A century of Red Kites

I've been building up to this for a while. 16 years to be precise but I only really realised this quite recently. 100 Red Kites for the patch, one of those pointless milestones that eBird flags for you without any kind of effort. I had noted at the beginning of this year that since March 2010 I had seen nearly 90 on the patch and that I might get to 100 this year. My first in Wanstead was courtesy of a call from Prof W, and as recounted here. That seems a very long time ago but of course they are massively on the increase and I have raced to the mark.

On Bank Holiday Monday I had popped out to the patch for a brief respite from blogging, and a message from Andy, one of the newer local birders, had alerted me to a Red Kite circling Esso. Sure enough, there it was, the 97th. Very shortly afterwards another message of another, further west. Spinning 180 degrees and there was the 98th. #97 then joined #98 and drifted off west, but when I looked east again I could see two more. A quick check west to make sure I wasn't hallucinating and I put the message out, beating Andy by about three seconds. I type quickly.

These too drifted west, and when Bob strolled up to where I was in Brick Pits I put him onto what were now four Red Kites circling above the SSSI. Except there were now five. Whilst counting again to make sure I wasn't including a Crow or something I got to six. What?! But it was true, there were six Red Kite and two Crows thermalling in one binocular view. And so having left the house on 96 Kites I returned on 102. 

Of course I've probably seen more than this, but pre 2020 and thus pre eBird my record keeping was on a series of spreadsheets and it's possible that not everything got transferred. And back in the old days I definitely had a tendency to only record the first one of whatever it was for the year, and then be a bit more casual about subsequent sightings. This would explain single annual records between 2010 and 2014. Then again perhaps they were simply far less frequent back then?

2010-2026 year by year

I suspect two things are now true, better record keeping and more Red Kites. Fourteen this year and it is only the start of May. At this rate I'll get to 200 sometime in late 2028.

What is average anyway?

Regular readers (Hi Alan, hi Seth!) will know that I love a list and a stat. A couple of the last entries here have contained a nice round stat, with a Fife patch and my garden both getting their 100th bird. A long time coming. This post also concerns 100, albeit in a more regular way, and the keen-eyed (unsure if this is Seth or Alan) will notice that this is also my 100th post this year. 

Yes, somehow I have engineered things such that my patch-year list has gone over 100 at the precise moment that I tap out my 100th post, and shortly after Letham Pools and the gardens at Chateau L have also reached 100. Timing is everything.

About half of the time I would reach 100 before August, one year I even managed it in April. As you would expect I keep stats on this kind of thing. Love a list, love a stat. So one of my recreational spreadsheets shows that since I started tracking this stuff my patch average by the end of July is only 99. Only once at that end of August does that average rise to 103, and in fact such is the joy of numbers that if I reach 103 in the next week or so then the average will increase to 104. If I reach my average I remain below average? A bit unfair.

Anyhow, the 100th bird this year was a Spotted Flycatcher in one of the burnt bits on Wanstead Flats. It was followed almost immediately by a Common Redstart in the same place. Whilst it's sad that the patch looks like the interior of a BBQ it does seem to draw in the birds, all of which seem to shine out in constrast to their charcoal background.

There are more birds to come. It is Tree Pipit season for starters, and I would expect Pied Flycatcher too. I need to get my skates on if I'm to see a Common Tern though, it may already be too late - they tend to visit the Park sporadically on feeding trips and the need for those may be diminishing or finished. Other targets include Sedge Warbler which I missed in the spring, and I suppose that one mustn't completely discount Wryneck or Short-eared Owl, both of which have appeared towards the end of August in years gone by. And then of course there is all the winter stuff which I missed earlier in the year due to motivational struggles. Fieldfare...

Here's one I prepared earlier

Streets ahead

I've just done my annual New Year turnover. So I have closed down the lists from the prior year, tidied up various blogs, created new pages for 2022, started new tabs on spreadsheets, all that fun stuff. It is a lot easier than it was now that I use eBird for the listing component rather than a massively unwieldy excel spreadsheet, but there was still a lot to do. One of the final things was to enter in the final number on the following graph, which shows all my patch year lists as they progress month by month. I've published this before at various points, but here it is completed. As you can see 2021 was streets ahead of any other year at almost all points, Only in January was I slightly behind, but from then on I maintained a steady gap which never really narrowed. In second place is 2020, the first year of lockdown, which I never thought I would come close to again, and in third place the ancient history which is 2013. 

