Daily Yaffle: London birding May 2024

With most of the summer migrants having arrived in April (at least species rather than the whole population), May is usually the time to look for the rarer birds as well being the better month for waders. It certainly proved to be the case this year at Rainham Marshes where a reported Woodchat Shrike did the decent thing and hung around near the Butts hide for a couple of days allowing most people to connect.

Woodchat Shrike

It was refound on a dismal damp Friday, luckily I was only 100 metres away so I was watching it before you could say 'Usain Bolt'. It barely moved all afternoon. Saturday morning brought nice sunny weather but fortunately the shrike decided to stick around and some of us watched it distantly from the riverwall before the reserve opened. Once the doors opened we went straight round to the shrike which was feeding in bushes by the path. By going past the bird to the Butts hide we got good views of it.

A week on from the sunny shrike and Saturday dawned to a misty murky day - perfect for bringing in migrants. As I exited Rainham West there was news of a Guillemot on the Thames, drifting downriver on the ebbing tide off the barges. I decided not to go directly to the barges as I expected it to have gone past out of view so instead hurried to the car park by Aveley Bay.

It proved the right decision and after a bit of scanning I found it mid-channel near the Darent Barrier. I'd been after a Guillemot for ages having never managed to be at Rainham on the days they turned up and it was my second London tick in just over a week. The Guillemot hung around most of the day allowing several London yearlisters to catch up with it.

The day wasn't over yet though as a flock of four Kittiwakes flew upriver. A couple of Knot had been seen on the reserve so we went over to the Woodland viewpoint to look for them and soon found two brick red summer plumaged birds. While we were there a small wader flew in and landed in the distance. It looked good for a Temminck's Stint but we wanted better views. It hadn't escaped the notice of those on the riverwall who found it at the same time and put the news out. We wandered around to a closer view point and were able to confirm its identity.

Yet another good Saturday at Rainham occurred a week later on the 18th when a Little Stint flew in and landed next to us in Aveley Bay. With the encroaching tide covering up the mud it flew onto the reserve and was just about visible from the riverwall with a flock of Ringed Plovers and a Turnstone.

After three consecutive days I decided to have a rest from Rainham the next day but news of a singing Nightingale had me change plans. I elected to take the train to Purfleet as the Nightingale was by the reserve car park and I could hear it singing as soon as I arrived. It wasn't showing so after a few more bursts of songs I left before the reserve opened. It's been a good spring for Nightingales in London as I'd already heard three at Tylers Common and one at Dagenham Chase.

With Garganey and Spoonbill seen at the beginning of the month I finished May having seen 137 species at Rainham this year, a pretty respectable total. I missed Little Gull and Little Tern but saw most of the waders apart from a Wood Sand which I hope to catch up with in autumn.

Towards the end of May I made a couple of visits outside London, down to Worth Marshes in Kent for a day where we saw a couple of Red-footed Falcons and then down to Weymouth for a few days (on a separate blog post).

Red-footed Falcon, Worth Marshes

Photos

With more days of nicer weather I was able to take a few photos in my pursuit of snapping 150 birds in London this year, but apart from the Woodchat Shrike, all the good birds at Rainham were too far away for any photos.