Another wave of Wheatears

Wheatear at Bow Creek Ecology Park, 30/4/2012

Crayford Marshes, 30/4/2012

                                                       

It's been a good April for Northern Wheatear at the lower Lea, two on the 4th and three on the 14th, all on the Pura Foods peninsula, were the vanguard for four today, two on Orchard Wharf and two in the Ecology Park, including the female in the photographs above. Initially I thought this bird was an immature male because of the greyness of the mantle, it was so close to me that I was concentating on photographing it rather than critically looking at it, that's my excuse anyway; the other bird was definately a male but he was spooked by a DLR train and flew off to the Pura Foods site; this one was very confiding until a chav couple came along and the gentleman, seeing that I was photographing the bird, deliberately flushed it, returning to his lady uttering the gentle refrain "I scared the bird off hur, hur, hur" to admiring giggles from his mate. I know one should have sympathy for intellectually challenged morons who get an enormous sense of self-importance from annoying other people but I almost suggested that he do something useful with his body, like turn it into fertiliser. As it was a sunny day the site started to fill up with people intent on leaving litter to mark their visit, so I decided to head off to Crayford Marshes for the rest of the day; of all the Thames marshes in the London area this is the only one I have not visited, mainly because it has a bit of a reputation for being in bandit country but I figured that a weekday visit might see the hordes of scramblers and air gunners more usefully occupied, and so it transpired. The photo above shows the northern access to the marsh from Slade Green station, a wonderfully bucolic scene, punctuated every hundred yards or so with some doorless kitchen appliance, just to remind you, in case you should forget, that you are still within the orbit of the Capital.Interestingly a lot of the hedgerows here are Elm so there is a good possibility of White-letter Hairstreak, a mid June visit is in order if it looks like it might be a good year for them. A singing Lesser Whitethroat near the river wall was the highlight of my visit, Swallows were about in good numbers and it looks like a few pairs may breed here, Common Whitethroats and Blackcaps were everywhere, but the only other warbler was a singing Chiffchaff. Skylarks and Meadow Pipits sang from the creekside fields and Ring-necked Parakeets looked slightly incongruous as they screeched over the saltmarsh. The only waders I could find were four Redshank and two Oystercatcher and I had good views of a Common Seal eating a large fish  in the Thames. It's a really pleasant walk from Slade Green to the Darent Flood Barrier but it's a bit of a shock to find a massive scrap yard plonked down next to horse filled paddocks behind the sea wall.

Into each life a little rain must fall...

The uneasy marriage between myself and the lower Lea took an almighty step towards divorce this morning, driving rain on a robust easterly wind was was the order of the day, ideal conditions for pushing terns, Little Gulls and perhaps other seabirds up the Thames; I should have headed directly to Gallions Reach but decided to put my faith in the patch with predictable results. Whilst slurping an overpriced Americano in the Esso garage after a fruitless freezing  hour at the basin, I received a call from Gary telling me he was watching an adult Little Gull at Gallions Reach. Half an hour later I caught up with him only to hear that he'd just had a Red-breasted Merganser fly upstream after a tip off from John that it was heading his way; doubly gripped. Both of these species are on my self-found London list but the pair of Mergs was over 20 years ago and the last Little Gull over a decade ago; ah well, lesson well and truly learned. We spent the next two hours getting very wet as we grilled the river, a Great Skua had been logged passing Rainham but it didn't make it to us; we added a Curlew, a Common Sandpiper and a Swift before the rain let up and Paul joined us. Late afternoon the sun put in an appearance and we were treated to a steady passage of Swallows, over 130 heading roughly north together with a few Sand Martins and around 20 Swifts; I made a comment about all these hirundines moving could produce a Hobby, ten minutes later Paul got on to a raptor moving east; the first Hobby of the year and the fourth raptor of the day after Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and Peregrine. Other notables at Gallions included around four Oystercatchers, 30 Common Terns and two Skylarks.  

A rainy day at Rainham

The unsettled weather continues to play havoc with the spring migration, it has rained heavily and for prolonged periods every day for the last seven days with today being one of the wettest. I decided to do a quick tour of the lower Lea and then head off to Rainham for the day where birding from the hides would afford some protection from the weather. The patch was, not surprisingly, disappointing; ten Shelduck were bickering at the basin where both the Portuguese saddled Tufted Duck were present in a diminished flock of 25 birds; during the week the female had disappeared and it transpires she spent a few days at Hilfield Park Reservoir some 15 miles to the north of the basin.Three Common Sandpipers were in the roost, two Common Terns flew east on the Thames and three Stock Doves were on the Pura Foods peninsula. Passerine activity was predictably low key with just two Reed Warblers and three Blackcaps singing; that was it and so to Rainham. it was immediately apparent that the three Common Swift recorded in the log book this morning had been joined by a few dozen more by the time I arrived, at least 50 were hawking low over the Marshland Discovery Zone and Aveley Pools along with good numbers of all three hirundines with at least 40 each of Swallow and House Martin and maybe 70 Sand Martin present, a wonderful sight after a spring of virtually bird free skies. A distant wader in Aveley Bay turned into a Whimbrel when it flew off and landed on the river wall in front of me, two Ringed Plovers were also in Aveley Bay, a Greenshank was calling but remained invisible and one or two Oystercatchers were moving on the river; I also had scope views of a Grey Plover and two Sanderling on the Kent shore, the latter was a London tick for me and an overdue one at that, I'm now on 270 for the capital. Plenty of Reed and Sedge Warbler were singing along with the odd Cetti's Warbler and  singles of Common Whitethroat and Chiffchaff and at least two Yellow Wagtails were feeding along the north shore of Aveley Pools. Plenty of wildfowl were still around including several Shoveler, Gadwall and Common Teal and at least three Wigeon. All in all a rather good day in some pretty unpromising weather conditions.    

