Mandarins and other things

In early March a drake Mandarin was found on the Perch Pond in the Park by a non-birder, or possibly a birder but not one that we know. Widely twitched as usual, I was in Canary Wharf and unable to get there, and shortly after most people had seen it it did a bunk over Heronry and wasn't seen again. Until this Friday that is when James found what presumably is the same bird on Heronry. It quickly did a bunk again but only as far as Shoulder of Mutton where Bob, quick off the mark as ever, refound it a short while later. This time I wasn't in Canary Wharf, I was in Budapest. Excellent.

Roll forward to this Saturday, and now back home I am chomping at the bit to get into the Park and find both the Mandarin and the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, and dare to dream, a migrant. Fat chance on the latter, it has been utterly hopeless on that front. We've had a handful of Swallows, and I do mean a handful. Under ten. Pathetic. But I did get lucky with the Mandarin on Shoulder of Mutton first thing. It hadn't been there when I arrived, or perhaps was tucked up, but I picked it up in flight for the briefest moment as it departed east back towards Heronry. I couldn't refind it there, and a message about a close-by Bullfinch saw me take a cursory glance at Perch before heading off. Natuarally I dipped it. And the Lesser Spot. Then it was time for the Wheatear Trophy presentation.

As Tony and I headed towards the Flats we decided to check Perch. And there it was! Glorious! It is my seventh record of Mandarin, so not super rare but equally quite a long way from annual. This is quite surprising for a species that lives in some numbers not that far away, so I suppose they must be fairly sedentary. This one was really quite friendly.....where has it come from? Who cares as I had my camera with me, my lovely new tiny light-weight toy camera. I have decided that seeing as I barely notice it upon my shoulder that I will try and take it out with me much more often. Weather permitting as it is no Canon 1 series, or at least I have not yet tested it out in the kind of extreme conditions that I knew would do absolutely nothing to the 1DX. It just seems so petite and delicate, how it possibly be expected to repel a single droplet of water? It probably just needs to man up. Or I do. In reality it is all academic as I don't go birding in the rain anyway.

 

Where has the water gone?

Another dismal Saturday morning attempting to see birds in Wanstead, probably made even worse by my marathon blogging of South Africa, full of incredible memories of colourful birds.  The Flats were dreadful, the Park a little better. I don't often go to the Park, but there was a decent range of Ducks on Heronry. Well below peak numbers in years gone by, but 12 Pochard were a big number these days. Going back a few years I have a high count of 60 in 2012, and plenty of counts in the 30's and 40's before that. Something must have happened around that time as after 2012 the highest counts are of 20 in January 2013 and 15 in September 2014. January 2015 then has a record of 12 birds, but that is the last double-figure count since yesterday. That is what I call a decline.

Gadwall exhibit a similar decline locally. Ten years ago I could regularly count 70, 80, 100+ birds in the Park. Yesterday there were 25. Part of the reason for the decline in Ducks might be a decline in water. The following photos show the current state of the Canal on the Ornamental Waters. It might need renaming....

The 'Canal'

The OW has (had...) two arms that stretch north and south from the the central feature, the rectangular Canal. Just to the south is the Grotto. Broadly the arms follow the course of the Roding, which was diverted a long time ago onto its current course. The northern part began to lose water, dry out and increase in vegetation some time ago, but the Canal and the southern section were still OK until relatively recently. Back in 2015 there were 34 Wigeon on the Canal, a local record number. I had actually thought that this was more recently than eight years ago, so maybe the deterioration has in fact been slower, but nonetheless look at it today. Wigeon? Hah! 

The whole of the Ornamental Water now looks like this, overgrown, and with a few residual pools here and there. Talk about being left to rot by the land owner. Not saying that this is an easy job, but still, year after year of doing nothing (the pump at the northern end has been out of service for what, five years, a decade?) and this is the result. It's likely to be an expensive fix, but perhaps more expensive now rather than if it had been dealt with it when it started becoming a problem. We've all been there I suppose. I just checked the latest accounts of the Corporation of London - it seems expenditure outstrips cash income, but nonetheless this is not an organisation that in seems in any great financial peril - balance sheet assets are £1.3bn, and they increased by 10% in the 2021-22 tax year. The Director of Open Spaces earns £116k year. I reckon whoever that is should come and have a look at it!

January Accumulation

In a break from tradition this post is going to be about birds. It is January, and this means local birding is exciting again. Kind of. Like many birders who have local patches, for me the start of the new year heralds the start of new year list - I can happily wander around seeing exactly the same birds that I see every year. The excitement is palpable, the competition has started again! 

It is all pointless. Whether I have seen 50 birds, 60, or even 70 by the end of January is completely irrelevant. These are the birds that I will see no matter what, I would have to be blind to miss them. But somehow this does not stop me seeking out the more obscure bits of the Park to find a Siskin, or to spend inordinate amounts of time in Bush Wood in search of Treecreeper. I am a fool, but a happy one.

Last weekend I had no blogging urges to speak off, so this year's fine start has gone unrecorded in internetland. However towards the top of this page you will see a shiny new link to "Wanstead 2019" which details each and every magnificent completely expected and regular sighting so far. Last weekend Tony and I mopped up most of what was available on the Flats. There were of course notable exceptions - could we find a Skylark or Stonechat? No we could not. We also paid our annual visit to Bush Wood, where we found Nuthatch and Firecrest in short order, but of Treecreeper there was no sign. We then took a quick spin around the Park, adding Teal, Little Egret and Green Woodpecker. Adding to the birds I'd seen out of the window on the New Year's Day, I ended that first proper outing on 54 species which is decidedly average - sometimes I get more than that on the first day. 