Right now my January 2022 effort is right at the bottom of the left hand side, barely peeking above the X axis at this point. I'll add it soon, but at this stage I expect that I will end up charting a distinctly middling line that wends it way through the middle of the pack. Let's hope so anyway.

Competition update

The cold easterly wind continues to batter me senseless each morning, and I returned home from today's futile slog around the patch earlier than I had planned simply because I was freezing. Evidence of migration was restricted to a single Sand Martin - put simply it feels about a million miles from late April out there at the moment. Patches with significant water are doing really well - a feast of Terns, Gulls and Waders, but here in the arid smoke it isn't like that. Here you can walk around the patch for two hours in the morning and see nothing of interest whatsoever. Very frustrating when you need one bird to break your personal half year record. As a reminder my highest patch total by the end of June for as long as I have lived here is 103. That is what I am currently on. 

Well, was on. Yes that is right, the deed is done, the quest is at an end (although there is now the slight spectre of the highest ever July total of 106....no, I must stop it, it is becoming ridiculous) and I am over the line. I had to wait until lunchtime for there to be any birdy action on the patch, the morning cloud had been blown away and the sun was out. And so were two Hobby in the Old Sewage Works, hopefully the breeding pair from last year, it would seem so at any rate - thanks to Simon for the heads up. I had only just got home and put my bike away when I learned that the first Lesser Whitethroat of the year had finally turned up. Who twitches a Lesser Whitethroat though? Me, that's who, and with joy. And also Simon and Bob. For Simon it was his 100th bird for the year, and for Bob his 99th - both going great guns and surely Bob will also crack 100 for the year before the end of April. Only if he keeps #lookingup though. It is a bit difficult to keep track but at least two of the other regulars are still in the running, Nick on 98 and James on 96, and with four days still to go you would not bet against it despite the inclement conditions making morning bird finding very hard.

Lesser Whitethroat bush

As for me I am now on 105. Stop the competition now I say. Birds that have yet to stray onto my 2021 year list include Whinchat, Tree Pipit, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Common Tern and Common Sandpiper, any and all of which could make an appearance before the end of the month. And that is without any left field birds of the sort that nobody can predict. I will definitely be out again tomorrow morning!

Competing against myself

Unsurprisingly I have spent a huge amount of my spare time on the patch this year, during lockdown it was a vital refuge, somewhere to unwind, to temporarily forget about the big bad world. And this means I've seen some birds. Quite a lot in fact. It started well on New Year's Day, with the Goosander, White-fronted Goose and Med Gull from 2020 all still present, but it was the cold spell in February that really propelled the year list along. Bear in mind that Febuary normally delivers nothing as you see everything there is to see during January. Then you have to wait until the first migrants arrive in March so February is easily the most boring month of the year other than June. But not in 2021, the freezing conditions brought Lapwing, Shelduck, Wigeon, Kittiwake, Snipe, Golden Plover and Woodcock in a six day period. So by the end of the month I found myself on 85 - my best ever total in February. All of a sudden I was competing with myself. 

I quickly knocked up a spreadsheet to see what my targets were. It was also in fact better, by one, than any total I'd previously achieved by the end of March which was quite interesting. More interesting was that I'd never got to 100 by the end of April, and seeing as I love a round number...

It was definitely on - the glut of spring migrants in April would easily see me over the line. What I hadn't counted on was the return of winter. Wheatear arrived more or less right on time in March, but other than that our migrants were very thin on the ground. It was so cold that we started to get Gulls again, and these helped to make up the numbers where migrants were lacking. The weather can only hold things back for so long though, and some intrepid birds will make it through no matter what and you only need one. So despite the cold starts I've continued  to pick up a trickle - an early lone House Martin, a handful of Swallows and Sand Martins, a couple of Yellow Wagtails, a Redstart and a Ring Ouzel. On Sunday I found my first Whitethroat scratching away, and then this morning after a fruitless three hours on the patch a Swift carved over my house as I was on a work phone call and gazing skywards. Ton up! (full list here)

My previous highest total by the end of April was 97, way back in 2013. With over a week to go, my May/June highest total of 103 would seem to be at risk - there are plenty of what I would term regular birds remaining; Lesser Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, Reed Warbler, Tree Pipit, Whinchat, Common Tern, Hobby, Common Sandpiper..... throw in NocMig (disappointing so far but surely must change soon) and simply an interesting time of year when anything could happen, and surely this is going to be possible. There is just one tiny problem.  

