Oct 16th-20th: Fog and migrants

I started the second half of October with a morning at Brent Res, hoping for some visible migration but, like so much of this month, it was fairly quiet with just a flock of four Little Egrets flying over being unusual. The Stonechat remained in situ on the Dump and it was still present the following day as well, making it four days. Typically, Stonechats don’t linger at Brent so it was nice to get one that found the place to its liking.

After a short vis-mig session on Monday morning where the only bird of note was a high flying Snipe, I headed over to Fryent CP to try my luck over there. It’s only a short walk from the playing fields at the top end of Brent so I was there early enough to continue vis-migging. A few Linnets and a Siskin flew over which were both new for the year here, otherwise there wasn’t much activity.

With easterlies predicted for the next couple of days I decided to concentrate my time on Rainham. I took an early train on Tuesday and things looked fine until we reached Dagenham and the landscape disappeared under a dense shroud of fog. I didn’t see that on the weather forecast but should have realised with the drop in temperature, high pressure and lack of wind making the ideal conditions.

I still hoped that the fog may have downed some migrants so was on full alert as I walked through Rainham West but there was very little moving. The Cetti’s Warblers remained silent in the ghostly conditions and with low visibility it felt like walking through a post-apocalyptic film set.

A pylon appears out of the fog

Traps set optimistically along a bridge for a Troll

Entrance to the old silt lagoons, now being covered in chalk

A spider's web glistening in the foggy dew

I took the shorter path along Coldharbour Lane and went straight past Serin Mound as Wennington Marsh was invisible in the gloom. Along the river wall it was only possible to see anything on the close mud with the river and far bank totally obscured. Out in the distance I could hear a fog horn and it reminded me of the young Pip in Great Expectations. One day I might get around to reading another book by Dickens!

I lingered on the river wall and eventually the fog began to dissipate, typically clearing and then reforming at first so Crayford Marsh appeared then vanished again. A few more waders emerged out of the fog and there was a Ruff and the long-staying Grey Plover on the mud along with a little gaggle of Avocets. That’s probably the wrong collective term but I’m struggling to come up with anything better. A little group of Reed Buntings were feeding on some fallen reeds on the concrete apron.

Reed Bunting

A solitary Avocet emerges from the fog

As I looked over towards the reserve I noticed a ghostly apparition forming – a White Rainbow. It wasn’t a phenomenon I’d seen or even heard of before but it was quite stunning. I looked it up online later and it is actually a thing, also called a Fogbow and occurs in the same way a rainbow is formed but the fog particles reflect the light so that the colours aren’t produced.

A Fogbow or White Rainbow over the river wall

With the fog receding I headed into the reserve and made my way clockwise to Butts Hide, seeing a pair of amorous Migrant Hawkers along the way.

Pair of Migrant Hawkers

There was another Ruff out the front of the hide but very little else so I didn’t go round any further. As I headed back a Buzzard soared around near the numbers.

Common Buzzard

The next day I was back again, this time starting at Purfleet station as the forecast was for a moderate easterly and I was hopeful of some seabirds coming up the river. I parked myself on a bench in front of the closed hotel and waited. Redwings were constantly calling and a few small flocks zipped past. A little while later an unseen Brambling wheezed past and it seemed like the conditions were ideal for a decent vis-mig session. Not long after I hit the jackpot when I heard a light trill overhead and looked up to see the culprit struggle to make it across the river. With its short tail it looked more like a bat than a lark, a dead giveaway for Woodlark. I’ve seen a couple migrating over Brent and one at Swanscombe but this was my first one in the Rainham area.

Woodpigeons were also on the move and they too struggled to get across the river, with one group abandoning their first attempt before circling around and trying again. I was still watching the river although nothing was coming from the east. A few Wigeon flew around and then I spotted a couple of terns on the far side. I switched to the scope and could see they were Sandwich Terns heading downriver.

With migration quietening down I headed along the river wall and had a look at Aveley Bay but there wasn’t much happening there so I went into the reserve and this time went round to Ken Barrett hide. The water level had gone up since my last visit and there were only a few Snipe remaining and very little else. In the distance I could see Marsh Harriers out hunting and after a while counted three different birds, a pair of adults and a young male.

I decided to walk on to Rainham station in case a Ring Ouzel had dropped in but to no avail. It did give me the opportunity to investigate the stone numbers which I’d always walked past but intrigued me. Luckily a sign explained their purpose. I didn’t find any for 500 and 600 so not sure if they’re on another path or don’t exist.

I also learned something else as I assumed that Portland stone came from the quarries on Portland Bill but apparently it also comes from the Isle of Wight.

