Common Buzzard falls at last

Overnight rain, albeit on a westerly wind, had me out on the patch at dawn. I wasn't sure what to expect, a nocturnal migrant or two grounded by the rain, but in the event it was disappointingly quiet but I did add Lesser Whitethroat to the yearlist with a single bird singing strongly from Bow Creek, I was beginning to think this species was going to pass me by, at least during the spring, and they can be very difficult here in the autumn. Weatherwise it was a morning of contrast with very warm sunny periods interspersed with some heavy rain showers which really should have delivered the first Common Swift of the year, but didn't. Reed Warbler numbers were up with at least ten singing throughout the site but, given the proximity to each other of several singing birds and the racket they make this is almost certainly a conservative count. It looks like we have two Common Whitethroat territories this year, both in the ecology park where one of the males was observed carrying nesting material in-between song flights. Blackcap territories are harder to ascertain as there are still singing migrants passing through but between three and five pairs a year is the norm here.. Two pairs of Common Tern have settled down on the basin rafts with another pair still prospecting; the two drake Shelducks are still hanging around, the basin bird was joined by his mate for a time, voraciously feeding before flying off to resume (hopefully) incubation duties. Other notables this morning included two male Common Teal on Bow Creek, certainly migrants, a Little Ringed Plover, two Stock Doves and three each of Sand Martin and Song Thrush. Just as I arrived home I received a text message from John Archer informing me that a male Mandarin was heading west up the river from Crossness; I immediately headed back to the basin but didn't relocate the bird anywhere on the patch, but Tufted Duck numbers were up from a singleton this morning to 31 now, including both the Säo Jacinto birds. Not much else was happening so I left the basin by the north-western gate and immediately connected with a typically marked Common Buzzard drifting in from the west at about 200 feet up, it was half-heartedly mobbed by two Lesser Black-backed Gulls before gaining height and drifting off north up the Lea Valley. The wisdom of the Lower Lea birders is that dedicated skywatching is a waste of time here, large raptors just turn up when you least expect them; this is a theory I've decided to buy into, if for no other reason than to give my aching neck muscles a rest.