If all of this comes to pass a potentially very slow autumn beckons!

Wild Goose chase!

Yesterday I finally got that elusive 119th species for the patch year list. This is the one that surpasses 2013 to make it my most productive ever patch year. Covid has been awful for many reasons, but time on the patch has been perhaps one of the few silver linings, and I think many of us locally have seen our lists of all types increase dramatically. For me it has mostly been my garden list that has benefitted, but I've also had four patch ticks as the year has progressed. Three of those were unsurprisingly from the house, although Whimbrel was subsequently seen whilst out and about a few days later, with the final and latest addition the two Common Cranes in September. I won't forget those in a hurry. The final target for 2020 was to beat my previous best score, and I was beginning to worry that I might fall short. Well, fall equal.

A most welcome White-fronted Goose has ensured I have made it over the line. A blog post I did a couple of days ago laid the foundations - tales of wild Geese, winter Swans and other goodies swirling around the edges of London in the murk. Yesterday's weather was more of the same, a rank start that didn't really improve much as the day went on. I spent the first hour on the balcony peering out into the gloom. At around 7.30am a flight of around 40 Greylags came through on their usual early morning commute from Walthamstow. They sounded like Greylags, but it was impossible to discern any details. Five minutes later another 16 came along. It was a teensy bit lighter and the birds were a teensy bit closer. This allowed me to at least establish that the regular very pale bird was amongst them, but nothing beyond that. 

Meetings beckoned. Meetings always beckon. But late-morning I managed to create a small window and headed out for the patch. Tony "prescient" Brown had suggested that the patch could be harbouring a decent Goose, and nearby Walthamstow had one as did Regent's Park. With a spring in my step I hastened over to Alexandra Lake.....and found nothing. Well, not nothing, but roughly the same number of Greylag that had flown over in the morning, including the pale one, and all the usual fare. I surveyed the western end from the mound, and then walked the southern edge of the pond stopping at the eastern corner and looking north. Nothing. Nada. Nichego. I returned home via hundreds of Common Gulls and not a lot else, but hey, at least I had tried. You have to be in it to win it.

The first message on my phone upon my return home concerned news of a White-fronted Goose. On Alexandra Lake. The same Alexandra Lake I had just returned from. Well that's a bit odd isn't it? Bob and Nick trundled over there and confirmed it, and so a short while later I had no choice but to manufacture some more time and head over myself, this time by bike. It is hard to describe my feelings. I would like to think that if I went out specifically looking for a White-fronted Goose that I wouldn't look straight through a White-fronted Goose. I suppose it could have been hiding around the corner, certainly it was not associating with any of the other Geese, but there remains a tiny niggling feeling that I've dropped a real clanger. It would not be the first time would it? I would swear it wasn't there when I was but I suppose I will never know. The happy ending to the tale though is that at the end of my short cycle ride a White-fronted and 119th Goose was waiting for me. This is only the third time I've seen this species on the patch in fifteen years, so a real rarity. The last time was in October 2016, which still ranks as one of my all time greatest patch moments. I didn't have a camera yesterday, but happily the goose was still there this morning when I did and the weather had improved dramatically. The big question now is whether I can add one more for a nice round 120? I know, I know. Never satisfied....

For anyone into latinised binomials this is the Euro-Russian sub-species of White-fronted Goose, Anser albifrons ssp albifrons. Albi means "Big duck thing", and frons means "not from Greenland". Or something.

Black(wit) Gold

Last night I made a plan. I would get up early and go birding. Then I would go to the sorting office to pick up a parcel. Then I would go to the dump. And then I would go shopping so that I wouldn't have to eat any more tomatoes. You could make a movie about my life... Normally when I make plans that involve waking up early to go birding what happens is that I do indeed wake up early, but then I flop around in bed for an hour and the opportunity passes. Not so this morning, and so just before 6am I was walking around Alex checking for waders. It appeared I had beaten the dog walkers for once, and although I could see a couple out for a walk ahead of me they were thankfully not tracking right on the edge. The place was mine.

At the eastern corner I scanned back along the south side, nothing. Then I scanned the east side up towards the road. Gah!! There was a Black-tailed Godwit stood on the edge preening. I could honestly not believe it, I mean, really? This is the stuff dreams are made of! The enormity of what I was looking at began to sink in. I grabbed a record shot in case it flew (which I fully expected it to do any moment), cruel luck that I didn't have the big lens with me, and then started to try and tell people. I was shaking like a leaf by this point, this is what local patch birding does to you. You simply don't get this kind of emotion twitching things, I can't really begin to describe it.

