A typical Saturday

Yesterday was a typical lazy Saturday. Although the working week had only been four days I'd had to do a little on the Bank Holiday Monday as well, but really it was Tuesday to Friday that did for me, particularly Friday which was relentless in a way that was really disspiriting for a Friday . So when Saturday dawned there were no trips, no mad dashes, and no pressure.

Well, pressure of a different type - a to-do list that had steadily built up over the preceding days and now needed knocking off. But first I went birding on Wanstead Flats, hoping against hope that something I or someone else would find something good. Nope. Not happening. It feels like migration has finished which I supposed it mostly has. Tony and chewed the fat near VizMig and then headed to the Park via Gregg's. Often a coffee and a bacon roll from Gregg's is the highlight of the morning and so it proved here. At least it gets me out of the house.

At the Old Sewage works we found not one but two Sedge Warblers, it has been a good year for them so far. Last year I didn't get one at all, but this year I've now seen three and there have probably been in excess of five on the patch. Even more astonishingly I had my camera with me and took a photo of it, albeit that it was through high vegetation and so came out a bit arty. Soon the Roding will be completely obscured. I was actually hoping for Kingfisher or Grey Wagtail, both of which have eluded me this year, but it was not to be. With so little rain lately the river is very low and the vegetation on this slower section has taken full advantage. It looks lovely, and indeed the Sedge Warblers seemed to be liking it a lot, but it also means it isn't the right habitat for the Kingfisher - for that I would need to try somewhere else. And once again there was no sign of the Cetti's Warbler. I've already been to the Old Sewage Works more times than last year and still haven't managed to connect.

I bade Tony farewell and headed off to the Park to try for Kingfisher along the straighter and thus faster sections of the Roding. Passing what used to be the Ornamental Waters I walked the top section toward the pump house, and descending to the 'beach' scanned south. Bingo - in under a minute I was on a bird that had come up the river and landed on small overhanging branch. So this is where they are hanging out. The banks are steep here, if you tried to get close you would probably fall in so I was content to observe from a distance. They have chosen the best place for sure. 

In 2015 I had 34 Wigeon on here.

Pleased with this success I felt I really needed to get started on my tasks. I strolled up to Wanstead and bought a few provisions, then caught the bus home and started on the list. I am pleased to report that I bring the same intensity to my personal to-do list that I bring to my employers, and so smashed through it in a pretty efficient way, including repotting my Wollemi Pine which was in dire need of more room. 

We ate a late lunch outside, a nice bottle of White Burgundy enhancing proceedings, and then I got back on with the rest of it. The only downside was that at some point during proceedings my glasses fell off my head and I have been quite unable to find them. My garden is not large, but equally I cannot see very well when I don't have them on, which obviously I now don't. I have ordered a five-pack from Amazon for buttons and which should arrive today. For now, typing this, I am balancing on my nose the ones with only one arm that I leave in the greenhouse for emergencies. I am about to head out there again as I have some tree pruning to do, Maybe I'll find them?