Oct 8th-15th: invasion of the heath dwellers

I started the second week of October by finding a Jack Snipe at Brent Reservoir, my first there this year. They’ve become annual now on my local patch and they’re always great birds to see. Unfortunately it didn’t stay longer than a day.

Vis-migging at Brent remained fairly quiet all week but I did have a few highlights: a flock of 17 Linnets on Sunday, a total of 64 Redwing the next day and at the end of the period, a Skylark – another first for the year. There were a few Mipits and Chaffinches but it’s been a poor autumn so far. Hopefully, things will change next week with better conditions forecast.

I popped over to Roe Green Park one morning for a change and added one new species to the site list: Egyptian Goose. It was also my first wildfowl of any description which isn’t surprising considering there isn’t any water there. One of the locals must be feeding this pair of Egyptians as they were ignoring everyone who walked past.

Autumnal trees at Roe Green

Egyptian Geese

On Thursday I went down to the Wetland Centre to meet up with a friend. I’ve not been there this autumn so it was good to see what was going on. After a coffee and a Danish at the cafe we headed over to Dulverton Hide to look for the Bittern but there was no sign of it while we were there.

View from Dulverton Hide - how many species can you find?

We carried on to Peacock hide for a different view. There were a few Snipe on the grazing marsh but nothing on the wader scrape which is totally dry. I think they’ve had a problem pumping in water from the Thames rather than it being because of the heatwave and drought. Actually, there were some birds on the wader scrape as I heard Stonechats being mentioned. I wandered over to have a look and another dark bird appeared with them. Its long cocked-up tail was a dead giveaway and I called out Dartford Warbler along with Martin who had found the Stonechats.

Worst ever photo of a Dartford Warbler...

It was quite distant and it kept disappearing into the vegetation but did eventually sit up on a bare bush for a while so the few lucky people in the hide could get on it. We speculated on whether it was a first for the site; it seems there was one in 1957 when it was Barn Elms Reservoirs but today’s bird seems to be a new one for the LWC. And it didn’t take long for the news to get out and several of the staff descended on the hide to try and see it.

On Friday I had my regular visit to Rainham Marshes. I started off at Rainham station and walked to the barges and then along the riverwall. It was fairly quiet apart from Stonechats which kept appearing along the path and I saw at least 15 during the morning but there were probably many more around. I don’t recall having seen so many Stonechats in London before and wonder where they’ve all come from.

It was low tide so there were a lot of waders in Aveley Bay. Black-wit numbers are slowly increasing and I found a Grey Plover out on the mud with them. Surprisingly there were no small waders so the chances of getting a Little Stint there this year are rapidly diminishing.

Black-tailed Godwits

Skylarks and Meadow Pipits were on the move in small numbers and I had two Rock Pipits on the shore, my first ones this autumn. Once on the reserve I headed through the woodland hoping for a Yellow-brow but there was no sign of one so I carried on to the Ken Barrett hide. There was a single Ruff with the Lapwing and more Snipe but last week’s Green Sands seem to have moved on.

Raptors were thin on the ground with just a couple of Sparrowhawks and Kestrels seen but nothing larger. The ongoing boardwalk repairs are not making it easy for visitors and I’m not seeing any signs of progress, they really need to open up one end so you can at least get to Aveley Pools.

With October now half over we’re still awaiting a really good bird in London this month, let’s hope for something in the second half...

Oct 1st-7th: raptor fest

The first three days of the month were spent at Brent Reservoir. I started each morning off with a little vis-migging but yet again it was so quiet that I didn’t record much flying over. Best was a single flock of 15 Redwings on the 1st. I also found a roost of Greenfinches on the Dump and 19 flew out. We’ve had small numbers here regularly so it may be most of these were passage birds and stopped off for a rest as I’ve not recorded such numbers since.

Other notable birds during this period were a 2nd-winter Med Gull in North Marsh. It’s the least common plumage in London and I’ve only seen a couple of similar birds at Brent before; and I also found a pair of Stonechat up towards the dam. Given the large influx of this species across London this was a well overdue patch year tick.

Stonechats

On Tuesday I took an early train to Andover and met up with Lynne from my recent Sao Tome trip. She showed me around her extensive local patch – Salisbury Plain. I’ve not birded this area before so I was keen to visit it. And according to eBird, my Wiltshire list was zero so I had a big hole to fill!

We started at an unremarkable field where Stone-curlews hang out in autumn. They have usually all migrated by now so we didn’t expect to see any but as I scanned across the field I came across a likely looking brown lump. In the scope it soon transformed into the rather bizarre shape of an actual Stone-curlew. Over the next five minutes we’d found another two, although they were very good at hiding just by sitting down in the low crop. We were off to a good start and carried on driving around.

