It's been a long day but a ruddy good one.
It started with Sue and I meeting up with Nathalie, the Peregrines Godmother, at Charing Cross Hospital this morning.
It's all been going on around the hospital roof top and ledges with several matings between Charlie and Tom, the resident Peregrines, over the last few days. To keep up to date with the recent comings and goings please visit the FaB Peregrines Facebook page.
I was really hoping we would be able to see these magnificent falcons mate, but despite hanging around, walking around and watching everything that flew over, only Charlie remained visible.
First of all she was hidden at the top of the chimney stack.....
but we later found her on the nest ledge eating something quite small, and that didn't require plucking....
Later on this evening after Nathalie viewed the CCTV images, it turns out Tom bought the mostly ready plucked meal to Charlie.
After she had her snack, she cleaned her beak, then sat back and surveyed her kingdom....
And that's how we left her. So far this year the mating dates are on a relevant par with last year, so hopefully the first egg will be laid in the second week of March. Best way to keep up to date with the new season of FaB Peregine egg, chick and fledge watch is to join the FaB Facebook group (link above).
The sky was fairly grey this morning, but with tantalising hints of blue sky showing the three of us made our way to the London Wetland Centre. We didn't really have any set birds to see at first, but that changed as the day went on and the weather turned milder.
First port of call was to find a Bittern for Sue's year list.
We got one from the first hide we went into, but it was very distant.....
In the second hide a very obliging couple had already spotted Burt the Bittern number 2, had their scope on it and were helpfully pointing the bird out to everyone that came in the hide. These were my kind of people. After pointing out the second Burt, they were kindly moving out of the way of the only good view point so myself and others could see. We then in turn got our views and photos and moved out of the way for the next group. This is what hide birding is all about. Sharing a view that some people may only ever see once in their life. So thank you to that couple.
Burt no 2 was showing much closer than Burt no 1, and was at times almost up to it's neck in water. It also felt comfortable and concealed enough to have a good preen.....
Nathalie, Sue and myself were by now hungry. We had had a great morning already with one Peregrine and two Bitterns under our belts, and after a very tasty lunch it didn't take us long to find the next bird of interest on a nearby roof.
The 'marmite' Parakeets may not be to every ones taste, but when they're in the bonding and mating season they are very watchable. So here's a taste of Parakeet Porn......
And to prove it wasn't just that couple that were having a late Valentine, another pair were in the courtyard sitting just above the clock looking very loved up.....
After yesterdays abundance of Snowdrops, today I was pleased to add Crocus to my 'first seen' list....
On the usually deserted Wader Scrape we had beautiful views of washing and preening Teal.
This is the female.....
and this is the male....
From the Peacock Tower we saw a solitary Redshank...
At least five Common Snipe, with the two below sitting together....
and on our way back we saw these two old ducks waddling along.
Both in full winter plumage with hats, scarves and man-bags.......
Actually they're more like a pair of cackling drakes, but it was good to see Rick 'Posh Boy' and John 'Fewy' today, along with a brief appearance from the lovely Rosie.
As to be expected at the LWC the Lapwings were in great numbers.....
and often the first to be spooked into the air by a passing Sparrowhawk...
On our way round to the Headley Hide we bumped into the lovely Paul and Sheila, a couple who I haven't seen in far too long.
At the comfortable Headley we had good views of Cormorant....
the very understated beautifully marked Gadwalls....
and our third Bittern.
It was so deliciously close, probably less than 15 metres away, but hidden the whole time just beyond the reeds.....
as we waited hopefully, patiently and silently, Burt number 3 slipped away further in to the reed bed and we didn't see it again.
But I consoled myself with a photogenic Great Crested Grebe....
At the Wildside Hide we didn't really see too much of interest so I popped outside for a sneaky smoke. I hadn't even taken two puffs before Nathalie came out with news of a Great Black-backed Gull on the gravel island with a freshly caught eel. It's a good job I carry a tin ash tray, as my smoke was chucked in it with in seconds and I was back in the hide.
Seeing a Great Black-back at close quarters is something I don't often see. They are huge. The one that had caught and grounded the eel was the male, his mate stood by him the whole time he decimated the prey.
As we sat and watched, a pair of Lesser Black-backed landed on the island too along with a very chancing Carrion Crow. So now we could see three size differences. My photo doesn't really do any of the birds justice, but just look at the differences in the sizes between the two gull species and then compare that to the crow....
The opportunist crow took a couple of stabs at the dead eel but soon flew off, and the two Lesser Black-backed gulls didn't even chance their luck that far before they gave up and flew off too.
We left the two GBBs to their belated Valentine dinner and went off in search of the Pintail ducks that had eluded us all day.
We didn't get very far when we were distracted by the sight of Laurence kneeling down low in the grass by one of the bridges. Laurence is one of the WWT volunteers and is also an expert in amphibians, so when we saw him on the ground we knew he had seen something.
It was the first Common Lizards of the season emerging from hibernation......
Three were showing nicely basking on the sun baked warmth at the bottom of the bridge.
Laurence's expertise meant he could pick one up and let it absorb the heat from his hand before sharing his find with an inquisitive young girl and her father....
This is what teaching the next generation is all about.
This young girl didn't scream and run away, nor walk past not 'seeing', she and her father saw what Laurence had been doing and expressed a genuine interest. Laurence, in turn, was honest and thoughtful and made sure she knew what to expect before holding the recently woken lizard.
I bet not many young girls went home this evening and told their Mum they had held one of the first Common Lizards of the year.
Priceless.
After nearly accidentally decapitating one of the lizards (Sue !! Lol !!), we made our way back to the Observatory to hopefully find the Pintails. Nathalie had a theory that they would re-emerge later in the day, and with Eagle-eyed Sue on the case that was soon proven.
Sue spotted a pair heading towards one of the hides, so as you do, we made quick haste to the said hide to get views of a handsome pair of ducks to finish off our great day out.
and we did....
female and male Pintail....
Despite a gloomy start to the day with no sign of Tom the male Peregrine, nor seeing him and Charlie mating and with grey clouds and very little sunshine, our day turned into something quite special. The sun came out, the clouds dispersed, we saw three Burt Bitterns, at least six Common Snipe dotted around, a Redshank, many Teal, Wigeon and Shoveler, a Little Egret (that I couldn't photograph), Sparrowhawk, Lapwings galore, a GBB gull eating an eel, a pair of Pintails, Little and Great Crested Grebes, and much much more.
Great company helped. It was lovely to see Fewy, Posh Boy and Rosie.
And the icing on the cake for Sue and I was the wonderful genorosity of Paul and Sheila for them driving us all the way home, rather than see us get two trains back.
Excellent day. Excellent company.
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