Garden MEGA!

School was off today, and outdoors was sheet ice, so we stayed put. Boredom potential high, but we kept ourselves occupied with an art session, with a Star Wars DVD, with pasta, bacon and baked beans (demolished with gusto, lesson learned...), with vacuuming the whole of the downstairs, oh joy, and with a mammoth garden watch. Of these activities, it will not surprise you to learn that the last one was, on a personal note, the most satisfying. Much as I enjoyed the vacuuming - and at this time of year there are many sneaky pine needles to be hunted down - the garden watch was awesome.


To start with it resulted in the best ever species count, peaking at 27, with a late Wren, an even later Grey Heron, and at least fifty Fieldfare, but best of all a garden tick - the first significant tick of 2010 as far as I am concerned. Some unknowing dog-walker out on the Flats flushed a Snipe, it towered up and over Lakehouse Road, and for all of about thirty seconds was visible from my terrace, and in an amazingly fortunate coincidence, I was on my terrace and looking in the right direction, which as it happens was left. I know you are stunned and envious. I have this unfortunate habit of becoming really really excited at insignificant local birding events, and so all the usual took place - arms to the sky in salute, inability to use camera, "SNIPE!!!" proclaimed very loudly etc. Anyone walking down the street, or indeed the next few streets, would be forgiven for wondering what was going on, speculating on what had driven a nearby householder to such depths of patheticness. I make no apologies, this was a tick of immense proportions. Just think about the combination of circumstances needed. Exactly - MEGA.

My hoped-for Lapwings never appeared. Perhaps they only move towards the beginning of a cold snap, and until it warms up we won't see any new movement back again? And I didn't see a Sparrow all day, in fact the feeders attracted the grand total of a Woodpigeon, a Great Tit, and a naughty Squirrel.

It's dark now, and I have ended the first week one shy of fifty for Wanstead. A Herring Gull this morning was #49, and I really would have liked just one more, but nevermind. I got Snipe on the garden list, and all is well with the world. The house is warm and cosy, the floor is still fairly clean, we drew the Test Match, and a Lancashire Hotpot is simmering gently in the oven - another new recipe to test out on my eager and appreciative brood.

Snow

Real snow. Proper snow. None of this crappy dusting, thick frost stuff that gets labelled as snow. This was real snow. Readers in Moscow are probably scoffing, but I even put the Landrover in low ratio this afternoon on the school run. I didn't need to, strictly, I just wanted to. And great fun it was too, 18mph in fifth gear, immense traction, and no pirouettes like I saw another car do.

Heronry Pond. Just look at all the birds!

I had a brief meander around Wanstead Flats while the girls were sleeping - didn't score too many brownie points with Mrs L when they woke up and I was half an hour away in thick snow. I managed seven ticks before the weather closed in completely, including bright green parakeets which was incongruous to say the least. Finally got a Tufted Duck and a Shoveler, but best bird award goes to the Snipe down near Jubilee Pond. The flock of 22 Skylark feeding in the snow was very nice too, and easy to count for a change.

Cold Pipit, Anthus frigidii

There were people everywhere, out enjoying it. And why not. We did too, but in the garden, where a snowman was the first order of the day after the school run. I don't recall too many snowmen when I was growing up, but so far my kids seem to have had the chance more or less annually. And they'll get the chance again tomorrow as school has been cancelled.

Snowman and two Executive Directors. Slave visible in background.

My 2010 professional goals are not going so well. It is only the 6th of January and already Mrs L has complained that she hasn't seen me do any cleaning. I retorted with news of a freshly cleaned sink, but after inspection limescale was still deemed to be present. Pah. She also warned me not to cook omlette for dinner, but this went unheeded - if they can eat boiled eggs, they can eat an omlette, or at least that was my thinking. Think again.

"So you reckon I'm going to eat omlette do you?"

On the birding front, Wanstead is well underway at 48, and this is without Sparrow or Sparrowhawk. Hopefully I'll break 50 in the first week, which ends tomorrow. I reckon I stand a decent chance of a Lapwing tomorrow as well, as the weather is very similar to that which saw the last ones go over a couple of weeks ago. My Rainham list stands at 80, with such gems as Bearded Tit, Great Skua, Serin and Glaucous Gull, and loads of easy stuff left like Grey Plover and Water Pipit. No ticks of any description for Essex or London, but I'm fairly laid back about it for now, plenty of time, and I'm enjoying the patching. You can chart my progress on the right.

Dawn in Wanstead

Hard work today with the continued freeze - waterfowl limited to two Mute Swans and a fly-over Mallard. I'm not counting the Canada Geese - they occupy the ecological niche where sheep would otherwise be. I only really ever see them on the grass, grazing away. Bleating. They fly about more than sheep do of course, but otherwise I struggle to see any significant difference. No, I had to be content with a single Mallard, and my pitiful patchlist is still lacking even a Tufted Duck and Shoveler. Dave Mo has them all at Barking Outfall, and is gleefully experiencing record counts of just about everything at the moment.

