A spring day in February

Oystercatchers at Gallions Reach, 26/2/2012

Black-tailed Godwits at Gallions Reach, 26/2/2012

Black-tailed Godwits at Gallions Reach, 26/2/2012

Comma Butterfly at Gallions Reach, 26/2/2012

Red Fox at Gallions Reach, 26/2/2012

High tide at the lower Lea today was around 4:30 pm, the weather forecast was for a warm spring-like day which always means the basin is jammed with people, so I decided to spend the morning downstream at Gallions Reach returning to the patch at high tide to check the wader roost; Gary had the same idea and we spent over five hours at this wonderful Thameside locale soaking up the atmosphere created by hundreds of ducks and waders, Black-tailed Godwits were everywhere with at least 137 recorded, all of these birds are of the race islandica and will soon be heading north to their breeding grounds in Iceland, many of them already apeared to be paired up but none have yet moulted into breeding plumage. Given the limited viewing conditions , especially downstream, accurate counts are virtually impossible but I think we did quite well today other wader counts included four Oystercatcher (a little early, we don't usually get them on the patch until late March), 40 Lapwing, ten Dunlin (not a lot considering the thousands present just a few miles downstream), three Curlew and 71 Redshank. A good variety of wildfowl was also noted including 61 Shelduck, a pair each of Wigeon and Gadwall, around 220 Common Teal, over 60 Shoveler, three Pochard and 15 Tufted Duck; Little and Great Crested Grebes were both recorded along with singles of Sparrowhawk and kestrel, but surprisingly, given the abundance of food on offer, we have yet to record a Peregrine here. On the passerine front Linnets were very much in evidence, mostly paired up now with lots of singing going on. at least two Skylarks were also singing and four Meadow Pipits and a Reed Bunting were also noted. The Fox in the photograph was dozing on a patch of grass near the Albert Basin and was quite unconcerned by our presence. The Comma Butterfly was enjoying the clement weather, they often come out of hibernation on warm winter days but this is the first one I have seen in February. I arrived back at the patch just after 4 pm and judging from the abundance of litter at the basin it has seen quite a lot of human traffic today; 11 Redshank and a Common Sandpiper were in the main roost with three more Common Sandpipers at two other roosts on the Middlesex shore, the second time this winter I have recorded seven birds.Bow Creek was almost completely devoid of wildfowl but the basin was teeming: with four Greylag Geese, 11 Canada Geese,14 Shelduck, the female Pintail, 165 Common Teal and 30 Tufted Duck counted today.  

A record count of Wigeon

Lapwing at Bow Creek, 12/2/2012

I was on the patch just after dawn this morning hoping to refind yesterday's Woodcock; a quick circuit of the ecology park drew a blank but I did find a single Meadow Pipit feeding on the embankment, the first one on the deck this year. I met up with Gary and we had another try for the Woodcock with no luck so we headed for the basin scoring a flock of ten Redwing flying west, a year tick for us both; we then put up six Lapwing from the mud on Bow Creek, things were shaping up nicely. On arrival at the basin we found it still frozen so decided to concentrate on the Thames, almost immediately we got onto a flock of seven ducks loafing off the Millennium Dome mudflats, they were Wigeon, three males and four females, the third site record and the only multiple count; three Fieldfare heading west provided another year tick for both of us . We then met up with a party from the London Natural History Society on a planned trip to the basin; we managed to get them onto the Wigeon but then I found another duck with them which turned out to a Shoveler, yet another year tick. A Peregrine was roosting on the Dome and most of the LNHS party managed to see it, always a good bird on a guided walk. The tide was now on the rise but with a couple of hours until high water I headed home for some lunch, returning to find 12 Redshank and three Common Sandpiper in the roost, a Common Teal count produced 374 birds and the female Pintail, which was conspicuously absent this morning, was feeding in the usual place, four Shelduck were on the basin with a flock of 23 together on Bow Creek, the highest count of the year and possibly the highest ever and quite a spectacular sight in the fading light of late afternoon; 13 Tufted Duck on the basin were the seventh duck species for the day. Passerine interest was provided by three more Meadows Pipits flying west, a flock of six Linnets in the ecology park and at least three Reed Buntings at the basin.

Second Woodcock for the lower Lea

A mid-morning visit to the patch at low tide produced nothing of note, this state of the tide can be very unproductive so I decided to return just before high tide. Common Teal numbers seemed to be up so I embarked on a comprehensive count, I was on the eastern side of the ecology park silently  cursing some old lady for letting her mutt off the lead when the beast flushed a Woodcock from some pathside scrub that I had just walked past; it circled out over the creek making it onto my Tower Hamlets list as it flew over the Pura Foods peninsula; it then flew over the DLR line into the western half of the park and seemed to come down in scrub behind the feeder stream. A patch tick for me and only the second record for the lower Lea following on from one flushed from the copse at the basin by Gary on December 1st 2010. Another good record was three Lapwings on the Pura Foods Peninsula, it is usually a fly-over species here and the fourth wader species of the day with eight Redshank and three Common Sandpipers in the roost. I continued with the Common Teal count and ended up with a respectable 442, the female Pintail was also present along with a good count of 18 Shelduck.