I alerted the local WhatsApp group, just about managing to type out the magic words on the keyboard as my fingers fluttered. After getting the all-important record shot, the first thing that I had to do was let fellow patch-workers know. I honestly could not imagine who wouldn't do this, these moments simply need to be shared. It would be a fabulous blocker and who doesn't like a good blocker, but that just isn't the way it works. We are a group and whilst there is friendly competition we're all in it together. I've been birding here for 14 years and this is my first as most waders are totally mega here.....then I realised it was my 150th bird for the patch, and was stunned all over again. Meanwhile the bird had resumed feeding so I went around the eastern edge to get the light behind me and some better photos. The bird was remarkably tame all things considered - had I had a longer lens I could have murdered it. 

Lying on the ground I spotted Tony wandering around the south edge of the lake. He didn't seem to be hurrying.... I waved, he waved back. I pointed at the bank, but I think he thought I was photographing a Gull or something! With all other options exhausted I shouted and pointed! This got his attention, as did the bird flying a short distance along the edge of the water! Now he started running! When he arrived he too was in disbelief, a patch Black-tailed Godwit and on the deck too. It was a beautiful bird, loads of summer colour still and it seemed to be fairly settled. I thought about heading home for the big lens but I was enjoying the moment too much, it isn't necessarily always about the image. Bob turned up having hurried across the Flats after getting my news, it was a tick for him too - in fact the only people who had Blackwit on their lists are Nick with a flyover a few years back and then (naturally) Dan Dan the Wader Man with six in the Park (although we suspect he brought them with him and then released them...). So whilst it has now reduced somewhat in patch blocker value it remains a great patch bird and I am beyond delighted. 

150 species, a personal milestone - 14 years diligently (and not so diligently!) birding the patch proves beyond any doubt that inland urban birding is hard work. Waders are the big target here, we know they fly between the reservoirs and the river, it's just a question of being there either when they go over or being jammy enough to encounter one on the deck. The Godwit happens to be my 14th species of Wader, so a rather neat one per year since I moved here. Bob, Tony and I checked out the Ornamentals in case species #15 had decided to drop in. It hadn't and so I was able to continue with my plan. You had forgotten about my plan? I hadn't. You will be pleased to hear the remaining elements all went perfectly, but probably don't require description. Things are not yet that dire.

Odd duck

Note the can of Fosters floating in the background. I hate people.

The dead months

My patch dedication has been pretty peerless recently – many early morning starts to ensure I can get as much in as possible before I am forced to drag myself to Canary Wharf. It is getting a bit tiring if I am honest, and so I had a quick look to see what patch year-list additions had occurred in November and December in previous years. What am I going out for? What am I going to add if history is any guide? It does not make pretty reading, at least not in the last four years.

2016 - none

2015 - none

2014 - none

2013 - none

A big fat nothing. Zero. No new birds whatsoever added during the months of November and December. What about going out just for the pleasure of birding? Don't be daft, it is a numbers game isn't it? Surely it's the thought of new patch additions that fuels all local birders? So based on the above I might as well pack it in and start again next year. This would also help my hopes of lifting the prized Golden Mallard trophy in future years. This year The Proclaimers are waltzing it, having not bothered walking any miles at all during previous years - frankly this is the only winning strategy as it reduces your average to the point where come the first of January you can just poke your head of the window and immediately claim victory.

So what if I go back a little further?

2012 – Waxwing

2011 – Brambling, Woodcock, Oystercatcher, Firecrest

2010 – Yellowhammer, Treecreeper

Birds that are struck out are already on the list for this year, but it does indicate that there is at least some small amount of hope remaining. Waxwing would obviously need to be one of those years in which the UK sees an invasion, in 2012 for instance there was a decent winter irruption and I had a total of 27 birds seen from within the hallowed borders of Chateau L. If that happens again then there is definite potential. Woodcock should be straightforward - we have in the past had a regular bird with a regular pattern - plonk yourself in the appropriate spot at the appropriate time and tick away. If you are out early enough there is also the possibility of a bird being flushed by a dog and giving you a crushing flyby whilst your camera flops uselessly at your side and your jaw hangs open.

