Not quite a tale of two Thrushes

If yesterday was exhilarating, today was sensational, but not for the reasons you might think. My morning total was one Fieldfare and one Redwing. Yes, just one of each. A few Linnet and Goldfinch kept me company, as did up to seven Skylark, one of which was in full song, albeit from the ground. At 8.01am precisely, just as I was leaving the VizMig Point and heading off east towards Manor Park station, I noticed a large heron shape in the sky just behind me and to my right. I expect I had been looking at my phone or something. Anyway, raising my bins I was astonished to see that it was pure white. I never even bothered to consider Little Egret, the views were superb in the early morning light – enormous bird with deep wingbeats and the characteristic bulge of the neck below, long entirely dark trailing legs. I fumbled with my phone to try and get some kind of record shot but it let me down and would not focus on the rapidly disappearing bird – somewhat gutted about that but I suppose photos are not everything. Interestingly Shaun had reported a Great White Egret flying west from the Ingrebourne Valley earlier that morning, but I had never imagined for a minute that it would fly over here. However when I checked a map at work and drew a line from the Valley over where I was standing, you end up at the southern end of the lower Walthamstow Reservoirs around Coppermill Lane.

This of course makes my uber ride to see the Wanstead Park bird earlier this year look increasingly bad value for money, but I am nonetheless delighted to add this species to my VizMig list, and indeed to my sub-patch of Wanstead Flats. Of course with increasing numbers in the country and counts of 20+ pretty regular this may become an annual bird, but right now it still has the hint of the exotic and rare about it. I checked Jubilee Pond on the offchance that it may have stopped off there but not surprisingly it had not. Still, I reckon we’ll see it again, and it certainly livened up what was in truth rather a poor morning compared to Monday.  BTW, if anyone wants to know how fast a Great White Egret flies, the answer is approximately 22mph.

As per yesterday I’m going to illustrate this post from my rather extensive back catalogue. To be clear this is not the actual bird, but everyone likes a picture. So had I been looking the right way I would have seen this….

Florida sadly

Bearded Tits, Hyde Park

Fabulous views of the Bearded Tits in Hyde Park this morning, and nice to see a few familiar faces enjoying them too. An amazing record when you think about it, especially as the "reedbed" they are in is about the size of bus stop, though perhaps not as deep.... Both birds are BTO ringed, so I spent a bit of time aiming at the legs instead of going for the artistic shots. I've manged to piece together one of the codes, and it seems another observer has managed five out of the six digits, so hopes are high that it can be worked out where these two little beauties came from. I took Muffin along too, he is getting quite keen on taking photos, and he also needed Bearded Tit. They showed magnificently, mere feet away - this is the way to see birds for the first time, and he'll always remember it, rather than some blob miles away. There are some more photos here.

In fact we made a bit of a day of it, and once our parking ticket ran out at Hyde Park, by which time we were both frozen anyhow, we carried on across London and out to the west for a long-staying Great White Egret in Herts, and only a couple of miles outside the M25. We found the right place very easily, my instincts telling me that the river was likely at the bottom of the valley and not at the top of the hill, and hadn't even stopped the car when I was forced to raise my bins at lightning speed to confirm that the white bird in the reeds did indeed have a yellow bill. Tick #2 for Muffin. Naturally we got out and went and had a proper look at it, during which time it didn't do much other than just stalk around. Some Little Egrets were good to compare it with - here's one of the Great White flying around trying to scare one of the Littles....

Not done yet, we decided that two Buff-bellied Pipits for our London lists far exceeded one Buff-bellied Pipit, so trundled back round the M25 towards Horton and Wraysbury. The birds seem to be spending more time away from the reservoir, good news for the £2 nestling in my pocket. We found the spot pretty much straight away, and there they were, feeding together around some large puddles. Roy W was also there (in fairly heavy winter plumage, it seems he moved through Movember into Mocember without a backwards glance, and is currently headed for Mofebruary and beyond!) having a pop at them, so we stealthily joined him. Easier than the last time, but the results aren't quite there sadly as this time the bird(s) were much further away. Flushed with this success we carried on to somewhere in Berks where we ticked Bradders and Crofty, but dipped the Pallas's Warbler and got very cold. Still, you can't win 'em all, and we had a very good day and made it back in time to see Africa and a baby Elephant dying on TV. Top family entertainment - my daughter had to leave the room and fetch a cuddly toy.