It’s an odd place to drive around as there are tanks moving around in the distance and occasional blasts as a shell is fired into the target area. Although there are a few public highways that cross the area, Lynne is able to go on restricted roads as part of her job.

We saw a lot of Stonechats, along with a few Whinchats and Wheatears, but small birds are generally scarce in this steppe like habitat. Skylarks and Meadow Pipits are common and we had a couple of Yellowhammers and a large flock of Corn Buntings.

Once the drizzle stopped we began seeing raptors and during the course of the day amassed a total of seven species. Kestrel and Common Buzzard were the most widespread, along with a few Red Kites and the odd Sparrowhawk. It was when we stopped to look at a few raptors that we encountered our first surprise. A raptor came towards us, looking very odd, but as it passed over we could see extensive barring underneath. It then all fitted into place as it had long straight wings and a long tail: Honey-buzzard! We stopped for lunch overlooking an area where a ringtail Hen Harrier had been seen recently but we couldn’t find it.

In the afternoon we tried a different section and eventually found the birds I really wanted to see: Great Bustard. They’ve long been extinct as breeding birds in the UK but there is a re-introduction project here which has been going on for quite a long time. The numbers are now up to 150 with many females producing broods so it has been successful. It can’t be long now before it is deemed to be a self-sustaining population. They are free to roam around the Plain and some individuals do fly off further afield.

We saw a flock of 23 in a field, consisting of females and immature males. They really are quite impressive birds and it was very reminiscent of being on the Spanish Steppes which was where I last saw them.

Great Bustards

On the way back we stopped when we saw a raptor hunting over the fields, it turned out to be a male Hen Harrier, always a great sight to see, especially in southern England where they are now so scarce. While we watched it hunt, a falcon suddenly appeared and followed it. It was a Merlin and they are known to hunt with Hen Harriers, chasing after any small birds that the harrier flushes.

Hen Harrier

After this great end to the day we sped back to the station and I got on the platform just as the train was pulling in. 

I had another couple of fairly quiet days at Brent before venturing out to Rainham on Friday with some friends. We headed straight onto the reserve when it opened (about 10 minutes late!) and made our way to the KB hide, hoping for some waders. One Green Sandpiper became two and eventually three as did the Ruff on a more distant pool.

3 Green Sandpipers

As we walked back to the centre a Hobby flew past us and landed low down on an adjacent pylon. It was the regular juvenile that has been hanging out around the woodland area. Along with a Marsh Harrier that we’d seen earlier, this was two more new raptors, making it nine species this week!

Juvenile Hobby

After a stop for coffee and cake at the visitor centre we walked the other way to the Butts hide. It was a very quiet walk in the strengthening wind and we didn’t see anything until we got into the hide. There were another two Ruff and four distant Pintail amongst the other dabblers. We cut out through the turnstile to look at the bay again but by now it was high tide and it was empty.

Ruff

Sep 20th-30th: rare ducks and waders

After a week away in Sao Tome and Principe, it was back to birding in London for the rest of September. The heat wave had dissipated while I was away and the early mornings now have a chill to them. Normally that’s a good sign for some visible migration but the three early starts I had at Brent Reservoir failed to deliver. It’s definitely been an odd month for vis-mig in London with very few mipits or hirundines and no Siskins and barely enough species to fill more than one line in one’s notebook. Not that many people still use a notebook, it’s so much easier to use an app like eBird.

The waders have also changed, gone are all the Common Sands, replaced by increasing numbers of Snipe but there’s still a few Lapwing and Green Sands around. We even had a Dunlin for a few days. I’ve been hoping for some of the scarcer, or even rare waders this month so with wet weather forecast on Friday I decided to visit Rainham in the hope of connecting with something. I’ve still got a few holes in my year-list where Knot and Stints should be.

I arrived just after dawn and sure enough there was a light drizzle which occasionally turned a little heavier. I decided to walk the longer route via the barges and Coldharbour Point. I just reached the western end of Aveley Bay and stopped to have a scan when I heard a wader call somewhere over the river. I couldn’t immediately place the call and desperately scanned around. I did have an idea on its identity and it called again a couple of times giving the impression it was flying away from me. I checked on xeno-canto and was able to confirm that it was a Stone-curlew. I thought it might have been one of the East Tilbury birds but all three were reported as present later that morning. It was a shame not to have seen it but I was happy enough to count it just on the call.