I am not as keen as I once was, in fact some may describe me as more than a little jaded - by many things, not just birding. However a week at work tends to help build up the necessary level of enthusiasm to get out there, for fresh air if nothing else. So this morning I was up nice and early and found myself in Bush Wood for the second time this year. It will also be the last time, as happily I found the missing Treecreeper quite quickly near the dried up pond. In fact I found two, which bodes well for their continued presence in our area. Flush with early success I made my way over to Chalet Wood. This proved the perfect comedown, with zero sign of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and ten trillion out of control dogs running amok whilst their owners emitted a variety of pathetic and useless cries which were roundly ignored. Also sighted on my tour were a Water Rail on Shoulder of Mutton, a pleasing 51 Teal on Heronry plus a fly-by Kingfisher, 8+ Siskin in the Dell, and a Great Crested Grebe on Perch. If you are interested in knowing where all these locations are, the map is here. If you are not that's fine too.

This places me on 61 for the year. I would describe this as 'getting there'. Significant misses so far include Pochard, Kestrel and Fieldfare, as well as the birds mentioned above. The thrill of seeking these out cannot be understat.....

Vista management in the Park. This used to be a nice tangle that birds could rest up in, safe and out of sight. Maybe one day the Corporation of London will plant something rather than just chopping it all down?

A different perspective

I've popped this on the WansteadBirding blog too as it's a lot more topical, but here's a rare view of the patch from the air. I was on one of my ridiculously unnecessary flights back from Florida this week, and the plane out of City Airport banked right over Wanstead as it headed off towards Dublin. You could pick out almost every feature of the place, individual spots. As I looked out of the window I was listing them - Stone Curlew there and there, Lapland Bunting there, Slav there, Goosanders there there and there, White-fronted Goose there, and so and and so forth. I traced my normal route, I marveled at just quite how large it is and how we need a lot more coverage and that it's amazing we find anything at all. Now of course all this would be less meaningful without a photo but luckily I managed to get a snap out of the window with my tablet, and it has come out remarkably well.

Priorities and how to get them completely wrong

As a nation we are failing to get our priorities right. This is a bold statement, but one that is very easily proven by the use of two very straightforward examples. One is national news, the other is not. In fact the very fact that the first is national news is yet more proof that the country we live in is immensely screwed up. It is that Jeremy Clarkson, the boorish host from Top Gear (if you do not know of it, it is a TV program about cars featuring three grown men doing mostly stupid things, and that appeals to people with the mental capacity of eleven year olds. And actual eleven year olds), has been suspended from the BBC for an altercation with a producer, and that the remainder of the current series has been scrapped. If you will pardon me for saying so, this is not news, or at least, not headline news, even though I did proclaim that there is not enough good news around just the other day. More telling is that fact that a petition for his reinstatement was immediately started and at the time of writing has garnered over 520,000 signatures. By contrast, Mark Avery’s petition to ban driven Grouse shooting has 21,212 signatures. As is stands, this means that nearly 25 times as many people would prefer that Clarkson, an outspoken, loutish and frankly rude-in-a-mildly-amusing-manner TV presenter, comes back to the show, than would like to see Hen Harriers quartering elegantly over English moorland from where they have been relentlessly eradicated by generations of criminal gamekeepers and their employers. How can this be even be possible?

Unfortunately Hen Harriers are not obnoxious and do not frequently antagonize and insult other countries and cultures. If they did they'd be a lot more popular and we might be able to preserve them.

Hen Harriers are awesome creatures, majestic. When you see one, as I have been lucky enough to on many occasions, though admittedly not in England in the summer, your spirit is lifted. Especially if it’s a male, slender with silvery wings tipped with black, gliding effortlessly along hedgerows and ridges. This experience is now really only available in winter, or in Scotland. I’ve said it before, but it is a complete travesty that so many areas of eminently suitable habitat are so sterile and lacking Hen Harriers. We all know why that is, but in case anyone isn’t clear, it’s because of money. Grouse Shooting is big business, and Hen Harriers might reduce the numbers of Grouse available to be shot, and thus the amount of money that can be earned. I know it sounds perverse, but that’s the way it is – people will actually kill one bird in order to protect another bird so that it can be killed later. And so for years gamekeepers, almost certainly with the full knowledge of the landowners, have quietly knobbled almost every single Hen Harrier nest in the entire country, along with many other birds of prey. Some no doubt fail for other reasons, weather, predation, sheer bad luck perhaps, but most are at the hand of man. The stats are incredible, hundreds of suitable territories, single figures of birds, four breeding pairs. It’s not right and it shouldn’t happen, but it does, and there is a massive lack of political willpower to do anything about it. There are reasons for that too, and they mainly have to do with cronyism and that the current set of politicians holding the reins of our dear country quite enjoy field sports, and in some cases own the land it happens on. Various people in conversation are doing a brilliant job to raise awareness, Hen Harrier Day for instance was a great success, but this morning the BBC have devoted more time to this Clarkson business than they ever gave to that Norfolk keeper clubbing a Goshawk. The coverage on my office TVs can only be described as blanket. And you can see why that is – only twenty thousand have signed the petition to ban driven Grouse Shooting, and half a million want Jeremy back on TV. As a media organization you pander to the masses, I can see that, but it is pathetic that more people care about what and who is on TV than care about wildlife. Though frankly if he was given his job back thus ending this hysterical coverage and limiting him to an hour a week, I might sign it too.

