Overdue visit to the London Wetland Centre with The Look Out Unofficial Facebook crowd.

I hadn't been to the LWC for quite a while, what with work commitments and my sprained foot, but when my dear friend, Tony, said he was coming down south for a few days from Norfolk, it seemed only right to organise a meet up at the LWC with some other members of the Look Out - Unofficial LWC facebook group.

 

Sadly not everyone could come, which was a shame, especially as another good friend, Mark, was planning on coming down from Southport, as a surprise. For those that did make it though, I can safely say we all had a good day. So Paul, Sheila, Sue, Xtine, Maggie, Tony B and our guests of honour, Tony S and Mark, this blog is dedicated to you lot tonight :)

 

Our day started really well with Sues finding of a large Wasp Spider. Each year more and more of these harmless spiders are seen on site. Their distinct 'zig zag' web is just about visible in my photo, and this one has only seven legs.

 

 

The grazing marsh had two juv Green Woodpeckers on it for most of the day. We were watching them from the Peacock tower and the Wildside hide.

 

 

 

dancing in the rain.....

 

 

Around the Wildside, we also saw several Common Lizards, but they weren't in the mood to pose for photos. The one below was a quick snap shot before it darted off.

 

 

On one of the bridges we found these Ruddy Darters hanging from the side. They were pointed out to some other visitors with children. Luckily the kids didn't bother saying the words 'what are they doing ?'. We also saw lots of large dragonflies, but not one settled for a photo.

 

 

Tony B found a nice bug by the Explore area, but Im not sure which species it is.

 

 

From the Peacock tower we had some lovely views of Common Snipe. We were told this morning by the staff that there were 19 spotted before we got there. We managed to find four !

 

 

 

Mark found the pair of Yellow Wagtails below. Sadly none of my photos came out that well, it was so hard to focus on them as they are so small and continuously moving.

 

 

 

We were incredibly lucky with the weather, the one and only time it really poured down, we were comfortably sitting in the Wildside hide watching one of the juvenile Green Woodpeckers dancing around. We also had a fleeting glimpse of a Northern Wheatear, thanks to Tony S, and some distant views of a Spotted Flycatcher in the tall trees behind the Explore toilets. All in all a very pleasant day with great company.