I was out by about 7:30am, just as it was getting light, and the ground was frozen solid. I was hoping for a Snipe in the long grass, or Lapwings on the playing field, but the whole place was largely deserted. I encountered the usual group of Skylarks feeding on Fairground Flats, and on the way added Dunnock and Reed Bunting, but none of the usual Sparrows were about, and the early morning Kestrel I usually see wasn't there either.

Things picked up a bit as I crossed over Centre Road, with three or four more Reed Buntings, and about half a dozen Meadow Pipits. A Jay skrawked from west of Long Wood, four Goldfinches flew over, and a Cormorant cut north-west across the morning sky. And all the while a constant stream of gulls came the other way, heading for the river.

And what a sky! Only had my phone with me, but I don't think any camera would have done it justice really - you just had to be there. I watched it develop for a good fifteen minutes, the warmth in my feet gradually retreating. Then it was time to go - an hour had passed in an instant, and I had to hurry back for the school run.

"....on the first light of the fifth day, at dawn look to the east."

I wasn't able to get back to the Flats, it was too cold really to venture out with whiny kids. I had a quick look at the Basin - still frozen, nothing on it - and popped into Reservoir Wood to see if I could jam the Firecrests. I couldn't, but added Long-tailed Tit, Great Spot, and Song Thrush.

The year-list I'm not doing continues to go badly, with another five species added since the Essex trip. Most notable was only my fourth Glaucous Gull, which happily turned up at Rainham for a morning. I only just got there, having left my phone at home, thus missing all Howard's phone calls, and of course I had yet again not looked at my pager. I dashed over there with all three kids and got it from the ramp just before it flew off. Perhaps a rocking-horse had been taken for a walk at Southend?

Essex Winter Birding. Dreadful.

A terrible day out today spent largely on the Essex Coast. Not year-listing, no no no. I was accompanying some rabid year-listers, but personally I was just hoping for a Robin or two, a couple of Blackbirds, and possibly a Fieldfare or Skylark. Took Bradders' new Subaru as my car is hors service.... Very comfy, very warm, good fuel economy, but oddly has a boot where the sub-woofer should be. Still, despite the lack of bass, it seems to go OK.

Gutted of Wanstead, Show-home Shaun, Hawkeye Hawkins, The Blowmonkey, Dave "McRae" Bradders, Martin Redsy

Met Hawky, SHS, Monkey and Redsy at dawn at Abberton for the long-staying Spotted Sandpiper. Not a filthy year-tick, we were there as Redsy needed it. Altruist that I am, I needed to help show him where to go, which fence to hop and so on. Yes, I was just helping. I didn't even scope it. In fact I had my eyes shut, er yes that's right, yes, my eyes were shut. But as I was walking back it flew past me. Sorry. It was no good pretending I hadn't seen it, or trying to string it into a Common Sandpiper, it was too late. So a bad start to the day. I also very unfortunately saw a Spoonbill, a Whooper Swan, 2 Jays, many Goosander, an Eygptian Goose, and four Smew, all of which were year ticks. I would have stayed in the car, but I was getting too hot. All I wanted to see were Wigeon actually.

After this disaster we carried on to the causeway at Mersea Island, as I like the landscape there very much. Whilst admiring the various views through my scope and binoculars I sadly noticed some Brent Geese, Oystercatchers, Knot, Turnstone, and a Grey Plover. And then before I could stop myself, I identified a Spotted Redshank. I just blurted it out. Hoping against hope I had got it wrong and it was in fact just a Redshank, I hurried to get a better view, and was aghast to see not only a spanking winter-plumaged Spotted Redshank, but also a Greenshank right next to it. Aaaargh, 100 for the year!

Brents

Could it get any worse? Well, yes. Next stop the point at East Mersea where I hoped to get some nice shots of the shingle. Luckily it was devoid of Snow Buntings, but whilst looking at a Harbour Porpoise - quite safe, I don't keep a mammal year-list - some Avocets flew past. Damn it. And then whilst panning to see which yacht was the biggest I noted a couple of Eider and distant Red-breasted Merganser.

Slavonian Grebe

It occured to us that Roll's Farm near Tollesbury might be good for some Skylark and Fieldfare flocks, both of which I had already seen this year. Whilst scanning the Blackwater Estuary for these, we saw a Red-throated Diver, at least three Great Northern Divers, and up to six Slavonian Grebes. These things can't be helped I suppose, but to say I was disappointed is an understatement. To make matters worse, Hawky found a Barn Owl that I instinctively looked at before I realised what I was doing, and a bloody Kingfisher called right in front of me as we were walking back. Bradders dropping his pasty and then treading on it briefly lightened my mood, but then I added up what I seen and realised I was on 108 for the year, and immediately sank into a deep depression.