Oystercatcher was a one off, a ridiculous record in the context of Wanstead. A bird had come down on the playing fields in foggy conditions in mid November, departing calling its head off whilst I was close by. It could happen again I suppose, indeed Tim had a night flyover whilst attending his moth trap if I recall, but I am certainly not going to count on it. Yellowhammer likewise, there is an outside chance but I will have to be lucky - the guys got one a few weeks ago so that may have been the autumn movement.

As for any other possibilities, full fat patch ticks, well that is anyone's guess. Winter Grey Geese or wild Swans? Hume's Warbler? Desert Wheatear? Excuse me whilst I go and have a lie down.

Yes please!

What a difference a day makes

I messed up the clock change a bit but still got out at a relatively decent time. However what a difference a day makes! This morning was abysmal in comparison - I suppose this is just the nature of the patch, but it won't take many mornings like this to convince me that staying in bed is the preferred option. 

There were a handful of Woodpigeon, low hundreds probably, and then very small numbers of Redwing and Fieldfare. Finch action was limited to a couple of Redpoll and then perhaps a dozen Chaffinch and Goldfinch. Highly boring in other words, not remotely on a par with other mornings. I wish I was better at predicting what weather patterns result in decent viz-mig, it would be far less effort and ultimately more rewarding just to go out on the good days, knowing I was missing nothing on the days where I either blissfully asleep, or eating warm toast and drinking coffee. As it is I kind of feel I need to be out all the time lest something pass me by, and after all there are plenty of relatively easy ticks that would take me to the landmark 150 for the patch. When those Glossy Ibis fly over, as surely one day they will, I don't want to be hearing about it from someone else!

Those 148 have taken some getting - something like 13 years of wandering around the local area now. My first few seasons here I was pleased with a year list of 80, whereas nowadays 100 is always expected. Nonetheless it wasn't until my fifth year hear that my overall patch list reached 100, and it was another year before my list reached the stage where it couldn't be exceeded annually. I remember being flabbergasted seeing Vince's Dagenham Chase list, thinking I would never get there in a million years, but all it is really is a factor of time. Those newer patch-workers that started perhaps a few years after I did are mostly a few species behind simply because they just haven't had the extra years of tramping that I have. I suspect it all evens itself out in the end though, as it's just not possible to sustain a level of, say, five new patch birds a year. And so ultimately whether you've worked a patch for 10 or 20 years probably doesn't result in much if any difference. Other than the number of highly boring days like today that you have had to endure!

October 2014 - how long will this be a blocker for?

Progress (aka death by numbers)

So my Wanstead year list is on 89. Other local birders have seen far more, but this does unfortunately happen, especially when some of them can bird the patch far more than I can. I don't help myself of course, as I too could bird the patch more than I do. Sadly I have this terrible desire to travel abroad and see better birds, so I frequently miss out on stuff here. For instance had I been here last weekend I could potentially have added another six or so year ticks. As it was I was in Northern Greece lapping up Bee-eaters etc, so I don't feel too sorry for myself.

Despite this negligence I'm actually on about par for the year compared to what I normally see. This is perhaps simply indicative of how regularly I underachieve, but looking at what I've seen, and more importantly what I haven't seen, I'd still have to say that the year is looking pretty good. Let us turn to some stats...

Today is the 27th April. How many birds have I seen by this date over the last few years? I am so glad you asked!

2016: 87
2015: 92
2014: 82
2013: 97
2012: 94

So I'm firmly in the middle of the range, and crucially I have yet to see Sand Martin, Redstart, Ring Ouzel, Tree Pipit, Yellow Wagtail, Hobby - many of the regular migrants basically. I'm already ahead on last year - and that 87 included not only Sand Martin and Redstart, but also Red Kite and a few winter species that this year I'm saving for later. That said it didn't include Red-crested Pochard or Wigeon either, but I still think I'm ahead. In fact if you add the regulars, I think I'm doing better than all years other than 2013. 

2013 was a special year, my best ever on patch with 118. Tons of waders (10 species - I've only ever seen 13!), Crossbill, Waxwing, Kittiwake, Cuckoo..... I doubt I'll ever see that many again, I'm not committed enough these days. Here are those final totals again. You can see that they follow the April 27th marker quite closely. If I had to predict my final total for 2017 I think I'd guess 110.

2016: 106
2015: 115
2014: 102
2013: 118
2012: 113

A propos of nothing at all, here is a Whinchat. I have not yet seen Whinchat on the patch this year either, but I am very much looking forward to that first encounter. Although it is heresy, I am beginning to wonder if Whinchats are possibly on a par with Wheatears....