Which brings me to my next point, and one I care about possibly more than Hen Harriers – my local area. Wanstead Park is on the "At Risk" register. I assume this means it is at risk of having any value for wildlife completely eradicated, as there is now a management plan for it. The Corporation of London is working with a number of civil and citizen organisations to identify and prioritise opportunities for capital investment and potential changes in management. Now that would be all well and good if any of the plans were focused on wildlife and birds. They're not. They're focused on restoring 17th century landscapes and welcoming local people and visitors from further afield. Call me a thuggish boor, but I don't want local people and visitors. Local people are the problem, or some of them are. Those that let their dogs run out of control and shit everywhere. Those that dump tons of rotting bread on the sides of the lakes. Those that fish illegally. Those that sleep there and cause the management to cut back vegetation to prevent them doing so. I could go on. Instead let's look at a few of the various things on the table.

1D. Create a visitor hub. Includes a cafe. Great, might put the Little Tea-Shop of Happiness out of business and attract more people. FAIL

1E. Conserve the Grotto. The grotto is a stupid Victorian heap of rubble with no practical value whatsover. A folly for good reason, a complete waste of valuable money. Dynamite it I say. FAIL

1F. Reveal vista along Long Walk. Need I say more. The minute you say reveal what you actually mean is chop stuff down. This may mean restoring the various aspects that the original landowner could see from his enormous pile, but please, the house was sold brick by brick to pay his gambling debts. Not a single morsel stands, what will sweeping views achieve exactly other than less habitat? It's a bit like the Friends of Wanstead Parklands chopping down a lovely little copse that could have held nesting birds in order to reveal a few Bluebells. WILDLIFE FAIL

1G. Open up other views. See above. WILDLIFE FAIL

1H. Reveal Mansion site; selectively clear vegetation to open up views. See above, are you sensing a pattern? WILDLIFE FAIL

1J. Reveal the Fortifications. Selectively clear.......WILDLIFE FAIL

1K. Improve paths and access. Yup more people. More dogs. More litter. More noise. Did somebody say fewer birds? FAIL

1I. Reveal North Mount (Warren Wood) and South Mount (Chalet Wood). Reveal in the sense of chopping down parts of Warren Wood and Chalet Wood I suspect. Has the benefit of being able to carry out archaeological investigation. If you were thinking that this is all some kind of egotistical project from a bunch of history buffs, you might very well be right. WILDLIFE FAIL.

1L Improve all main entrances. Clear vegetation to, you guessed it, open up views. FFS. Sorry, I meant FAIL.

1Q Improve the integrity and appearance of the historic water bodies. Selectively clear vegetation to open up views. Views. We don't want bloody views, views are sterile. We want wildlife. FAIL

1R. Reveal islands in Perch Pond. Selectively clear.............AAAAARGHHHHH!!!!

1S. Management of the Plain. Selective removal of encroaching trees and scrub. SEE ABOVE.

1U. Improve links with the River Roding; selectively clear vegetation to open up views. FUCK OFF!!

As far as I can see there is one decent wildlife-friendly proposal, which is 1C. Restore Heronry Pond. Re-line pond to stop water leaks; restore channels and islands on southern edge and introduce new wetland and marginal habitats along edges of ponds and islands. SUCCESS.

Those are just some of the immediate priority ideas. There is a whole long list of longer-term priority items, 13 to be precise. Eight of them involve the words "selectively" or "clear", or in one case a more overt "push back woodland edge". And there are a further eight plans labelled as possible aspirations. Of these, four involve restoring views, and one is extending a car park all the way down to the norther edge of Heronry!! So there you have it, the future of Wanstead Park, sponsored by Stihl. Other makes of chainsaw are available. I don't know who's genius idea this is, but they're clearly obsessed with returning to the 1800s. Probably some decrepit history nut who remembers it 'back in the day' and whose grandmother once worked as a scullery maid in 'the big house'. Wanstead in 2015 is not about returning to the time of Jane Austen, admiring sweeping vistas that a long-gone palace had, it's about saving what little decent habitat is left. The priorities of this plan are massively wrong, and combined with the slash and burn tactics on the Flats, are a huge disappointment that we will all come to regret. 

Slave to the camera

Mild panic whilst in the UAE - and much internet chortling as to my unfavourable location - when Nick found a Slavonian Grebe on Heronry, a first for the patch no less. Happily it's still here, and although I managed a quick pre-work twitch on Friday for it for the tick element, the proper enjoyment element had to be skipped. I put that right this afternoon with lengthy views at relatively close range. Heronry is a pig of pond to work with few clear spots, and as it's concrete-sided is a right pain to photograph on as well, so whilst I could never get down to the correct level here's the best I could manage without going for a swim. Yes, I am aware that the local internet has far too many photos of this bird on it. And no, I don't care. The world needs more nice things in my opinion, and this little stunner is very nice indeed. My 140th patch tick as well, so a nice round number to celebrate.

Autumn, or Winter?

This morning out on the patch - a rare moment these days - I discovered a Firecrest in with about a million Goldcrests. Moments later Nick had discovered a Ring Ouzel - overdue, but a clear sign that autumn is nearly over. Ring Ouzels are the generally the last of the passage migrants in Wanstead, and so its arrival on the same day that the first Firecrest of the winter put in an appearance is telling. Even more telling is that earlier this week Dan discovered two Goldeneye in the Park. He's not been birding the area long, and so innocently enquired as to whether this was normal. When Nick and I had recovered from running all the way over there, we were able to tell him that no, this wasn't normal, and that these two were the fourth and fifth birds that we know about, and the first since the winter of 2009 when a female turned up after a storm. Gutting for Tim that they turned up the day after a WeBS count; he's currently trying to figure out a way to sneak them on......