A record count of Common Teal

Pintail at East India Dock Basin, 9/2/2012

Greylag Geese at East India Dock Basin, 9/2/2012

High tide was just before 5 pm today and was over seven metres and for the first time in a week or so it put some water in the basin. I arrived at about 4:30 pm and as soon as I got a view of the basin I thought I had a good chance of breaking the patch record count of Common Teal. I counted around 250 on the basin and quickly headed for Bow Creek where I added another 210, both counts were conservative so the combined total was over 460. The tidal River Lea extends just over a mile to the north of the patch and recently there have been close to 1.000 Common Teal between the Thames at the basin and the Bow backwaters at Three Mills, a spectacular count anywhere, let alone an Inner London borough. Given the good numbers of Gadwall present in the Three Mills area it was not surprising that a pair had drifted south to the patch and made it onto the yearlist.Other wildfowl included two Greylag Geese, seven Canda Geese, 16 Shelduck, the overwintering female Pintail and ten Tufted Duck. On first inspection the regular wader roost was deserted but I found ten Redhank and two Common Sandpipers roosting at the northern end of the Pura Foods peninsula, on the way back I found two Common Sandpipers were now in the regular roost, a short walk back to the new roost revealed that the original two were still in situ, four is a very good winter count but then I found another three roosting on the pontoon on the last meander, so I retraced my steps again and the other four were still present; we have had seven birds before, during autumn migration, but this is the best winter count of this species at the lower Lea. It was very quiet on the passerine front with three Reed Buntings in the pylon reedbed the only record of note.

A record count of Lapwing

A few images of the patch during the snow, 5/2/2012

I had just finished stocking up the feeding station at the basin when I checked my phone and saw I had a missed call from Gary, he was downriver at Gallions Reach and it looked like it was shaping up to be a good day there on a rising tide; I weighed up the options and decided to join him, intending to return to the patch to coincide with high tide; what followed was one of the most incredible birding sessions I have ever experienced in the capital. I expected a few more birds to be about because of the snow but the number and variety of species exceeded even my glass half full expectations. As I approached the river a flock of 20 Lapwing passed over moving north-east, this was the first of eight flocks totalling nearly 300 birds, all moving inland. Other large plovers were also on the move, a flock of four Golden Plover moved north followed by 45 moving north-west but one of the biggest surprises of the day was the movement of some 60 Grey Plover mostly  moving north-west including flocks of 28 and 20 but at least ten were also roosting in the area, a very good count this far upstream. The undoubted highlight of the day was around a dozen Common Snipe and at least three Jack Snipe indulging in eye-level flypasts as they were pushed off their roosts by the rising tide; both of us agreed we had never seen Jack Snipe this well in flight, often both species together for comparison; other waders included four Dunlin, a single Common Sandpiper and several Redshank. Before I arrived Gary had found a male Pintail, I could not locate it but towards the end of the session I found a female flying upstream; at least 20 Wigeon were noted including flocks of ten and eight and six Gadwall. Shelduck, Common Teal and Tufted Duck along with the ubiquitous Mallard were also present in numbers but no counts were made.On the passerine front three Grey Wagtails were noted along with a single flock of around 60 Redwing and about 50 Linnets  in one group, perched in riverside trees, many of the males singing in their fresh breeding plumage. We missed the high tide roost back at the patch but we added Sparrowhawk and :Lapwing to our yearlists, the latter a flock of about 70 moving downstream at the basin, easily the largest count at the lower Lea, also noted were seven Shelduck, the female Pintail, two Redshank, a Common Sandpiper and a Kingfisher whilst the feeding station had attracted at least ten Chaffinches and three Reed Buntings with at least another six in the same area. With the cold weather set to last for another week at least, next weekend can't come fast enough.         

Common Snipe new for the year

The freezing weather has finally arrived and not before time; the basin is completely frozen and with the high tides below the requisite 6.5 metres until the middle of the week, no water is getting in and if the cold weather persists it is going to remain iced up. Apart from three Canada Geese and a couple of bemused Coots all of the wildfowl have decanted onto the creek and the Thames; Common Teal numbers are up with 397 counted today, the female Pintail is still in residence and eight Tufted Duck were on the Thames with a single male on the creek. A cold spell usually triggers an increase in Redshank numbers, but not this time, 16 were in the roost, pretty much what it's been all year so far. The tide wasn't high enough to cover all the mud and two Common Sandpipers were taking advantage of the increased opportunity to feed. Thankfully the water pump on the feeder stream in the ecology park was working, keeping the stream and lammas meadow unfrozen attracting a Common Snipe which I managed to flush on my second circuit early in the afternoon. Despite the freezing weather two pairs of Dunnock were displaying, just about the only passerine activity of note; now that the local Grey Squirrels have finally been driven to their dreys by the cold I decided to resume my feeding programme which produced almost instant dividends with five Chaffinch and four Greenfinch feeding in the seeded-up area and two Blue Tits on the fat balls; if these conditions continue I am fairly confident that the seed will attract something a little special with Brambling being at the top of my wants list.