It was a cold frosty start to the day when I left home and headed for the tube and it must have only just been above freezing. The sun shone brightly through the cloudless sky and a chorus of Wren song took me into the day. On the train journey nothing too much was seen, partially because most of the time I am in the tunnel. Since my C2C train was one of the first of the day it managed to flush a Male Stonechat from the side of the track near where the District Line goes into the tunnel at Bow Road. When I arrived at Purfleet station the first thing I heard was a Chiffchaff calling from a bush opposite the railway crossing and as the barriers opened for me to head across a Chiffchaff burst into song on my right hand side up above the station platforms. As per usual I had some time to kill so I spent the next hour conducting what was to be quite a successful river watch. I had just received a message to say that Howard had 7 Sandwich Tern, but unfortunately when I got to the river none were showing. There were decent amounts of Black Headed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Greater Black Backed Gulls, and Lesser Black Backed Gulls around as well as the odd Common Tern flying through along with Cormorants and a Grey Heron was sat at Darrent Mouth. Then I spotted a small bird flying very quickly downstream along the far bank. It was a Black Tern and I somehow managed to take enough of a video of it before losing it into the sunshine to get a screen shot photo! At this time Meadow Pipits, House Martins, and the odd Swallow had started to trickle through over head. Above: Cormorant Below: Black Tern That Black Tern is my second of the year after the one I saw at Bird Fair a month ago. Such awesome little fast birds they are. As soon as I had seen it, it was gone. Next I noticed a large boat coming down the centre of the Thames and I could see something in the water in front of it. To my surprise when I got my binoculars up to look at it a Brent Goose was staring back at me! I phoned Howard, but unfortunately he couldn't pick it up from the centre at this stage. It sat almost motionless on the Thames as it drifted towards the Dartford Crossing and into the sun. About 15 minutes later I looked over towards Aveley Bay and had another or the same Brent Goose floating down river and on Howard's 3rd attempt he managed to see it and it stuck around in front of the visitor centre for a good hour or so. Next I did a lot of birding around the visitor centre. A Little Egret and 24 Lapwing were on the mud in front of the centre and also 2 Sandwich Tern flew past calling loudly as they did so heading towards the Dartford Crossing. I needed to film the lowering of the draw bridge for my DT project so I did a sky watch whilst I waited which produced a Grey Wagtail, more Meadow Pipits, a Sparrowhawk and Goldfinch. A Cetti's Warbler sang from the bushes nearby and the House Sparrows and Starlings made their presence noticeable through their constant calling. Above: Little Egret Next 2: House Sparrows The next hour I spent around the visitor centre still birding from here. The most notable things were a really close up Juv Marsh Harrier, as well as a Hobby over the Aveley Pools. River side it was quite quiet with a few Wigeon, Mallards, and quite a lot of Teal to see. 2 Oystercatchers were also flushed from the side when a canoe came past a little too close to the shore. The Brent Goose was still in front of the centre when I did finally leave at around 10:45! 2 Trains and 2 Buses later I found myself walking into Hornchurch Country Park to the sound of yet another singing Chiffchaff. When I finally got to the Twitch sight I found a decently large crowd of people some who had seen the bird and some that hadn't! Whilst I was waiting I had a scan around to look at what else was about. At this time there were only 2 Common Snipe over in the far corner alongside 4 Green Sandpiper. There was also a large group of Lapwing about, a few Kestrels, lots of Meadow Pipits and Linnets overhead, as well as Gadwall and Teal a plenty. A total of 9 Common Buzzards decided to join us at various times throughout my stay including an interesting individual which was too far off to see for sure what it was. The occasional pulse of House Martins and Swallows came through overhead and just after Max turned up a Pied Wagtail was seen. Above (2): Kestrel Next 2: Lapwing, Gadwall, and Teal Above: Green Sandpiper and Lapwing Next 2: Common Buzzard Above (3): F Teal Next 2: Common Snipe Above: Teal Next 2: Mute Swan with background Teal Eventually after about 30-40 minutes and 6 Common Snipe later Max found the bird that we were looking for, but only a very brief view from my angle before it darted back into the reeds. I managed a few decent shots before it ran back into cover. Below are some teasing shots. The next hour or so was quite stagnant with now 25 Common Snipe turning up. This was strange for every time I looked up there was at least one more on the mud over the other side. Otherwise there wasn't much else to mention bar a Kingfisher that flew past calling loudly and was a nice pleasant surprise! Above: Pied Wagtail Below: Green Sandpiper Above (2): Common Snipe Below: Lapwings in flight Above: Common Snipe Then at around 15:30 a passer by came and showed us where he had seen the bird last Saturday at this time and sure enough there it was out in the open a Juvenile Spotted Crake!!! What a bird this was and such a rarity for London. This is a lifer for me and the fact that it is so small is amazing to think that it was spotted in the first place. It was amazing to watching it feeding literally just around us before it ran off back into the cover.
This was my call to head back to Hornchurch Station to head home. What a day I had, with finding 2 decent birds on the Thames and also got another London mega on the way home. My British Life list now sits at 183 and with a trip to Spurn on the horizon I think 190 is still certainly possible!