In other news, there is no news. I've been at work, penance for a couple of weeks ago. The news I didn't want to hear is that Shetland is being crushed under the weight of Olive-backed Pipits (bastards), and that there are an additional six UK ticks available for me around the country if I had some kind of "Beam me up Scottie" type device. Which I don't.

R.I.P. Duckzilla

Friends, I have sad, sad news to report. Duckzilla is dead.

Duckzilla, an immense and statuesque Indian Runner Duck, took up residence in Wanstead Park a few months ago, presumably having been dumped here by a cretinous owner, and was most often seen on Heronry Pond terrorising Mallards and swallowing loaves of Kingsmill whole. He (or she - also known as Daisy or Chamomile to some) won many friends, and was a favourite of all park-goers. Sadly Duckzilla had wings the size of small anchovies; a Penguin was more likely to take to the air. And this has proved to be Duckzilla's undoing. Not able to fly, and unlikely to ever be called nimble, the likely cause of death is DOG ATTACK.

Poor Duckzilla was found on the side of Perch pond the day before yesterday, with legs and rump mangled. No other part of Duckzilla had been touched, so this probably rules out fox or mink, both of which would have been after a meal. A dog is thus the most likely candidate, and if I know Wanstead, the only candidate. But nobody saw what happened, so this only speculation - somebody will know though, and I hope we find out. This time Duckzilla, next time a child. Call me melodramatic, but it's true, you read it here first.

There is a certain breed of dog owner, and they like certain breeds of dog. "Certain" is an anagram of "a cretin" funnily enough. Anyhow, rarely are these dogs nice, and rarely are they kept under control. I am aware that I am like a broken record, and spend an unhealthy amount of my time writing about dogs and dog-owners, but believe me when I say that they have a lot to answer for, and nobody is prepared to do anything about it. The last time I spoke to a dog walker - very politely I might add - about the nesting Skylarks, I got a torrent of abuse back. And not from a shaven-headed lout as you might expect - no, from three outwardly pleasant-looking young women, who unbeknownst to me had massive chips on their shoulders about something. So while usually it's a minority giving the majority a bad name, in Wanstead it's about fifty fifty, and perhaps higher than that. And the death of Duckzilla is the result. Why can't we have some Surface-to-Dog missiles on the Fred Wigg Tower?

Pretty much a perfect day

1. Have a lie-in
2. Eat a bagel for breakfast
3. Hit Flats
4. Receive text message about patch tick in Park
5. Power march to Park
6. Patch tick Mandarin Duck
7. Celebrate with cup of tea and slice of cake at Tea Shop of Happiness
8. Celebrate some more with cheap haircut
9. Celebrate even more by lying in grass looking at sky for a bit
10. Celebrate yet more in Pub

Now days don't come much better than that do they? After the dippiness of yesterday and utter lack of migrants, what a way to bounce back! Steve is once again the king of the Park - we didn't think he could top the two Smew on the Roding, but he has pulled yet another one out of the bag. Two actually, a pair of Mandarin Duck. I hope he didn't actually pull them out of a bag. I've long said that the Ornamental Waters are crying out for Mandarin, the trouble is I never go there to see if any have turned up. Steve does though, luckily for me. There is a small population of Mandarin in Epping Forest, but they tend not to wander very much, so the bird today were a welcome addition to my patch list.

I was just staking out a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker drumming tree when my phone went off with the happy news. Gah! I radioed Nick - yes, very tragically I have invested in a couple of two-way radios in order to make migrant hunting more efficient and generally enhance the magic - to tell him we needed to leg it over to the Park, but he couldn't answer as he had a coffee in one hand and a bacon buttie in the other. He eventually turned up (at least 45 seconds, and a patch tick, unbelievable!) and off we went. The Mandarin had vanished into the Fortifications, a tangled area of small islets on the Ornamental Water, some kind of Victorian folly. There are a couple of viewing angles into a couple of bits, but largely it's a dead zone. Had Steve walked by five minutes earlier or later they likely wouldn't have been in view, but that's patch birding for you. He hadn't realised the significance of the birds - only the second record ever a far as we know - had sent a quick low-key text, and carried on. Meanwhile Nick was inhaling bits of bacon and spilling coffee all over himself, and I was regretting my choice of camera equipment for the day as we both tried to get over to the Park as quickly as possible. "Stay on them!" was my rather desperate-sounding text, but by then it was too late - he retraced his steps but they were gone.

So we staked it out, radios in hand, at different points around the Fortifications. "Can you see a Mute Swan coming towards to you?" "No, but there are two Gadwall with a Coot to their left coming your way". "Can't see anything. Can you see a log?" Nothing beats a bit of walkie-talkie chit-chat...... We soon established that there was a good area we couldn't see at all, and surmised that the Mandarin were likely in there somewhere. Meanwhile Steve did two entire circuits of the OW in a bid to discover if they had snuck out. Really we needed a boat, a punt would have been ideal. I did consider wading over, but thought the better of it - I still have some pride. Two hours in though, and things were looking bad. A noise behind me and Nick appeared, bored with his stakeout. I pointed out that my stakeout was equally as interesting. He then pointed out two Mandarin trying to sneak off down the channel I had been watching whilst I was busy looking the other way. Get in!!!

Steve returned and we told him the good news, which was that he didn't have to go in after them to ensure we saw them. Next stop the Tea Hut, where we scored a Buzzard, a couple of Sprawks, and some cake. An emergency haircut then proceeded a short skywatch, followed by watching the rugby in the pub, which we decorated with various optics. I'm not a huge fan of rugby, but the right team won, and it was good seeing quite how miserable Sarkozy looked in the stands. Suspect he has a lot on his mind....

