled somewhat on 182 species. It’s going to have to be a really amazing December to even reach 190.