London WWT, 5th May
A bank holiday in the UK means a day off work for me and provides a perfect excuse for a good day's birding. So Monday saw me and the missus pop along to the London Wetland Centre for the day. Well, I say "the day" but I'm sure many of you think we wasted the best part of the day by not being up at dawn. Not my style I'm afraid. I'm sure I'm missing out on some glorious birds at that time of the day but I'd also be missing out on some glorious sleep! Plus I wanted to indulge another of my hobbies (online gambling - horses & football mainly) that morning before leaving the house so we didn't get out till around 9.30. A walk, bus and another walk later and we've finally made it there around an hour later - but such is the life of the public transport birder. We did stay till kicking out time (6pm) though so once there we did at least try to make the most of it.
We started, as we usually do, with a quick look at the sightings board to see what's around. I tend to keep an eye on the London WWT sightings webpage anyway but this is a chance to see what early records they have for the day. And it looked promising - Hobby, Kestrel, Bar-Tailed Godwit, Little Egret, Swift and a few other bits and bobs. I had high hopes for the day. A quick stop in the observatory next door to get an overview of the main lake and get some quick ticks on the list. And I do mean quick stop as the huge glass front on the obs makes it like a green house in nice weather and it was boiling in there! Great for growing tomatoes, not so good for standing around looking at birds.
Looking out from the obs we were confused by a few little birds bobbing around on one of the near islands. They looked like wagtails, ish. Not quite the right shape but almost the right size, and the colours weren't right. But they had the distinctive tail and were wagging it, a bit at least. Our assumption of juvenile Pied Wagtails was confirmed when an adult bird flew down and started to feed the others, who ran to the adult in an instant so they clearly knew where lunch was coming from. Incidentally we got a much better view of a juvenile Pied Wagtail right at the end of the visit as there was one sat by the guttering near the courtyard clock. Being out in the open rather than behind some mucky windows makes for much better views and a much more confident ID.
After a few minutes in the observatory oven we headed along the south route towards Peacock Tower. We had only got a short way past the cafe and into the Wetlands Living (or something along those lines) area when we were distracted by a bird powering out a cheery song we didn't recognise. There was a fella with bins staring into a reed bed, along with a guy carrying a long lens camera trying to snap this songster so we figured they may have something worth seeing. The missus headed that way while I got distracted by ripples in a nearby pond and caught a glimpse of a water vole, that promptly hid when I called the missus over for a look. Damn wildlife!
So back to hunt for this elusive songster in the reeds. Camera guy was able to point out the little fella as he flitted around but all we really caught were fleeting glimpses of it. Even so, this was enough for me to recognise the bird as the same one we'd seen on a massive poster board out the front of the centre. I couldn't have IDed it at the time but at least I was onto something and a quick flick through the pocket field guide I always carry was enough for me to confirm the ID as a Reed Warbler. One or two other birders were flitting around the area and confirmed the ID based on sound alone, which was handy because I wouldn't have recognised the song from that given in the field guide so it's damn good I got enough of a view of him to properly ID him. A life tick that one, which was a great start to the day. The Reed Warbler was still about later but was only visible from one spot on the bridge there. The ID was passed on from person to person by making them all stand on this exact spot as it was the only way any of us could reliably find the little blighter.
On to Peacock Tower and over to the wader scrape side of the first (middle) floor where as soon as I looked out I saw two beatiful Bar-Tailed Godwits - a male and a female - as plain as day, feeding in one of the pools in front of the hide. None of this sneaking around behind vegetation that some waders seem so fond of. This pair were unmissable. With no-one else around to confirm the ID I had to check the book but from what I could see they were clearly Bar-Tailed, and that fitted with the record from the sightings board so they went straight on to the list. We spent a couple of hours in Peacock picking out a few more waders, including Little Ringed Plover and the ubiquitous Redshank, a wader that seems harder not to see at London WWT of late. There was a Common Sandpiper showing well for a lot of the time and a Greenshank out on the marsh too.
The Barwits got harder to see at times as the Lapwings kept scaring them off and at one point the male and female Barwit separated to different ends of the scrape but reunited a short while later. Unfortunately they choose to do so behind one of the islands making them much harder to spot but they showed well for a lot of the afternoon really, to the extent that if you were in Peacock at any point during the day you should have seen them pretty easily. There were plenty of people with scopes willing to point them out and offering views, myself included. There were a small number of discussions about what type of Godwit they were but they were mostly limited to things like "They are Bar-Tailed Godwits aren't they?" rather than any convincing arguments for them being Black-Tailed Godwits. Personally I'm in no doubt.
Incidentally, the grazing marsh was the driest I think I have ever seen it. There were a few little pools but not much more. I'm used to seeing a bit more water out there. Plenty of mud but it was the crows that seemed to be making the most of it.
Right back round the other side of the site now to the Wildside hide, popping into Headley Hide along the way. Nothing really happening there, other than a Grey Heron fishing in one of the ponds in front of the hide, giving nice views for those prepared to sit and watch. There wasn't much on view from Wildside either, to be honest. The Greenshank was showing better here than from Peacock but there wasn't too much else of interest.
At times like this there is only one thing for it - cake! The cafe do a good drink & muffin deal in the afternoon so a chocolate muffin washed down by a hot chocolate seemed just the ticket. Fully refreshed I decided to give Peacock Tower another going over. Nothing new - the Barwits had come into the same pool as earlier so were showing well and the LRPs were still about - but there was some decent chat to be had all the same.
That left time for one more stab at the Wildside in case there was anything showing on the marsh, but unfortunately other than a couple of Grey Heron and the same Greenshank as before there wasn't much happening here either. So I packed up the scope and off we went, which was handy as a member of staff was cycling round informing people that they were closing up shortly. I hadn't realised it was that time already. On the way out of the shop we were treated to a male Chaffinch sat in the guttering above the doorway shouting about all the insects he had brought back but no-one seemed to want to come and take them from him. It made me a little envious though, if I tried shouting as much as he was I'd surely drop any food that was in my mouth but not him.
It had been a really good day but it was tired legs that carried me home at the end of it all.
London WWT list: Starling, House Sparrow, Great Tit, Collared Dove, Woodpigeon, Robin, Blackbird, Magpie, Jay, Carrion Crow, Mallard, Moorhen, Tufted Duck, Coot, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Cormorant, Gadwall, Black Headed Gull, Pochard, Lapwing, Pied Wagtail, Reed Warbler, Chaffinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Dunnock, Bar Tailed Godwit, Common Sandpiper, Redshank, Greylag Goose, Shoveler, Sand Martin, Grey Heron, Little Ringed Plover, Egyptian Goose, Green Woodpecker, Greenshank, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Parakeet, Cetti's Warbler (h), Blue Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Blackcap, Swift, Reed Bunting
On the mammal side we had a Water Vole and a couple of Grey Squirrels. I don't suppose the Highland Cattle or Sheep they keep on site really count do they?
(NB this post also marks a move towards using title case throughout for bird names as I feel it is more correct)