A small movement of Redwing

Pintail at Bow Creek, January 2011

Shortly after arriving at East India Dock Basin this morning I got on to a flock of 30 Redwing heading south-west followed by another flock of 13 moving in the same direction five minutes later, these were the first of three year ticks the other two being Greenfinch and a single Stock Dove which came in from the east, circled the copse and headed north. There seemed to be above average numbers of gulls around so I decided to do a comprehensive count with the following result: c390 Black-headed Gull, 17 Common Gull, four Lesser Black-backed Gull, five Herring Gull and nine Great Black-backed Gull; most of the larids were feeding in Bow Creek at low tide. The female Pintail is still favouring Bow Creek where all of the Common Teal were today, albeit in low numbers for the time of year with around 150 counted; other wildfowl include seven widely scattered Shelduck and 13 Tufted Duck. A Peregrine was roosting on the dome with the only notable passerines two Song Thrush, including one singing and a Chaffinch calling from the copse.