So, a quality day. Still no migrants, or not that we saw, but any day now surely?

Bugger

A mixed day today. Highlights were discovering two Kingfishers and a Grey Wagtail on the Roding with Steve. Low point was discovering that I hadn't, as I had thought, got away with dropping my camera on Southend Pier yesterday. I had only just started birding, and had found a Coal Tit in Reservoir Wood. As a patch year-tick, it needed recording, so I raised the camera upwards.... God-dammit, why isn't it focussing. And hang on a minute, why is the viewfinder all blurry? Return the camera to horizontal and all fine again. Eh? Give it a shake - ah. I'm not sure it should be rattling like that... It's been coming for a while to be honest, I tend to be fairly unforgiving. The cameras I use are built like tanks, and more often than not they just bounce and continue working just fine. I've got away with it more than a few times, but this time I've been caught out and am likely going to end up several hundred pounds poorer. Mind you, the Purple Sand was definitely worth it. Grrrrrr.

I returned home and got another camera - I am lucky enough/forward-thinking enough to have a spare in case the worst happens. This meant I could take this, so we can easily see that having a DSLR gathering dust in a cupboard has been an entirely worthwhile use of funds.

Can you see the bird? The habitat is a clue...

Great Crested Grebes still at it.....

I had a pile of important things to do today. Rather than do any of them, I went to Wanstead Park to check how the Great Crested Grebes were doing. At Lakenheath at the weekend, there were quite a few stripey chicks, and I don't want to miss the local ones. No chicks yet, but the two eggs are still in the nest, and the female is still sitting. Any day now I expect. Or perhaps not, as while I was there the Grebes decided to have a quick mating session.

Mrs Grebe: Oi look, there's that bloke with the camera! Come on big boy!
Mr Grebe: Who are you talking to, me or the photographer?
Mrs Grebe: [edited out, was extremely crude]

 
I have no idea whether this indicates that there is a problem with the eggs and they are starting again, though as mentioned the two existing eggs are still there, or if Mrs Grebe is simply a camera-loving nymphomaniac **. Whichever, the nest is ideally positioned to get some cracking shots, although as this is a family-friendly blog I won't be posting any of them. If any kids are reading, Mr and Mrs Grebe love each other very much.




** Rather tragically for Anna Grebe, a professional actress of sorts, if you google "Grebe Porn", the top hit is this blog...

Hello February!

Morning! Well January zipped by didn't it? Obviously as I age (gracefully) time inevitably goes quicker, but by any standards January went like lightning. I suppose a week in America rather than Wanstead meant that it was mid-month before I even knew it contributes to the impression of an extremely brief January, but there you go, it's gone.


Birding has been extremely relaxed - pleasingly relaxed. I have felt under no pressure whatsover, proving that it's all in the mind, and if you can manage to relegate listing urges to the back of your mind you will be much healthier for it, in a spiritual sense. I've left Wanstead twice to bird elsewhere - one trip to Norfolk to look at a potentially pet goose, and one trip just the other day to the Essex coast. By contrast I've visited Wanstead Park nine times, Wanstead Flats twice, and have yet to set foot in Bush Wood. Admirably local, Ohio notwithstanding.


And you know what? It's been great. I haven't turned up anything unusual on the patch, but so what? I'm more than pleased with Wigeon, Lesserspot, Treecreeper and Water Rail - all good birds for round here. I've just been strolling around enjoying it. Pottering would sum it up nicely. I've taken more photos of Mallards than strictly necessary, but I seem not to tire of it. Although they are common as muck, they're actually one of our best-looking ducks. Because they're omnipresent, people tend to look through them, just as they do with Blue Tits, but spend a bit of time looking at Mallards and you'll quickly come to the conclusion that they're extremely smart.



Anyway, my January total on the patch was a solid yet unspectacular 64, very slightly lower than in recent years, a function of having been away for a week and my new-found laziness, err I mean relaxed approach. I'm still missing Kingfisher, Tawny Owl and Grey Wag, all of which are around, but no-one has seen the resident Little Owl or an overwintering Stonechat - perhaps we don't have any this year?

I'll probably hit the park later today for some more enjoyment of very tame ducks, although what I should really be doing is getting my hair cut. I am developing curls around the ears and a what appears to be a rather unfortunate mullet down the back of my neck. I loathe getting my hair cut, as it eats into birding job-hunting time, but I suppose once every three months isn't so bad, and it eliminates a lot of the grey that could almost be described as becoming invasive. My knee still hurts by the way.

A Young Environmentalist

A quick tour of a small part of Wanstead Park today, namely the Dell and the southern end of the Ornamental Water - this area has been the most productive of late - Lesser Spot, Siskins and Chiffchaff amongst others. Target - puddles. Muddy ones. Muddy puddle walks, or sometimes muddle puddle walks (if you get into a muddy) are de rigeur in this household, and are often used as a pretext to go birding. The kids seek out puddles to jump in, I seek the birds. 



As we were on the point of leaving the house, a text from Nick C alerted me to a Treecreeper in the Dell. Interesting news - I had recently been looking for the bird from near the Grotto in November without success, and was afraid that the cold snap had killed it. Seems that along with our Turaco, Wanstead's Treecreeper(s) is(are) also pretty hardy.

