Herring Gull at Bow Creek, January 2011
I arrived at East India Dock Basin just after dawn on a rising tide, conditions were very mild and my low expectations were almost entirely realised. A dozen Shelduck were feeding on the basin silt with another at Bow Creek, a comprehensive count of Common Teal totalled 258 and the female Pintail was on the basin late morning; the only other wildfowl of note were nine Tufted Duck. No raptors were encountered and the only waders were four Redshank and a Common Sandpiper in the roost. There was a small passage of Woodpigeon with flocks of 23 and eight noted moving north mid-morning. A Song Thrush was singing in the eco park at dawn but most other passerines were keeping a low profile, a Chiffchaff in the eastern scrub was giving a very unusual contact call, which made me look at it a little more closely, but it turned out to be a textbook collybita. The only other bird of note was a female Reed Bunting calling from the western reed bed at the basin. A day total of 35 species to get the year started was a little below average, with the usual New Years Day bankers like Greenfinch, Mute Swan and Canada Goose strangely absent.
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