Whinchat from Greece last weekend

 

Nelson (II)

It doesn't happen every year - last year was blank - but every now and again I hit the "Nelson" in terms of patch-listing. As every cricket lover knows, the Nelson is 111, and in the lucky event that an innings spends some time on this score, or a multiple thereof, the commentators always call it out wait eagerly for a wicket to fall. It is rare that nothing happens on 111 or 222, indeed some people are very superstitious of it, and an umpire called David Shepherd used to hop on one leg nervously whilst on the field. 

I am not superstitious of it, and certainly not on the patch where today this landmark was reached. I'd unsuccessfully attempted to find Bob's Caspian Gull on the Flats this morning, finding only Bob instead (not as good), and together we went in search of rare waterfowl in the Park. We found only ice for the most part for it has suddenly got very cold here in London, and yesterday's Goldeneye had departed. However Shoulder of Mutton did have some very curious noises coming from the reeds, which on closer inspection and encouragement became the familiar squealing of a Water Rail, which once it fully kicked off got another one going on the other side of the pond.

Now I was pretty slack in the first winter period on the patch, failing to go birding very much at all. So it was that Lapwing and Redpoll were year ticks the other day, and so it was that Water Rail was another this morning. The 111th in fact, which is quite remarkable. It elicited a friendly text from fellow patch-worker Nick, thus: "How the fuck are you on 111?" It's a fair question really. I have not been the most ardent of patch workers this year, with many other plates being spun, but as I said to Nick it is marathon and not a sprint, and slowly (ve-ry slowly) I have been plugging away in snatched moments. Red Kite fell whilst watching the kids play cricket, Short-eared Owl on a brief walk around before work. I've been there on all the critical days when the good stuff has turned up - a decent morning last month saw me stood beneath flyover Brambling, Woodlark and Lapwing, and Bob's flyover Goldeneye from a couple weeks ago was gripped back yesterday. Whilst I can't say I've put in massive amounts of time except during the spring and autumn, I've done enough to stay in the game. In fact a bit more effort and I could be in contention - Tawny Owl and Woodcock have yet to grace my list, and there is still plenty of time for a cold snap to bring in some goodies. I've obliterated last year's 102, and as it stands 111 is my fourth highest total since moving here over ten years ago and I've high hopes of passing 113 to make it my second best ever behind the 118 from 2013. Wasn't that a stat-filled sentence! Anyhow, here's a Reddish Egret recently spied during a rare moment away from the patch.

Patch birding and sock update

After a long absence I finally kicked off my year-list today, ending of on 51 species, which is exactly half my total from last year. You can see how it gets harder from here on in! The goal, as ever, is to get over 100, something I've managed for the last six years. I topped out in 2013 with 118, and the lowest was 102 in 2009, so last year I basically hit rock bottom. Nice. Still, I need to get that average down to be in with a chance of winning the coveted Golden Mallard, which as any fool kno is worth at least fifty quid on Ebay. 

Highlight today was provided by a fly-over Bullfinch on the Flats, the first I've seen there so a sub-list total rises, and made even better because the guys and I had just decided that we needed to stop gassing and head off to try and find a Bullfinch. So we continued chatting, this time about the possibility of Reed Bunting which a number of us still needed for the year. Lo and behold a dot in a distant bush resolved itself into a Reed Bunting without us needing to move. Brilliant, this is how birding should be - you think of a bird and it then immediately appears. Red-throated Diver was then suggested as another bird that we should split up and find....

We did eventually head off our separate Diverless ways, and I added such annual gems as Wren, an elusive Greylag Goose, and some hard-to-see Mute Swans. In Bush Wood a Coal Tit and Goldcrest called, and Bob and I tracked down a very vocal Nuthatch. A further jaunt to try and hit 50 species later in the afternoon added Meadow Pipit and Mistle Thrush, but much excitement still remains with both House Sparrow and Skylark still needed. I'm going to try and do a spot of birding before work the next few days as I'm already significantly off the pace - Tony's on 62 and he doesn't even live here! I'll reel him in though, plenty of time yet, and I'm not travelling again for weeks. Two weeks.

No camera today, so the Greylag Goose went unrecorded. I've not yet finished sorting Morocco from December, and I've another 600 from the UAE to go through - I've made a start for the purposes of the requisite trip report, but what with my sock heroics I've had practically no time to do anything. I ended up washing around 180 dirty socks (don't judge us!) and when added to the odds we already had and some singles in sock drawers, I've paired a monumental 143 sets of socks. Live doesn't get more exciting than this, and of course presents us with a new problem which is that our sock drawers are not sufficiently capacious to store them all. So there's currently a game of sock bowls taking place on the landing.