The Dell held a few Siskins but not much else. I gave it a bit of time, but the puddles were substandard so we left in search of the real deal. We found some decent ones down near the Ornamental Water, and some trees to hug. Before you ask, this was spontaneous. Pudding found a tree just the right size, and proceeded to wrap her arms around it - I have no idea why. Next time I'm at Dunge I expect she'll chain herself to the Power Station. As I captured the moment, some insistent piping and soft trilling caught my attention. Could it be? It took me about fifteen minutes to pin it down, but Tree-hugging had indeed located Tree-creeping. The bird was in precisely the same spot as in November, wouldn't you know it? The same bird that was in the Dell perhaps? We found some more puddles, and then went home for tea. I love my life. When I get a job, weekdays just won't be the same....

Three for the Price of One.

I am somewhat behind in blogging terms, so today will see a mammoth effort designed to get me back on track. It will also be somewhat photo heavy, but I will attempt to blather on as much as possible so that it looks wordier than it otherwise might be.

So first off, Wanstead. I was pretty shattered at the weekend and Mrs L was away - unfortunate, but booked well before me heading off to the States became a priority. As such, we didn't do much. I got reacquainted with the kids, had lots of cuddles, and did a lot of unpacking, cooking and tidying. All well and good. On the bird front, I persuaded them that walking to the Tea Hut of Happiness on Sunday afternoon would be worth their while, and that cake awaited them. Three bits of cake were £1.30 - you just can't beat the Tea Hut of Happiness. Didn't see too many birds, but a check under the covered banks of Shoulder of Mutton pond revealed two drake and three female Teal, which were new for the year for my Wanstead list. Ace. I later learned that Tim had seen a three drake and two female, so I am surmising that, barring dramatic and quick surgery, there were six birds in total, which is an excellent count for a single location in these parts.

Mallard x Black-headed Gull hybrid

Monday passed in a blur, and with the kids safely despatched to various educational establishments on Tuesday, I had my first proper foray into the Park since the start of the year. Fab weather, cold but clear, I spent five happy hours wandering round, and counted 192 Coots which was pretty fun. The full list of what I saw is on the Wanstead Birding blog (how confusing), but the undoubted highlight was a male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker that flew over my head near the Dell, arousing deep and immediate suspicion as to its identity, which I was able to confirm once it landed. Given that I was going to the Dell expressly to try for Lesserspot, this brought about feelings of deep satisfaction of the type that sometimes accompany patch birding scores. A flock of perhaps 40 Siskin in the Dell only served to brighten my mood. With a Kestrel in the Old Sewage Works, and a surprise Chiffchaff near the Ornamental Waters, my Wanstead list for this year is now at 63. My best ever start is 67 by the end of January, something to think about perhaps, though I am putting myself under no pressure. What happens, happens.

On the way back home, I got a patch tick: Paganism. Or at least some kind of semi-religious ritual that I have no clue about. Perhaps a more rounded and culturally aware person can tell me? I came across a man standing next to Shoulder of Mutton Pond with his eyes closed, facing north. As I approached, he rotated 180 degrees, and stood for several minutes now facing south. Then he did a bit of clapping, three times I think, and then I don't know as I ran for my life before I got turned into a frog or something.


It is probably highly disrespectful to post this photo, and this guy is probably a seventh dan arch-druid and my house will now collapse into a pit of fire, but I was sufficiently interested to wonder what on earth was going on, and it beats dog walkers gesticulating at me. Any ideas?

So, that's Wanstead up to date. Next post will attempt to get America done, and then a highly original post on..... Waxwings!

Let it Snow!

Every news bulletin headlines concerns the dreadful impact of the snow, the implosion of the transport infrastructure, and an obligatory interview with a poor distressed person stuck at Heathrow unable to get to that nice warm place they were hoping to go to. Pah!! I've been enjoying it, the Christmas season should have snow! The fact that this country can't cope with snow is getting very boring.

Wanstead has predictably ground to a halt. As I returned from my mornings birding on the Flats and in the Park, traffic was barely moving along the main road. I expect the buses will stop soon, and once people get home, or to wherever it is that they are going, the road will become impassable. To be fair, there is quite a lot for round here. Look, here's my terrace, with an unimpressed Palm Tree. I reckon that's a good 10-15cm, and there may be more to come.

The morning's tour produced a few goodies, though nothing spectacular. Best birds on offer were a couple of Wigeon, and five Teal, all on the Roding. The ponds are largely all frozen, and I got my highest ever count of Shoveler on Alex with 27. They too looked unimpressed with the weather, wusses. We're had quite a few Wigeon and Teal during this cold spell, but are still missing the biggie (in a local context). No Goosander, no Goldeneye, no Gyr. Still, there is always tomorrow.

In which I attempt to turn my child into a popsicle

My God it's cold. I didn't realise quite how cold it actually was, and decided it would be a good idea to go and look at Heronry Pond with Pudding. Parenting fail. I have since learned that the maximum temperature in Wanstead today was -1C, and that the wind made it feel more like -8C. I had only counted up to 46 Pochard when a small pillar of ice told me that she had had enough. One look at her convinced me that she had indeed had enough, so we hurried home, and, bar the school run, didn't attempt anything as silly again for the rest of the day.


This is a bit of a shame, as these conditions have seen some absolute corkers turning up in London today. There have been between three and five Pomarine Skuas, first Andy and co had three up the river past Rainham, and possibly two of them were seen later on over Hampstead Heath. Johnny and Dodge at Beddington had 14 Bean Geese early on, which were then picked up over Rainham a bit later. Sticking with Rainham, a juvenile Iceland Gull was seen, and H had two Waxwings were briefly in the carpark. The hard-working window-gazers magazine publishers at the Birdwatch offices picked up some Waxwings in addition to their flock of Pintail from yesterday. Meanwhile at the Wetland Centre a flock of Eider was reported, and Des picked up a Goosander in Hyde Park. Steve B found some more of these were at Fairlop with a Red-breasted Merganser. Sorry if this sounds like a Birdline South-east round-up, but all of these are fairly impressive birds in London and deserve a mention, as do the hardy birders that found them. Meanwhile in Wanstead I contributed a Lapwing. This is an excellent bird for Wanstead, but hardly the stuff of legend.