There were a couple of flocks of Dunlin in the bay and I carefully checked each one but there was nothing different lurking among them. I headed into the reserve, a loop still not being possible due to boardwalk replacement. There was a flock of chats at the far end of the ouzel field, mostly Stonechats but with a few Whinchat in their midst. 

Whinchat

There has been an exceptional influx of Stonechat into London during the latter part of this month with record breaking numbers at Hampstead Heath and Richmond Park. They’ve also brought a few of their travelling companions with them: Dartford Warblers, with probably some more around that have yet to be discovered.

I spent a few more days at Brent where the highlight was two Rook flying over on Sunday morning. They’ve always been rare here but it’s been several years since I’ve seen one. On Monday I saw my first Redwing of autumn; there’s been a few odd ones reported across the capital but no sign of any notable movement yet. 

On Thursday I was back at Rainham. There was a small overnight arrival of thrushes with a mixed flock of Blackbirds and Song Thrushes in the bushes along the road to the barges and a few more Blackbirds in the woods on the reserve. I walked up to Ken Barrett hide where there was a Ruff and a Green Sand. Migrating Swallows flew over the river wall and were accompanied by a couple of late Sand Martins. A few Skylarks and Meadow Pipits went over and there were a couple of large finch flocks.

For the last day of the month I decided the Blue-winged Teal was too good a bird to miss so had an early start and arrived at Fairlop just before 8am. I headed down to the lake and soon located a likely looking duck asleep on the island. I met a couple of other birders from Romford who hadn’t found the bird yet so we went back to check out the dozy duck. Eventually it woke up and we could see it was our quarry. A Magpie spooked it and it flew onto the lake flashing its bright blue forewing. It was still distant and the light was pretty awful so I didn’t manage to get a decent photo but it was a good bird to see. 

A lousy shot of a really smart Blue-winged Teal

It’s just the sixth BW Teal for London and the first since 2000. The last bird that stayed more than a day was the one I found at Brent way back in 1995/96. And it brought up 180 species on my London year-list which was my minimum target for the year.

Sao Tome and Principe Part Four

Sao Tome and Principe, September 2022, Part 4

Saturday 17th

We met at 6am for breakfast and Laudino showed up with freshly baked rolls and fried eggs. We decided on having a leisurely day as there were no new birds we needed in the area so we set off on the waterfall trail. This starts behind the hotel and is a driveable track up into the hills but we just slowly walked up it. We did get better views of Sao Tome White-eye and more photos of other birds. We just walked past the waterfall (not much more than a trickle) when it started raining so we elected to turn round and headed back to the hotel where we spent the rest of the day.

Waterfall

We had lunch in the restaurant which soon filled up, either with tourists or students. There was also a party of UN observers who were here for next week’s election. We had a relaxing afternoon, photographing birds in the garden and packing, even though we still had quite a few wet clothes that we weren’t able to dry out. 

Newton's Sunbird

We had a late check-out at 5pm and drove into town where we stopped at a bakery for snacks and then to the airport where we bade farewell to our guide and driver.

It didn’t take long to get airside and then we had a long wait until our 10pm flight. Unfortunately, there was a refuelling problem so it was delayed by two hours so it was after midnight when we finally left Sao Tome.

Sunday 18th

With the two hour delay we just missed our connection in Lisbon. TAP had booked us on the next available flight but it wasn’t until the next day as all flights were full because of the Queen’s funeral. The TAP rep gave us the new flight details and meal vouchers and said we had a hotel but this turned out to be a complete lie. We elected to collect our luggage which took about ninety minutes then went to find out where our hotel was. After talking to multiple TAP people we were finally told that their hotel was full and we had to book one ourselves and then claim the money back. This seemed unreasonable but they wanted nothing more to do with us so Lynne found us a close hotel via an app.

We had lunch in the airport then took a cab to the Radisson Blu Hotel and checked in. Not wanting to spend all day indoors, Lynne and I went for a walk in the local park which turned out to be quite birdy, seeing Pied and Spotted Flycatchers, Firecrest and Spotless Starling amongst other common birds. There were even a few dragonflies on the lake and it was a pleasant stroll in the warm afternoon sunshine. 

One of many interesting sculptures in the park

We all met up again the bar in the evening and had a drink before our final dinner together.

Monday 19th

We enjoyed a welcome lie-in and met for breakfast at 8.00. We got a cab back to the airport and arrived in time for check-in. Once through to the other side we spent all our meal vouchers and waited until it was time to board our plane. We should have left at 11.00 but because of the funeral the airspace was closed so we had to wait for two and half hours on the tarmac before we could finally head to Heathrow and then back home.

