Expeditions to west London

I ventured away from East London twice in the first half of September. On the 2nd I headed back over to Brent Reservoir for their Autumn Bird Count, my first visit there since the spring count. It was nice to be back on the old patch and catch up with some of the Brent regulars. It was a bit of a quiet day but I did see Spotted Flycatcher and Red Kite which were both patch year ticks. Three days later I decided to try for the Red-backed Shrike.

Site 92: Osterley Farmland, September 5th

It was a long old ride on the tube from east to west London and I alighted at Osterley station, turned right and up Bassett Gardens to the access point. Instead of taking the right footpath to the park, I turned left and followed the path round behind Brentford FC's training ground.

The footpath follows the edge of this field

There's a good area of habitat here, plenty of light scrub and long grass. While waiting for the shrike to appear there were several migrant birds around here.

A Whinchat suddenly appeared on the fence and a little while later some of the other birders present located the shrike on the bushes the other side of the fence.

Red-backed Shrike

Red Kite

By now it was lunchtime and the temperature had soared into the 30s so I decided to head back home.

I spent the rest of the first half of the month visiting my various local patches. There has been a very obvious change of season with most of the summer visitors having now departed. I picked up my first Meadow Pipits on all of my new local areas and even had a few going over my garden. Siskins have also started moving and I've logged a few of those as well. The best bird I saw on visible migration during this period was an Osprey going over Dagenham Chase. 

With the loop now re-opened at Rainham Marshes, I was keen to get over there and try it out. I went over on the 13th, walking from Rainham station across Rainham West. The bird life has changed here as well with the arrival of the first Pintail of the season to add to the Wigeon that have already been here a few weeks. Two Cattle Egrets have arrived and are settling in for the winter.

The new walk allows access to pools that were not clearly visible before as well as Aveley Pool and I reckon there will be a decent rarity found there shortly. The Beardies are continuing to show well (at times) on the dragonfly pool.

Male Bearded Tit