Fossil hunting!

At the weekend I was nearly a top Wanstead lister, joint on 140 with Bob. By Monday I had been relegated to third place by a Rook, and was stupid enough to then mention in print that Bob still needed Green Sandpiper. Well that was a clever move, because guess what, he doesn't any more....Talk about hero to zero, in the space of a few days I'm adrift by two species, with the prospect of more to come. Two species is the number of patch ticks I got in the whole of 2014! Anyway, the point is that the stupid Wanstead Park development plans might not be so stupid after all. Proposal 1I, if you recall, was to chop down some woodland in order to reveal a couple of small pointless mounds and carry out an archaeological dig. I scoffed at the time that this was a silly and pompously grandiose project designed only to satisfy 2.3 local history buffs, but now I find myself a firm backer. It might require a slight change to patch listing rules, but all those species that Bob has seen and none of the rest of us have could be revealed in the local fossil record! So a trowel and a brush have been ordered, Tony Robinson is on his way, and I'm going to break out my Tilley Hat as we remove the first layer.

Grip back

Seriously, many congrats to Bob on his latest addition, he and I both know that you can't beat a good patch tick, it's part of what keeps us going. And in his case that's been a very long time indeed ;-)

Missing from Wanstead

Another four Ring Ouzels in roughly the same area this morning, perhaps confirming my suspicion yesterday that there were in fact more than two present? I thought I had at least three, but couldn't be sure so only reported two, both of which promptly disappeared by the time Stuart managed to get there only a little later. So it was for me when I popped out mid-morning to have a look for Nick's birds; I could only locate one. I wonder where they go?


Still, with somewhere between four and six birds in just one small area of the Flats, the patch is officially on fire. But is it? Ring Ouzel, dare I say it, is in danger of becoming thought of as regular. It appears to be pretty much nailed on in the last week of September and first week of October. When I had to let a probable go in the Spring, I wasn't too worried; I knew I'd get one in the Autumn.


I've seen seven Ring Ouzels on the patch in the last three years, all of which made the pager. By contrast, I've seen one Treecreeper, which didn't. Which would you say is the rarer bird? Location location location.


I've just been reading Johnny A's Surrey Year-listing blog. The latest post is entitled Twenty Nine Years Later, which is how long he has been birding at Beddington. It is also how long it has taken him to get Treecreeper on his site list. His big bogey bird finally fell on Monday. I remember him telling me about the relative rarity of species at Beddington when I was there to see the Pec Sand a couple of weeks ago. It was something like his fifth Pec Sand at Beddington, yet he hadn't seen a Treecreeper in nearly thirty years of trying. Which got me wondering, what is the equivalent bird in Wanstead? The bird that you would think would be a shoe-in, yet is conspicuous by it's absence? Every site has one, perhaps more, depending on location and habitat.

I don't have twenty-nine years of experience here, it's a fifth of that, but perusing my somewhat paltry list for obvious omissions, there are a few which jump out. These include Cuckoo, Wood Warbler and Yellowhammer, but those have all been seen this year, just not by me. They're all passage birds, and eventually I'll get lucky. No, the bird that strikes me as missing, and for which I am not aware of any historical record, is Pintail.

According to the RSPB, around 30,000 Pintail winter in the UK. That's approximately double the numbers of both wintering Gadwall and Shoveler, yet we get loads of those here. Habitat not suitable? Well, we are always guaranteed Teal, yet I wouldn't say the habitat is any good for them either. Wintering UK Teal outnumber Pintail six to one, yet I've seen twenty-one here, versus zero Pintail. The habitat is no good for Wigeon either, yet I've seen five here. Rainham always get double-figures of Pintail in the winter, and it's only a few miles away. Why don't we get any here?

So is that my official bogey bird? I can't think of any better candidates, though Mandarin, relatively abundant in the northern reaches of Epping Forest, to my knowledge has never made it here either. So, this winter, Pintail is the bird I'll be hunting for. That and Snowy Owl.

Gadwall, 'cos I can't show you a Pintail.