Sao Tome and Principe Part Three

 Sao Tome and Principe, September 2022, Part 3

Thursday 15th

Luckily we didn’t have to get up early this morning and we had a leisurely breakfast at 7.00. Lynne was suffering after last evening’s exertions and took the day off to rest while the rest of us drove down to the quay and boarded our small boat to go and try for the Principe Thrush.

Our little boat

Heading out towards the sea

We hadn’t realised the full extent of what this trip entailed: a two-hour boat trip followed by a two hour hike up hill just to get to the area where the thrush was. I was expecting a much shorter boat trip with a few seabirds thrown in. In the event we saw half a dozen Brown Boobies on the way out before the swell picked up and we got totally drenched by the spray. Before we arrived it then started raining and the outward journey took three hours. Then we had to disembark at the so-called beach which was actually a bay with a rocky shore. We had to take off shoes and socks, roll up trouser legs and step carefully off the boat into the sea which was about knee height. We then had to wade ashore, slowly clamber over the rocks and up to the top of the beach where we could sit down and reboot.

The rocky beach where we clambered ashore

The trail started by an abandoned plantation building and followed the coast along the route of the former narrow-gauge train that took the cocoa and coffee back to town. The plan was to follow this trail then hike uphill. 

Heading up the trail

We soon realised we were not going to be able to manage this and complete the return crossing before dark so we decided to abort and instead made our way to a sandy beach where we had lunch and saw a few birds. 

Western Reef-Heron

'Beach elephant'

This was another expedition that groups do by camping overnight and I don’t think they had really thought it through. After a sufficient rest we headed back to the rocky beach, finding a tame Blue-breasted Kingfisher along the way, then unbooted and waded back into the sea. 

Blue-breasted Kingfisher

Climbing back up into the boat was trickier but eventually we all made it aboard and began to head back. It was still rough on the sea and raining so there was nothing to see and we got even wetter. After about two hours we turned the corner onto calmer sea and saw some whale blows. We stopped the engine and watched them for a while, working out from the bushy spouts and tail flukes as they went into a deep dive that they were Sperm Whales. Not long afterwards we saw some more whale blows ahead of us and on our way towards them there were more even closer. We approached the nearest ones and could see that it was a group of six pale grey cetaceans with a prominent dorsal fin that we later identified as Risso’s Dolphins. We sped over to the other blows and could see that it was a mother and calf Humpbacked Whale.

It ended up being a superb finish to our day’s trip to hell and back and it was almost worth the pain. On our final approach to the town it started raining really heavily, soaking us once more. We drove back to the guesthouse and tried to dry off before going out for dinner.

Friday 16th

We had an early breakfast and checked out of our guesthouse at 6.00 and drove towards the airport. We had some time to check out a few sites along the way as we still had had some more Principe endemics to find. We had better views of the Golden Weaver and Speirops but couldn’t find the two missing endemics here: Principe White-eye and Principe Starling. There were also plenty of African Green Pigeons which don't occur on Sao Tome. 

African Green Pigeon

Before long we had to make the short drive to the airport and check in. In hindsight it would have been better to not attempt the thrush but spend longer looking for the other birds.

Flame trees amid the native rainforest

We didn’t have long to wait before we boarded the plane and headed back to Sao Tome.

Leaving Principe over the main town

There’s only the one terminal there so we had to mix with all the international arrivals at the carousel and had a long wait for our luggage. We drove for an hour up to the north of the island going through an area populated by large Baobab trees and stopped at a nice restaurant that had been converted from an old colonial plantation house. 

Baobab trees

Restaurant with sea view

It had a terraced dining area so we could do some birding as we ate. We saw our only Island Bronze-naped Pigeon of the trip (an endemic shared with Bioko) as well as a few Blue Waxbills.

Blue Waxbill (Southern Cordon-bleu)

Island Bronze-naped Pigeon

We had a short walk up the hillside. It was quite hot and dry here and the birdlife was different too. We found a small flock of White-winged Widowbirds and some Yellow-fronted Canaries but couldn’t find any of the bishops that are usually here. 

White-winged Widowbirds

Yellow-fronted Canary

Common Waxbill

Another endemic: Giant Weaver

We then drove to the coast and had a short walk along the beach behind a mangrove swamp. There were a few common waders around but nothing out to sea. A Malachite Kingfisher flew past us and perched up on a post in front of us.

Malachite Kingfisher

Sunset over beach

We drove back to the same hotel we were in on our last night in Sao Tome, arriving just after dark. We went to dinner straightaway and discussed plans for our final day.