Unbelievably unlucky to run into this

The boys decided that they would cheer me up with an ice-cream. There didn't seem to be any place to get one nearby, so we drove to Southend as Rossi's ice cream parlour is usually pretty good. As we parked the car I looked up and saw a Ring-billed Gull on a lamp-post. You could not have written it. I mean what were the chances of that? Gutted, absolutely gutted. Inconsolable, I stared at the sea, trying to ignore the Med Gulls. To take my mind off these, I took some pictures of the Turnstones. Kneeling down to get a more pleasing angle, my day got worse as I squidged straight into a turd. I would have thought that Essex was quite a long way to take your dog for a walk if you live in Cornwall, but it seems that distance is no object when it comes to pissing me off. This was the absolute low point of my day, but the highlight of four other people's. Would have been five, but Redsy had left us by then. Quasi-amusing pictures coming to a blog near here soon I suspect. I wiped most off with a broad-leaved plant, and then went to a cafe where a waitress kindly squirted table-cleaning stuff on my leg and gave me some napkins.

Finished the day off with about 20 Bar-tailed Godwits as I was admiring the setting sun on Two Tree Island. What difference does it make frankly? I was barely registering any pain at this point, it was all over. 25 year-ticks in a day where I hadn't thought I'd get any, and a new total of 111 which matches exactly what I was on by the 3rd January last year. This isn't looking good. Wanstead tomorrow. I shall steadfastly ignore any Goldcrests, and I hope those two Firecrests have left Reservoir Wood, as my treble figure of eight loop through there might otherwise see me bump into them.

A Rainham Post

I didn't see it

Manic year-listing begins!

Not really. Well, mostly not really. But I was able to get excited by Robins, Blue Tits, Mallards and Canada Geese again. Briefly of course, as now they are all boring again until next year. Can't wait!

My moon list peaked early this year

There is just something about January 1st. It turns me into a little kid. More of a little kid. I get more excited by it than by Christmas. Oooooooh!! I was all tucked up at five past midnight, with the alarm set for five thirty. Robin in the street was the first bird for 2010, and Hawky and I were on the Silt Lagoons at Rainham by about 7am, freezing the proverbials. Didn't take long to get a couple of Short-eared Owls, one of the main targets for the day, but sadly no Barn Owl.

Black-tailet Godwits at the Stone Barges

Next stop the Serin Mound, where we quickly got onto one of the two birds that has been present for perhaps a couple of months now. Tick. Then a brisk trot to the river where the Great Skua was patrolling once again (shameless bid to get more hits here). Then I went home and didn't look at another bird all day. Oh no, my mistake, I continued to run round Rainham like a lunatic getting over- excited by common birds, stringing Magpies into Tufted Ducks and so on, all the way through until dusk, where I ended up back on the silts looking for owls again. The total haul was a mighty 75 species, so I am halfway towards my stated annual target. Might go again tomorrow and finish the job.

Highlights today were undoubtedly the Skua and the Serin, both great birds for the site, but honourable mentions go to the Jack Snipe that Paul trod on near the river, the Ruff (an ID I actually got right), Common Buzzard and Marsh Harrier. We inexplicably missed Water Pipit, Little Egret and Yellow-legged Gull, but 75 is a fine haul, easily the best I have done in a day there. Hmmm, day-listing, now there's a thought......

Starlings going to roost towards Dagenham

I am ashamed to say that I had so much fun at Rainham that my Wanstead list currently stands at 6. This is the Robin first thing, and then a few ducks on the Basin in semi-darkness on the way home. I plan to make amends tomorrow morning at first light. I'm getting all excited again even typing this!

In another development, the Brown Shrike was refound on Staines Moor this morning, having been missing for a couple of weeks. Coincidentally and grossly inconveniently, two of the kids are in Hounslow tonight with grandparentals, and I have to pick them up tomorrow. Hounslow is quite near Staines. I didn't engineer this, it just happened, OK? So it doesn't count as year-listing.

Rainham Great Skua

Saw the Skua much better yesterday, and seeing as there is some debate on South Polar vs Great, thought some higher resolution (but still qualifying easily as record shots) images might help people. I need both for London, so am happy either way. And world expert that I am, it looks like a Great Skua to me. You can click on the images to make them bigger.

It managed to creep onto my Rainham 2010 list today as well, winner. Like yesterday, it never really came close, prefering to stay in the middle of the river, or closer to the south bank. I was ready for it though!