   It was standing on the edge of the ice on the Basin, which I had stopped briefly to look at on the way back from the park. Smew is what I really wanted, but I must confess to being fairly appreciative of the Lapwing, my first on the deck in the Park. I don't keep an "on the deck in the Park" list by the way, but I know that it is the first. I'm that kind of well-rounded individual.

We'll see what tomorrow brings, but there could be some judicious long-range scoping of reservoirs from high vantage points (with parking) where Pudding can stay in the nice warm car. Ditto Aveley Bay, where with any luck that Pom Skua will still be hanging around. I'll keep you posted.

In other news, you know I posted about multi-author blogging the other day? Well in a complete coincidence - no really - I received an invite to participate in one only a few days later. Looking at the other authors, I can't help thinking that this is some kind of email cock-up, but I said yes very quickly before the error was spotted, and now have a password and everything. So, another opportunity for me to fill more of the web with drivel, which I hope to be doing soon. The concept is relatively simple: thought-provoking topics mulled over by about thirteen different people, none of whom know each other - or at least I don't know any of them - and all of whom may have different opinions. And, it goes without saying, different skill levels. Very different skill levels.....We're allowed to disagree with each other and everything, and using pseudonyms, bitch like hell and generally cause an online riot discuss things in a mature and sensible manner. I think that's the general idea. Hopefully these discussions will appeal to a wide readership of online birders, and if they too want to comment, then fine, though snide posts from anonymous scallywags will get the treatment. It's called The Crow Council, which makes me a Crow I guess. It will be excellent, so bookmark it now. I wonder if I can make a special video......

Back on the Patch

I rather felt I had missed out yesterday. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I went to see that Harrier, and it was a good day out, but my trouble is that I always want to be birding in about three places simultaeneously. This is not normally possible, though some people have apparently managed it in the past.


Anyhow, there was only one place I was going to be today, and that was Wanstead. Ferruginous Duck in south London for my London list? Pah! Mealy Redpoll at Thorndon for my London list? Pah! I told you, I'm done. Record-schmecord. I was done quite a few birds ago, pleased that I had got to 200, slightly miffed that I could have been on the cusp of breaking the record had I been just slightly less apathetic earlier on during the year. I soon got over it however, realising I've had quite an amazing birding year, and that I should be pleased, rather than always looking to the next bird. So, whilst in techno birding speak, I "need" Ferruginous Duck for the year (anywhere, not just London), actually I don't "need" it at all, and I'll survive not seeing it. I almost went actually, even had quick look at where it was on the map, but then realised that Wantead Park was much closer and involved no driving.


As I have mentioned before, the Park is quite exciting in cold weather, and I was not at all surprised to find five Teal tucked away on Heronry Pond. After the weekend it is probably about 60% frozen, so the ducks were concentrated down one end and much easier to count. You will be pleased to know that I bested, by one, my previous high count of Pochard, 53 on January 13th last year. For the less mathematically gifted, that's a whopping 54 Pochard. Wow. Here is that 54th and record-breaking bird.



Chuffed at my duck-counting prowess, I picked my way along the Perch pond via a Grey Heron and a Cormorant, and on to the Dell. There I watched a small dog leave a small deposit, and watched the owner watch the dog leave a small deposit. The two of them departed leaving the deposit carefully camouflaged amongst the leaves on the path. My sincere hope is that she treads in it on her way back, doesn't realise, and then forgets to take her shoes off when she gets home, just to see how she likes it. It would be counter-productive, no doubt, to name and shame, so I won't. I don't know her name.

  When I had calmed down, I carried on towards the Grotto, hoping to catch up with Nick's Treecreeper. It took a while, but sure enough I gradually pinned down the source of some quiet trilling and piping. There may have been two birds, I'm not sure, but even if it is just the one, it's only the second I have ever seen in Wanstead, which is a travesty given the habitat we have here. So, a special moment. It was in with a large tit flock, and seems very faithful to this particular area. Patch year-tick #108, and to think I would have been happy with 100.
 
Pleased with this success, I retraced my steps homeward via Chalet Wood, where I noted two Crows hassling a Sparrowhawk. I counted the five Teal (3m, 2f) again on Heronry, and was surprised to then find another five (1m, 4f) on Shoulder Of Mutton pond. A ten Teal day! In Wanstead, this is about as exciting as it gets! Whilst watching them, I became aware of a small cloud of corvids very distantly towards Ilford. Amongst them was a larger bird, but I could honestly not tell what it was. Either Raven or a Common Buzzard I felt, hoping for the former. I snapped off a couple of shots, which when blown up at home confirmed Buzzard. Not the same significance that Raven would have been, but nonetheless a quality local bird.

It's due to snow tomorrow, which could bring in something else. I can barely contain my excitement, so tune in tomorrow for a fresh installment of what to me is amazingly exciting and what to you is probably really really dull. I'll do my best to liven it up. Eleven Teal perhaps?

Changing Allegiances and the Perils of Autumn Birding

It has been blowing a hoolie here. Strong winds laced with cold rain. Miserable. Our guests are still here, so rather than abandon them I stayed inside where it was warm. I wrote my next Birdwatch article, but by early afternoon I was climbing the walls, and decided to head out early on the school run to check the ponds in Wanstead Park.

