First visit of the year to the London Wetland Centre

Before I start rambling off on what a good day I had, I must just mention the few like-minded people I saw at the London Wetland Centre today - John and Terese Cass, Martin Honey, Nigel Dodd, Frank Nugent and Mark, Nathalie Mahieu, Keith, Norman and Martin. It did feel like half of the contributors to the London Birders wiki site were present. And as always I enjoyed their company.

 

 Now I will continue my ramble..........

It was a very good visit to the London Wetland Centre today. The weather was perfect. Dry, sunny and chilly. Just how I like my winter visits.

 

Alas my photography skills were a little dubious today. I only took the one lens, and although that was fine for most of what I wanted to see, it wasn't okay for capturing the elusive Bitterns.

More about them later....

 

The Robin by the bridge was more than happy to pose for me....

 

 

There was a showy Great Crested Grebe around the Headley Hide.....

 

In total we saw three Bitterns today, with a first for me - two posing together.

 It's an awful photo below taken from the Dulverton Hide this morning, but you can just see one Bittern in the bottom right hand corner with another near the top left hand corner.......

 

 

Later in the day Frank found another from the Peacock Hide which we watched fly and land in the reeds near to the WWF Hide.....

 

 

Truly dreadful photos of the Bitterns, but to be expected when I don't pack my Big Bertha lens.

 

Other nice sightings were this male Reed Bunting from the Headley Hide underneath the feeders.....

 

 

and a male Shoveller....

 

John found us not one, but TWO Jack Snipe from the Peacock Tower.

Again the distance for my little lens was challenging....

 

 

Spot the Jacks....... 

 

Yeah, good luck with that !!

Again look at the bottom right hand corner and top left hand corner.

 

I had considerably more luck with the Common Snipes. Two were showing ridiculously well from the Headley Hide.

One was having a sneaky snooze.....

 

 

Whilst the second was playing 'hide and seek' for a while, before eventually popping up and providing great views in perfect light conditions....

 

Just before Nathalie and I arrived, the two birds had been seen mating right in front of the hide.

 

Another bird that gave Nathalie and I tantalising distant views at first, was one of two reported Water Pipits on site at the moment.

The below photo is a pure record shot showing the size of the bird against an obliging Wood Pigeon....

 

 

With a bit of patience, we watched the Water Pipit get nearer and nearer to our viewing position on the ground floor of the Wildside Hide. And eventually our patience paid off as the little beauty emerged from behind a ridge and right in front of us.....

 

Other birds seen today included a male Green Woodpecker...

 

 

and although I never usually photograph the captive birds, this lot just cried out to be photographed next to their 'lego' likeness.....

 

As to be expected there were good numbers of Lapwings around, mainly dotted on the islands but also occasionally flushed up to fly around...

 

So yes, a really good visit.

 

I'm chuffed to bits with both the Water Pipit and Common Snipe views.

Nathalie managed to grab vid clips of both of them which can be viewed here

 

Great day, great birds and great company.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Woodpecker overload at Cranford Park

It was bitterly cold at Cranford Park this morning and the frost was so thick, it almost looked like a coating of snow.......

 

The clear blue sky meant for challenging photography. The light was a little too harsh.

But plenty of birds posed for me today including this fluffed up Robin below.....

 

 

Lots of birds were looking for food in the icy weather.

The Blue Tit below had found some titbit at the end of a twig.....

 

This Great Tit was rooting through some old dead leaves......

 

A small flock of Long-tailed Tits stopped right in front of me, and for once posed obligingly.......

 

with several even stopping to have a groom.....

 

By the Information Centre a pair of Mistle Thrushes were eating the mistletoe berries.....

 

 

 

 

Up by the old Buzzard nest I found three new clumps of Candlesnuff fungi.......

 

 

But todays star of the day were the Great Spotted Woodpeckers.

All around the Bluebell Dell the air was alive with calling woodpeckers. I could see several flying around chasing each other from tree to tree.

At one point there were six individual birds flitting around the same three or four trees. Trying to get photos was challenging at first, but the more they chased each other the less they were bothered by my presence. A couple of times two birds would tumble to the ground, then fly off again before I could get a picture. It wasn't until I go home and uploaded my photos that I realised every single woodpecker I had captured were females, though I know I observed at least two males through my binoculars.

 

 

The one below seemed to be the winner. She posed just 8' off the ground and allowed me to get quite close whilst she investigated a section of lifted bark.....

 

 

I don't think this is mating behaviour, it is a little early for that, but I do believe I witnessed some sort of territorial behavioural dispute. The lady above stuck around whilst the others flew off in different directions.

 

And I also managed to add a new photo to my 'Bird's Bums' album...........

 

 

So a very worthwhile freezing cold morning at the park.

 

 

 

 

 

Cranford Park with Frank and Mark

 

Sometimes unplanned days are the best. And today was certainly one of them.

 

I arrived at Cranford Park a little later than planned and headed straight for the river.