Not Quite Dungeness

Yesterday Dungeness recorded something like 500 Ring Ouzels. They were literally forming carpets of black and white. Other sites on the south coast experienced dramatic falls in the hundreds too, if not quite eclipsing Dunge. It was one of those days that I wished I hadn't been in work. Actually that's most days now I come to think of it, but can you imagine being there? One day. When I'm retired. Though that could be several years away still....

London meanwhile had a handful of Ouzels, literally a dozen Bonxie, and a Gannet. That's good for London that is! I missed all of them, and in a 15 minute escape from the office recorded precisely zero birds of interest in Canary Wharf. A Grey Wagtail was as good as it got. So today as it wasn't raining I resolved to nip out before work, which turned out to be a stunning success, if not quite Dungeness. Almost the first bird I saw was a female Ring Ouzel, flushed out of a bush near the large clump of gorse on the northern Flats. Continuing down towards the southern brooms, a male dashed over. Two Ouzels in about five minutes, complimented by seeping Redwing and a few Linnet. Pretty good, and so I headed for home and the impending school run. However before I could shepherd the children into the car, a call from Bob alerted me to a lingering Short-eared Owl, so I ran outside again. As in literally ran. From my house to about half way to Long Wood. This is all of about 150m, but following my fun run triumph it was a total breeze, and there, in all its distant glory, was said Owl flopping around over Esso Copse. I ran back home, fitness freak that I am.

Once finally on the school run I made a quick stop at the Basin, where I discovered seven Wigeon bobbing up and down. This is a record count, at least for me, and capped off a very successful morning, with both the Owl and the Ouzel being patch year ticks, taking me gloriously to 99. At one stage this year I thought I might not get to three figures. I suppose it's vaguely possible I still might not, but I do still need Snipe and Lapwing. Better that this though, both were actual year ticks as well, so lack-lustre have I been in 2014. The shame associated with disclosing my pitiful year list total is obviously too much to bear, but suffice it to say that it's comfortably my lowest this decade, and the lowest since 2007, when my two-hundred-and-fifteenth and last bird, appropriately enough, was Short-Eared Owl.

One of these can fly over me anytime it likes. If I'm in Wanstead.

Banging (them in), Hanging (in there)

I'm still just about clinging on to my Wanstead year-listing ambitions. The need to be at work at the exact time that passerines start to become active is a constant bore, with the possibility of people finding birds when I'm in crowded train carriages or negotiating busy platforms an almost constant problem. Sometimes I get lucky though and today was one of those days. Failing yet again to haul my ass out of bed at a sensible time, due in no small part to the inevitable conclusion that I would see nothing at all before I departed the patch, only for all the birds to come out and show superbly whilst I was on the way to work, I missed a patch Nightingale. This bird had been suspected the previous day, but Nick had made sure to be there early doors, and had been greeted by the sight of it perched up and having a morning preen. When I got there it had naturally dived into cover, and two untickable flight-views later I was on the bus, which is where I learned about the Wryneck that was also in the Brooms. Piss. Still, our third in four years - what a patch!

But this story has a happy ending. Leaving work sometime after seven, I received news that the Nightingale was in its original spot and sub-singing. A quick diversion from my normal route home, and it wasn't long before I was nearing the viz-mig point, where Bob, Dan and Stu were apparently seeking safety in numbers and listening out for the bird. As luck would have it, my timing was impeccable, as approaching the large patch of broom the bird was rumoured to be in, the briefest snatch of sub-song emerged. For the record, it went duh-duh-duh-duh in that way that only Nightingales can do. But was it the bird, or was it an iPhone?! Happily it wasn't the guys, and so on to the list it goes. A short while later the bird broke cover briefly and flew to the next patch of broom, allowing short views that without the heard bit would probably still have been insufficient, but frankly were one coincidence too many. In any event, Nick has some photos from this morning, which hopefully when on the big screen will show it in all its glory.

The last few days I have been properly banging them in, as in addition to being a full fat patch tick, this takes me to the Nelson, 111, which is a major milestone as it is essentially my average patchlist over the last three years, and thus my 100% for the Patch List Challenge. It is also just two away from my record of 113, achieved in both of the last two years, and given I'm still missing resident Tawny Owl and Bullfinch, I've got a good feeling. Plenty of other possibilities as well, Med Gull, YL Gull, Brambling, and who knows what other winter birds. The record could be on. I'm miles behind Nick, currently on 118, but I'm definitely hanging in there.