At this time of year, I begin to change allegiances from the Flats to the Park. The Flats are excellent, and my Flats list has more birds on it than the Park, but it suffers from a lack of ponds. The Park on the other hand has five fairly substantial ponds, many with overgrown margins, and as winter approaches, I start thinking waterbirds.

So, braving the inclement conditions, I headed over to check them out. At about this time last year a female Goldeneye appeared in similar weather, and indeed Gary had found one this morning on the Hollow Ponds up in Leytonstone, a stone's throw away. As I got out of the car, my cap blew off; I felt confidenent. My confidence was increased further by a drake Teal on the Shoulder of Mutton Pond. The 22nd I have ever seen here in the six years I've been watching. Reliable, but far from common. On Heronry I espied another Teal, female this time. Hmmm, I wonder?

Sadly that was as good as the ducks got, but it's still early days, and those Teal could easily stick around. Bad thoughts of January 1st are entering my head at this point.... I continued my walk past Heronry and on towards the Ornamental Waters. I walked the southern arm in the hope of finding any sneaky wildfowl hiding there, but my attention was diverted by a decent-sized flock of Long-tailed Tits. I trailed them through the trees to the Grotto, where they began to mingle with some Goldcrests in the yews there. You'll struggle to believe that Long-tailed Tits and Goldcrests are deafening, but I can tell you that underneath the shelter of the enclosing trees is felt pretty loud. Yet above it all I could hear snatches of a different call, an instistent piping, more breezy I thought. And sure enough, though it took twenty minutes as there were so many mobile birds to look through, a Firecrest popped up briefy. Not long enough to work out male or female, but long enough to see a bold white eye-stripe. A cracking bird (Firecrests are always cracking), and I always think that they're a proper patch-birders' bird.

For illustrative purposes only. This was taken in the Park last year. No camera today, too wet.

Cheered by this find, I left the park, for school beckoned, and headed up to the Basin. I parked carefully on the verge, and stepped down onto the leaf-covered grass. I hadn't gone more than about two steps when I became aware of that all too familiar squishy slipping sensation. I looked down, and sure enough, I had planted my boot firmly into a huge turd. Dog owners are truly the scum of the earth, unbelievable. Autumn is the worst season, as the fallen leaves obscure them from view, and seeing as I manage to unfailingly tread in them when they're in plain view, frankly I don't stand a chance.  I spent about five minutes scraping my boot against the curb, against long grass and so on, but when I got back in the car the whiff was unmistakeable. It took a puddle near the school, and even so I fear that a twig will still be necessary. After all the vomit from my neice earlier in the day, I couldn't face it, and so my boots are in the porch awaiting a hoped-for visit from the boot-cleaning fairy.

Another inglorious ID

Another early start on the Flats procured precisely nothing, but you can't score every day, and in any case it is lovely out there at 5am. It is cool, empty and stunning, as these Canada Geese and scenic backdrop prove.

After finding no waders on the Jubilee or Alex, I went down to the Old Sewage Works again to see if I could get some more shots of the Sedge Warbler, particularly any juveniles. Yesterday, having seen some scruffy birds associating with the Sedge, I confidently suggested they had bred, but wondered how they could have bred without us noticing, and that as local patch birders go, we were a bit rubbish. It turns out they probably didn't, as a photo of what I thought could be a be a juvenile is in fact a Phyllosc of some description, likely a very very worn Willow according to H. Quite what it was doing clambering about in reeds and rushes with a Sedge Warbler is anyone's guess. So we're not crap after all. Or rather, we are, just in a different way.

The OSW was buzzing yet again, with Finches and Warblers all over the place. But no Sedge Warbler. It has moved on, with its Leaf Warbler friend. I watched a Garden Warbler for a while, and a family of Whitethroats, but never a sniff of an Acro. And no Egrets either. In fact, versus yesterday it was a bit of an anticlimax. Still, there is always tomorrow, and that is what keeps me and all other patch-workers going.

Garden Warbler, I'm certain of it...

More Cuteness and another Reed Warbler

Barely a week after dropping everything and dashing out of the house for a Reed Warbler, which at the time was a patch tick, I found another one this morning. This always happens. You wait ages, and then there is a flurry. I was on the way back home after a fairly unexciting early morning jaunt. In interesting bird terms, the kind of morning jaunt where you wonder why you bothered. In other words, patch birding at its finest. Kicking stones by Shoulder of Mutton Pond, I noticed that the reedbed had grown quite a lot. Let's be clear, it's not going to have a Purple Heron in it any time soon, but as I walked past and noticed the reeds, I wondered why we never got any Reed Warblers in it. As if on cue, a faint "Gurr gurr gurr" came from within it. Amazing! It never really got going, and I never saw it, but at least a long-standing prophecy has been fulfilled. I wonder how these birds find it? I mean, this patch of reeds is probably about ten metres long by about a metre wide, it's hardly Minsmere. As they're flying over, do they suddenly detect the presence of reeds far below, or are they down there, sniffing around, so to speak? I carried on home, and tested my new magic powers. "Hmmm, that hawthorn bush looks perfect for an Isabelline Shrike." Didn't work.

The main objective of the morning (other than find a Wanstead mega, which is standing orders) was to see if the Mute Swan Cygnets were ready. They were!! As a blogger who has very, very occasionally been known to display photos of cute baby birds on the interweb, this was welcome news. It may come as less welcome news to perusers of the interweb, particularly as there is more than one. Many more than one. Sorry, my blog, my rules. Don't worry, it'll be June soon.