Spring birding in London

After spending the second half of March in Costa Rica it was good to get back and watch the spring migrants arrive. April is one of the best months of the year and I was out and about on my local patches just about every day.

With this April being the first time I've been in East London for the whole month I realised there just aren't enough days in the month and I didn't get to some of the places I wanted to visit. I decided to concentrate on Rainham Marshes and went there on 15 days. On the other days I went to Dagenham Chase nine times and squeezed in a few visits to Beam Parklands/Valley. 

There was still time to visit a few other places so had days out at Cheshunt GPs and Chobham Common and also went to Tylers Common for the first time as I didn't hear any Nightingales at Cheshunt. As it turned out I didn't even need to go there as I later caught up with a one-day Nightingale at Dagenham Chase at the end of the month.

Best day of the month was a wet day at Rainham on Saturday 27th when the combination of early morning rain and an easterly wind brought a lot of terns into London. I saw four species with 90 Arctic, 100+ Common, 9 Black and a Sandwich. Also on the Thames I found a summer-plumaged Black-necked Grebe, while a Common Scoter flew around and waders on the move included 5 Whimbrel, 6 Bar-tailed Godwits and 8 Black-tailed Godwits. The total number of species seen during the day was 107, probably a record in London for a single site. The previous week I managed to see a Wood Warbler , a fairly rare bird in London nowadays and it was the first one I've seen at Rainham.

Photographs

It was a good month for photographing new species with so many spring migrants arriving. The combination of better light and birds singing also meant a few upgrades on previous photos.

Shelduck, Rainham Marshes (upgrade)

Pheasant, Dagenham Chase

Great Crested Grebe, Rainham Marshes (upgrade)

Stock Dove, Beam Valley CP (upgrade)

Avocet, Rainham Marshes

Bar-tailed Godwit, Rainham Marshes

Little Ringed Plover, Rainham Marshes

Whimbrel, Rainham Marshes

Mediterranean Gull, Rainham Marshes

Arctic Tern, Rainham Marshes

Great Spotted Woodpecker, Dagenham Chase (upgrade)

Bearded Tit, Rainham Marshes

Reed Warbler, Rainham Marshes

Sedge Warbler, Rainham Marshes

Sand Martin, Rainham Marshes

Swallow, Dagenham Chase

Willow Warbler, Tylers Common

Chiffchaff, Beam Parklands

Cetti's Warbler, Rainham Marshes

Blackcap, Beam Parklands

Common Whitethroat, Beam Parklands

Lesser Whitethroat, Dagenham Chase

Wren, Beam Parklands

Blackbird, Beam Parklands

Common Redstart, Dagenham Chase

Wheatear, Rainham Marshes

Dunnock, Rainham Marshes (upgrade)

Greenfinch, Dagenham Chase

Linnet, Rainham Marshes (upgrade)

I finished April having photographed 106 species. As the leaves come out fully in May it gets a lot harder to photograph small birds so I was quite pleased to capture so many during April. I did manage to see Nightingale during the month but it was too deep in the tree to get a photo. Another skulker I failed to get a photo of was Grasshopper Warbler; I heard several during the month but only saw one briefly at Rainham.