There's a tree I always check on near there. A few years ago a storm bought down half the tree leaving a jagged open tall stump. I always check it in the hope I might find an owl or Buzzard perched there. Today my hopes were nearly up when I spotted movement, but it was only a Grey Squirrel....

 

 

 

By the river I searched in vain for a Kingfisher or Little Egret but could find only a few Mallards and another couple of birders !

Frank and Mark had kept to their word (the comment on my blog post last weekend) and had made their way to Cranford Park. Their last visit was in 2013 when the Pied Flycatcher stayed for a few days. I've also bumped in to them at Rainham, the Wetland Centre and Hutchinsons Bank and always got on well with them. So it was a lovely surprise to see them on my patch. I enjoy showing like-minded people around the park.

 

After a walk through the woods, I showed them the meadows and took them down the river back to the M4 viaduct. We also went under the M4 to the other side of the park, so I could show them where the viaduct comes out. It was there we saw and heard two Kingfishers just after I was telling Frank that this was the area I think the Kingfishers nest.

 

Frank really wanted to see a Little Egret today, and although we hadn't seen one the whole time we were at the park, I took them down my usual path towards the river which provides a bit more cover than approaching from the stone bridge. And we were in luck. The Little Egret spotted us and moved under cover of the viaduct.....

 

 

It then took flight and we expected it to land in a tree, but instead it landed on the stone bridge !! Something I have never seen it do before.....

 

 

So Frank was happy he got his Little Egret. I was happy that I had seen the Kingfishers, even if I didn't get a photo. And Mark was happy because we were all having such a laugh.

 

We decided to see if we could find my elusive Water Rail from last weekend. We didn't but we did find some very suitable habitat for the shy bird, and I will be checking out those sites again.

We did spot a couple of Mistle Thrushes though I would have liked a better angle for the photo....

 

 

I told them I'd post a pic of them on my blog, so here they are...Frank and Mark.

 

 

Thanks you both so much for visiting the park. I had a really good day and a great laugh.

I hope you visit again soon.

 

After they both left I didn't stay too much longer.

 

There was a Goldfinch lingering by the stone bridge....

 

 

and a silhouette of a Great Spotted Woodpecker on the other side........

 

 

A really pleasant day. The weather was perfect. The company was fantastic. The wildlife could have been a bit more showy but we got the Little Egret.

 

 

 

 

Patch tick for Cranford Park

It was a very frosty start at Cranford Park this morning.....

 

 

but as the shadows disappeared, the frost melted away in the sunshine.

 

There's hardly any fungi left now, which is to be expected at this time of year.

The Yellow Stagshorn below is definitely on it's last legs....

 

 

but I did find a new patch of Candlesnuff fungi....

 

 

and I'll keep checking it to see how far it spreads.

 

The most prolific bird species seen today were the Blackbirds. There were loads of them. There were males chasing each other in the tree tops, and both sexes rooting through the fallen leaves for tasty titbits....

 

 

I spent most of todays visit loitering by the River Crane.

I'm glad I did now as I spotted a bird I have never ever seen at Cranford Park before.

I was standing on the iron bridge looking down towards the stone bridge, when movement caught my eye on the right hand side. There's a very small inlet there which is overgrown and leads up to the path on the other side of the river. I could see a flash of white under tail, and raised my binoculars for a better look fully expecting to see a Moorhen. But it was a beautiful stunning Water Rail. Smaller and slimmer than the Moorhen, the Water Rail is a fairly common but highly secretive inhabitant of freshwater wetlands. It has chestnut-brown and black upperparts, grey face and underparts and black-and-white barred flanks, and a long red bill. Difficult to see in the breeding season but it is relatively easier to find in winter, when it is also more numerous and widespread. Although usually secretive they can become confiding but are still far more often heard than seen. They have an amazing call that sounds like a small piglet.

I've seen Water Rails before but usually in reed beds around lakes, not skulking on the edge of a muddy small river !!

I saw it twice but couldn't get a photo on both occasions, and despite lingering around for another hour, the bird didn't re-emerge. But what a nice patch tick !

 

I saw the Kingfishers again, but no photos today. There are definitely two birds, a male and a female, and they were both flying out from under the M4 viaduct.

 

There were also two Little Egret present today. One was flying around overhead whilst this one perched in a convenient tree....

 

 

Also seen and not photographed were five Goldcrests, two Green Woodpeckers and one Common Buzzard.

 

I noticed on my last visit that there were a couple of shopping trolleys dumped by the entrance to the park. Today there were more. I really don't get what satisfaction someone gets from throwing these in the river. Does it make an extra large splashing noise to keep the smallest of brains entertained ??

Along with the three in the river below, there were another two left on the track...

 

 

Hopefully a clean up volunteer session will be held soon, and we can get these eye sores dragged out of the river.

 

As always though, it takes a lot to spoil my visit, and I enjoyed my three hour visit.