Great Spotted Woodpecker and Reed Warbler new for the year

Predated Mallard and Moorhen eggs, Bow Creek Ecology Park, April 2012

The unsettled weather continues, putting the kibosh on lots of migrants, chief amongst them Sand Martin which is now so late that it may not turn up at all this spring; Gary has still not had Chiffchaff although Paul and me had a silent bird this morning in the copse it would not perform later when Gary arrived. We headed for the ecology park where beneath the palimpsest of Blackcap song I picked up the first Reed Warbler of the year jagging quietly to itself at the back of the feeder pond reedbed, so another trans-Saharan migrant has made it back to the lower Lea. Back at the basin Paul picked up a male Great Spotted Woodpecker in the copse; an unusual time of the year to get one, but the second bird in three days as the bird in the week seen by Gary and John was a female. We've been seeing quite a lot of predated waterfowl eggs lately, most with a roughly round hole in the side; I don't think the culprit is a Brown Rat or Grey Squirrel, I did in one fanciful moment consider Otter but I have an idea that the villain may be a Mink, but more research is needed. The rest of today's haul included a single Greylag Goose at Bow Creek, six Shelduck with lots of courtship behaviour going on, 42 Tufted Duck but neither of the Portuguese birds, a Kestrel hunting over the ecology park, seven Common Sandpipers in the high tide roost,  four Common Terns, two Stock Doves, at least five Blackcaps including three singing males and two pairs of Linnets.  

Willow Warbler and Common Tern new for the year

Two necessarily brief vists this weekend, each producing a yeartick, Willow Warbler on Saturday, two at the basin and one in the ecology park, all singing, and Common Tern on Sunday, a singleton flying east down the Thames. In terms of variety Saturday had the edge over Sunday, three Wheatears on the Pura Foods peninsula was a personal best count of this eagerly anticipated species, a pair of Blackcaps and one each of Chiffchaff made up the rest of the migrant interest. Wildfowl included a good April count of ten Shelduck, a single male Common Teal and 30 Tufted duck including the Portuguese red-saddled male. Two Song Thrushes were singing, both out in the open which is unusual for this site, and a third bird in the ecology park was behaving as if it had young nearby. The Sunday visit yielded a flock of six Stock Doves feeding on the peninsula, my best "on the deck" count.Wildfowl included four Shelduck, three Common Teal and 37 Tufted Duck but neither of the Portuguese birds were present today. I could only find a single Common Sandpiper and it seems that the excellent winter counts have come to an end. A single Willow Warbler and three Blackcaps made up the warbler count today and other passerines included a pair of Linnets and a persistent singing Chaffinch in the ecology park.

Godwits galore at Gallions

Black-tailed Godwit at Gallions Reach, 8/4/12

Black-tailed Godwits at Galltons Reach, 8/4/12

High tide today was late afternoon so I decided to spend the morning at Gallions Reach watching waders on a rising tide before heading back to the lower Lea for high water. I met up with Gary who had aready counted 320 Black-tailed Godwits, but the tide was pushing them closer and concentrating them in one area and a recount revealed an astonishing 435 birds, almost all of them in complete summer plumage; we watched them until the tide pushed them off and they flew downstream to roost, an amazing sight. Others waders included at least 85 Redshank, seven Oystercatcher and a Curlew. Just as we were about to leave the gull colony on the pilings started to make an awful racket; the reason was a typically marked Common Buzzard heading south across the river, my first at this site but Gary's third in eight days. Other notables included at least five Common Terns,  two Swallows heading east, a Wheatear and two or three singing Chiffchaffs. Back at the lower Lea there were seven Common Sandpipers together in the roost; two Kestrels were displaying over the Pura Foods peninsula, a Blackcap and Grey Wagtail were singing and the first Mallard brood of the year was at the basin, but it contained only two ducklings.It was a seven metre tide today and all the wildfowl were concentrated on the basin at high water and included two Greylag Geese, 24 Common Teal and 37 Tufted Duck.

Blackcap new for the year

Common Teal at East India Dock Basin, 6/4/2012

It's almost the end of the first week of April and still no Sand Martins, I cannot remember a year when I have not recorded this species in March; it seems to be the situation London-wide with only small numbers recorded so far; last year at least one pair were treble-brooded at the basin, at this rate we are looking at a poor breeding season. A male Blackcap in the ecology park was the only addition to the yearlist, it wasn't singing but foraging busily; a Chiffchaff was singing nearby and these two warblers represented the only passerine migrants noted today. Common Teal numbers were up to 42 with some of these almost certainly passage birds, 32 Tufted Duck were on the basin but there was no sign of the red-saddled Portuguese female; four Shelduck were the only other wildfowl of interest. Common Sandpiper numbers remain high with six together in  the high tide roost. at least four Stock Doves were noted and a pair of Kestrels were displaying over the basin. Apart from the two warblers other passerines included a Jay, a singing Chaffinch and a pair of Linnets.

Collared Dove and Northern Wheatear new for the year

Now that British Summer Time is here and the days are getting longer, post-work visits to the patch are possible. I was hoping the overnight rain might have grounded some migrants and my optimism was rewarded with two cracking male Northern Wheatears on the Pura Foods peninsula; an unexpexted bonus was the Collared Dove whipping through east at bushtop height, it's just about annual these days, nearly all records being in the spring or early summer. The only other migrant was a calling Chiffchaff at the basin. Other highlights today included three Shelduck, 26 Common Teal, 53 Tufted Duck, including the Portuguese female with the red nasal saddle first recorded last year, two Common Sandpiper, Grey Wagtail, two singing Chaffich and a singing Linnet.