Ringo from Ireland, nothing whatsoever to do with this post.

Patch Tick!

Today I got a patch tick, as in an ever tick. These are always brilliant, no matter what the bird, and today it was the turn of the Cuckoo. Everyone has seen Cuckoo the patch apart from me, and I was secretly a little worried that I might never get one, especially as they are a bird in decline. But I've scored now, and nobody can ever take it away...

Whitethroat...

I'd actually left the house this morning with Cuckoo firmly in mind, but after a few hours of aimless wandering, and having seen very little apart from a real Garden Warbler, I was resigned to failing yet again. Until I rounded the very last corner on the very last path, and a familiar shape launched itself out of a roadside tree and scooted off across some brooms. Gah! I texted out the happy news to a few locals quickly, and then headed the way it had flown to see if I could relocate it. And if I'm honest, confirm the ID - for a moment I was worried I'd been a little hasty in my excitement, but first impressions are very often correct (cf Garden Warbler) and so when I relocated it perched on the side of some vegetation I knew it was in the bag. A quick couple of record shots from a huge distance, and then it flew through and out and was never seen again.

Not the best, but very much good enough!

So, patch tick number 136, and lifts my year list to the heady heights of 103. Now many people have been moaning about how dire this year has been bar a few concentrated bursts, but I was amazed to see that 103 is a number that in recent years I've not reached until August, and in 2010 not until September, and there are still quite a few obvious ones left to bag, such as Bullfinch, Spotted Flycatcher, Common Tern and Wryneck. At this rate it might even be a record-breaking year - 113 is the number to beat, my total in both of the last two years. Early days of course, and it could all dry up very quickly, but it's certainly lifting my enthusiasm for patch birding. Which is a good thing as my 400th UK tick remains distinctly out of reach.

While I'm here, I should also say that the Whitethroat I had specifically got up to target wasn't there, so here is a photo of a Wren instead. Roll on tomorrow!

Played for and got. And boring.

I've almost certainly used the first part of this blog post title before, and the content of whatever that post was is probably almost identical to what this post will be. But that's patch birding for you. And blogging... To cut a long story short, I went out on the patch to find a specific bird, and duly found it. Wow. Trudging back home through the snow, it occured to me that patch year-listing is basically about finding all the same birds as you did last year, but in a very slightly different order. What fun!

The bird I was after was Woodcock, and so I walked around the area that I felt was most promising for one - namely Motorcycle Wood - and sure enough one flew out. Amazing. Whilst there, I also saw my first Fieldfare for the year - fairly pitiful on the 18th of January, but they have been thin on the ground, and I've not been out much. I've seen Fieldfare on the 1st of January in every single year that I have records for, and so this has injected some spice into my yearlist, with Fieldfare at #63, whereas both last year and the year before it was at #15. This kind of variety is what patch birders live for! As I got even closer to home, I felt some stats brewing......

Because I tend to follow the same route on every New Year's Day, the birds are often seen in a very similar order - Common Gull #10 the last couple of years for example, and Gadwall is always in the mid-40s, which is generally what I'm on when I reach Alexandra Lake. Little Grebe is the low to mid-50s, indicating I've arrived in Wanstead Park..... Slightly depressingly you can actually continue well beyond the 1st of January - for the entire year in fact. The months tend to come in the same order, and so too do the migrants - everyone's (my) favourite, the Wheatear clocking in at #81 in both 2011 and 2012, Whinchat at #95, and Sedge Warbler #106. The big surprise this year was of course Great Crested Grebe on day one - unprecedented, and a real shock result. Two extremely selfish waterbirds have destroyed the careful equilibrium built up over many years, bastards.

In both 2011 and 2012, my patch list was 113 species. Convenient for statistical analysis, and amazing foresight on my part. But here's the rub. Of those 113 species, 104 - 92%, were the same. 2012 saw Osprey, Oystercatcher, Stone Curlew, LRP, Green Sand, Wood Sand, Caspian Gull, Treecreeper and Yellowhammer replaced by Mandarin, Goldeneye, Smew, Goosander, Golden Plover, Jack Snipe, Short-Eared Owl, Wryneck and Nuthatch. Don't get me wrong, these 8% really get the juices going, it's what patch-working is all about and I love it. The trouble is the other 92%.......

Quite