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Friday 15th Although I hate it on Fridays at school it is compulsory for us to attend chapel. I have to admit that I hardly ever listen to what the Chaplin has to say and very often I stare into an abyss waiting for the end. This time however he said something that I have used for the whole of this weekend and something I will take forward with me perhaps for the rest of my life, "always look up", and so this is basically the story of me always looking up when possible. The day started at school reasonably slowly with just a Sparrowhawk hurtling across the sky whilst I was working. I stepped outside to go to break and heard a call that I hadn't heard for some time. I looked up to see nothing. However after a few more minutes of waiting, a little Robin size bird appeared on the roof of the building opposite. A Black Redstart! Unfortunately my run of still never seeing a male one continues as yet again my school seems to have attracted another Juvenile/ Female bird. This was just the beginning of my looking up. At lunch time after my usual rounds of pool I decided to sit outside with some of my friends. A small group of 6 Swallows flew over and so I decided to continue looking up. Eventually after a few more minutes of looking I had clocked up another 20 or so Swallows and way over 300 House Martins (I lost count at 219!). My friends were amazed to see some many birds fill the sky at various altitudes and this was I guess a really bonus and so too was the Hobby that was chasing them! Grey Wagtails have been frequenting Sheep Wash pond recently and again one was seen flying over towards the pond. In the afternoon before I headed home I looked up again and found another decent sized flock of Swallows coming through with a few House Martins scattered around. This one was more interesting as a Hobby came through chasing them, but then decided to turn its attention to a Common Buzzard and made sure that it vacated the area and quickly. Meadow Pipits made themselves aware calling above and at least 3 dropped down into the valley. Saturday 16th And so a second day of always looking up began! On my way home from my morning's activities I spent most of my time looking up. This however was quite frustrating as most of the time there were just Crows and Pigeons. Once I actually reached my house I started to actually see things. In the end I came up with a tally of a Meadow Pipit, Red Kite, 5 Swallows, House Martin, and a Common Buzzard being mobbed by a Sparrowhawk. After a quick break, I decided that I would head to the Totteridge Valley to see what was about. I arrived at Long Pond at around 14:15 and to be honest there wasn't too much around. The Canada Goose that can't fly was still present and also the local Mallards and Moorhens. Above (3): Canada Goose Below: Drake Mallard I then headed down the path towards cow field and immediately I noticed something had left a nice plucked Pigeon in the field next to me! A noticeable passage of Martins and Swallows made for counts during the whole trip of 143+ House Martin, 104+ Swallow, and finally 2 Sand Martin. A Common Buzzard also floated effortlessly overhead along with another 4 following it, and both Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs called from the bushes beside the path really coming out for me to see. Stock Doves were also present most of the time overhead and this tally ended up as 48+. Below: Common Buzzard A Kestrel flew past being mobbed by some Jackdaws and Crows as I neared the middle of the field and I checked the usual haunt of the Wheatears, but none were to be seen. A Meadow Pipit flew overhead calling and this would be the first of 18 to fly over during my visit. As I got south of the middle fence on the path I watched as a small bird came in high from the North East and dropped at a staggering pace so that within seconds it was sitting on the fence in front of me. A Male Stonechat! Now this is a patch tick for me as I have never previously seen one here before. A stunning bird it is. A second bird then appeared on the fence behind it after a bit of time and it certainly wasn't there when I first looked. It was a Whinchat, and it was amazing to think that these birds literally had just stopped of for a brief rest and feed on their way to their winter grounds, and today (17th) neither of the birds were there! A Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Robin were all active on the same bit of fence and I must have watched them all for nearly an hour before eventually heading on. Above (4): Stonechat Below: Whinchat Above: Stonechat Below: Whinchat After this flurry of excitement I moved onto the hedge at the bottom of 'Cow' field however apart from a couple of Blue Tits and Chiffchaff it was empty. By this time the local Rooks had made themselves easy to find as another Kestrel had put them all up with as many as 25 up in the air at once calling loudly! Below: Chiffchaff I then moved on to the woodland area leading up to 'Owl Field'. Here there were large mixed Tit flock featuring, Nuthatches, Long-tailed Tits, Great Tits, Blue Tits, Willow Warblers, Chiffchaff, and Goldcrests. Above: Long-tailed Tit Next 2: Nuthatch Once in 'Owl' field a Common Buzzard shot out of a nearby tree calling loudly before thermalling over the field to gain some height on the valley. Meadow Pipits were also present. The biggest surprise to me was yet to come. I neared the open part of the field and as soon as I did not one but two Male Stonechats flew up from the low brambles to the tops of the bushes. This was surprising, but the last storm over the area must have dumped a handful of them in the valley. I had literally gone from never seeing one here to seeing three in a day! Above (2): Common Buzzard Below: Stonechat And so I moved on to the southern edge of the field. Here there was a large mixed Tit flock again with mainly Long-tailed Tits and Blue Tit, as well as a few Great Tit, Goldcrest, and Chiffchaff. Below: Long-tailed Tit I headed briefly to Darlands Lake, however with only Mallards and Moorhens showing I decided to head for home via the field I decided to name Rabbit field, and here's why. Sunday 17th
I spent today volunteering at Belmont Farm and it was obviously another day of ins and outs. At one point there was nothing, then flocks of Swallows and House Martins, then a Whinchat dropped in briefly, but the highlight of the day was the 4 Wheatear that literally came out of nowhere when I was on the back of the tractor and started to feed on the insects around them. However by the time I had got there to get some photo's of them they had gone. Interestingly though, as I left this evening, it looked as though there could have been 2 chats in their place, but it was too dark to see for sure! Here are today's totals: 65+ Swallow SE, 2 Chiffchaff, Grey Heron, 50+ Starling, 10+ Stock Dove, Whinchat, Pied Wagtail, 4 Wheatear briefly dropped between downpours, 5 Kestrel, 2 Common Buzzard, 60+ House Martin SE, Hobby, Goldcrest, 2 Meadow Pipit. And so this rounded off another great weekend in the Totteridge Valley. But with my life list still sitting at 182, I think it might be time for a trip to Rainham Marshes! |
AuthorI have been a birder since i was 8 however only really started to be able to go out to places by myself in Summer 2016 (Blame the parents) My blogs will be from all over the place, but mainly from RSPB Rainham Marshes and Totteridge Valley! Photography done by Samuel Levy aged 17. ArchivesCategories |