As the weather gets warmer and the days longer, both the basin and the ecology park become a hotbed of activity for the increasing human population of the Lower Lea. There is nothing in the way of amenity parkland in the area so the nature reserves are utilised and binocular toting birders going about their legitimate business are often regarded with suspicion or sometimes hostility. Inevitably the birds are marginalised by all this activity and are often to be found on the less accessible areas of the patch, notably the Pura Foods peninsula, a mothballed housing development on the next meander downstream from the ecology park. Today was no exception with the star bird being a cracking male Northern Wheatear; this species is just about annual in the spring and the peninsula is proving to be the most reliable spot to find it. It was high tide when I arrived so I checked the wader roost which was deserted but I did find four Common Sandpipers roosting on the west side of the peninsula, the only waders of the day; three Stock Doves were also foraging on the peninsula and that was about it for the day, with just a single Sand Martin the only other passerine migrant noted, and surprisingly, not a single warbler seen or heard. A comprehensive wildfowl count was undertaken (but hardly worth the effort given the level of disturbance) and returned the following low totals: two Mute Swan, Two Canada Goose, two Shelduck, 38 Mallard, ten Common Teal and 29 Tufted Duck.
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