Friday, January 31, 2025

January birding

Writing this blog on the last day of January has made me realise I've been so busy this month that this is my first blog of 2025. Most of the month has been spent birding in London where I've managed to see 107 species, the vast majority in East London.

Dagenham Chase

I managed nine visits in January although a few of those were at dusk looking for night/crepuscular birds. I managed to get both Barn and Little Owls but still need to try again for Tawny Owl and Woodcock. It's been a little slow for diurnal birds this month with the best being a Bullfinch that flew over calling as well as our semi-regular drake Red-crested Pochard.

Rainham Marshes

I've not been here as often this month as I would normally as I've been visiting other sites so have only seen 78 species in my seven trips. It's been a fairly quiet month here for birds at Rainham with no real highlights with my best bird being Great Egret.

Great Egret

King George V Reservoir

This site has hosted a lot of good birds this month so I decided it was time to get a permit from Thames Water. I've visited twice so far and still need to make a further visit this winter for some of the birds I've not yet caught up with. It's a really large reservoir and I've so far avoided walking all the way around, instead just going up the East side. 

KGV Res or The George as it's often called


The stars of the show this month have been the divers and grebes with two Great Northern and one Black-throated Diver, and three Black-necked and a Slavonian Grebe. There's also been a drake Scaup (which I've seen) and a drake Smew (which I haven't).

Black-throated Diver

Black-throated and Great Northern Diver

Great Northern Diver

A pair of Goldeneye

Slavonian Grebe

Tooting Common

I ventured across the Thames into South London early in January to Tooting to see the long-staying Ferruginous Duck. It rained all morning and was cold and dreary so I didn't spend a lot of time exploring the common.

Ferruginous Duck

Harefield Gravel Pits

I also made a rare visit to Northwest London. I've not been back many times since I moved away from there two years ago. This time was to Harefield, a site I'd never been to before. It's not well served by public transport but I took the Met Line to Hillingdon and walked the rest of the way. It took a while to find the overwintering Red-necked Grebe as it was sleeping in a corner that wasn't visible from most of the pit.

Red-necked Grebe


Wanstead Flats

I was over The Chase with Sam when the news of a Tundra Bean Goose at Wanstead broke so we decided to drive straight over as it's not that far. We found it feeding with a large flock of Egyptian Geese so not the usual flock of wild geese that Beans often associate with. Although wary, it allowed a reasonably close approach, certainly the best views I've ever had of one anywhere in Europe.



Tundra Bean Goose

I also visited Beam Parklands, Becton Creekside, Bonnetts Wood, Fairlop CP, Hainault Forest and Ingrebourne Valley in January, all East London sites. Hainault got me most of the woodland birds such as Nuthatch and Treecreeper while my trip to Fairlop ensured I saw Golden Plover in London this year as they can be difficult elsewhere. I also popped in to Regent's Park for the Mandarin Ducks and an abortive attempt for the Little Owl.

I only made two trips outside of London this year, one to Chetney Marsh in Kent and the other one was abroad for a weekend. I travelled over on the ferry from Harwich to The Hook with some of my Chase pals on Friday night. We then drove through a very foggy Netherlands and on another ferry to Texel. We parked up by the coast and went up to the seawall where the fog had reduced visibility to about a hundred metres. 

A foggy Texel, there were birders from Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, France and Spain as well as UK and Dutch birders


Our quarry was a drake Spectacled Eider that spent most of its time just far enough away to be invisible in the fog. Luckily it came closer a couple of times so we did manage to see it. It's an exceptionally rare bird in Europe, hardly ever leaving the high Arctic so it was well worth making the effort for. We even had time to stop and look for a Baikal Teal on the way back to the ferry, another rare duck in Europe, this one originating in Russia and wintering in SE Asia. The only downside was the fog prevented me getting any photos.


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January birding

Writing this blog on the last day of January has made me realise I've been so busy this month that this is my first blog of 2025. Most o...