British Bird List If you want to print out a list for use during your visits to allow ticking off what you see then the list is here. Or to see what we've spotted on our previous visits look here.

To help plan your own trips, or to inspire suggestions for our visits, you might want to look at the London Bird Club Wiki here. To enjoy our bird visits to the maximum you will need decent binoculars (8×25 or 8×42 or 10 x 42 or 10 x 50 are good). The first number tells you the magnification (ie 8 or 10 times bigger), the second number is the size of the 'objective' (larger) lens which determines the amount of light (sharpness) of the image. Bigger numbers also mean bigger weight. There are also two forms — porro prism (offset lenses) or roof prism (in-line lenses). Porro type are generally cheaper but larger/heavier.
Appropriate footwear and rain gear if the weather threatens. Each of our visits will have a maximum of 10 participants (but normally we are a lot less than that).

Birds on the Edge — see here for information of birds at risk. To read the quarterly magazine from WWT, click here.

Also see the following link here to the RSPB web page regarding their interesting programme with lectures and coach trips.

To follow what the London Wildlife Trust are up to have a look here.

If you want to hear some particular bird song or call try using this site: here.
 
And to end, just a bit of humour, have a look at this video clip here.

Blogs
This is a new section to provide some learning material in bite-size easy format. They are in no particular order.

• Seeing Red (redwings, redstarts & redshanks) here
• Preying (identifying between birds of prey) here
• Gulling About (or more about gulls) here
  

Our Programme & Details for Visits

Monday 26 October, Two Tree Island, Leigh on Sea: provisional details Meet at Fenchurch Street station (upstairs at the Bank end) by 9.50 for the 10.04 train. Gets us to Leigh on Sea at 10.51. There are toilets at Leigh-on-Sea station. It’s a 1 mile (20 minute) walk to the Reserve. Depending on weather and what we see, expect to stay a couple of hours. Therefore probably get the 14.43 back to Fenchurch Street (arriving 15.29). There are no facilities at this reserve (ie cafe or toilets) but there is a café on the way back to the station from the island (not checked if this is open yet). The lagoon at the western end of the island normally holds the best selection of bird life. Unfortunately the two hides overlooking the lagoon and estuary have been burn down so thee is no where to sit for a rest.
Buy a cheap day, off peak day return Zone 6 Extension (Upminster) to/from Leigh-on-Sea. With a rail card that should be £7.00. Or ask about a Rover ticket. This allows open travel in Essex for the date at £6.00.
details to be decided yet. I've not checked rail line maintenance work on so don't buy tickets yet.

November: date & details to be decided yet.
December: date & details to be decided yet.

Recent Visits
Rye Meads: it was good to get back to this RSPB reserve following their reopening. However, soon we were less happy when we discovered that only three of the hides were open and these had such restrictive entrance limits that we didn't get into any. The other problem, not encountered previously here, was the number of mosquitoes around. For those in shorts (to appreciate the late summer sun) we were an attractive meal for them. Not getting into the hides meant we couldn't view some of the large lagoons and hence this limited our sightings. We were in two minds about turning back and giving up but we thought we would do the complete circuit, going through the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust's section. This proved to be a wise decision — the quantity of midges was less and we had our best sighting over this back section, including three (or was it four) marsh harriers swooping down and round. Then some saw the local Kestrel as well, so we ended with a respectable 20 species sightings. The meal deals at the local pub also changed it from a dubious start to a good day out.

Regents Park: it seems to be a bit 'ordinary', but we always actually do quite well in our species count here, and the non-natives are always an interesting diversion. Eight turned up on a very windy but dry day and we saw and identified 24 birds and saw other exotics which we couldn’t identify and weren’t on the board or in my book, including a very red-beaked duck*. Because of the wind hardly any little birds were out and about, all sensibly hiding in the bushes. *The internet told us that the red-beaked one was a Common Merganser (or Goosander).

LWT's Woodberry Downs: we wanted to return here to celebrate its re-opening, and it didn't disappoint. We had a good turnout — this being the first outing for some since self-shielding — and we were immediately rewarded by sighting a reed warbler. The biggest 'debate' was: were they female mallard and gadwells? Also quite a few hybrids didn't help matters. Then of course there was the usual debate of gulls — pink legs or yellow legs. Having decided they were lesser black backs we read after of the increasing numbers in the UK of yellow legged gulls. Did we witness some of these instead? The Coal Hole café was open allowing a pleasant coffee and agreement of a species count of 22. Not bad for Woodberry.

Clissold Park and Abney Park: we had our biggest gathering for some time for this visit showing how many are keen to get out and about, while avoiding public transport. We had to split into two groups to stay within government advice as well as try to maintain our social distancing within each group. We started in Clissold Park wandering around the two ponds. Lots of gadwells, lots of youngsters, and a cute colourful young little grebe. We then walked along to Abney Cemetery and Park. Always an interesting walk but never that great for bird life. However, we did see a blackcap — thanks to Frank's eagle eyes — and a couple of sightings of a great spotted woodpecker. So not bad overall.

Walthamstow Wetlands: this was our first outing after Covid-19. The reserve wasn't fully open (no café or toilets!) but it was great to be out and having the opportunity again to spot birds as a group. Together we managed a healthy 25 species count, the highlight probably being a reed warbler. Loads of Grebes. Loads of youngsters. This time we didn't however see the resident peregrine falcon. 

Thurrock: we'd only been to this relatively new Essex Wildlife Trust nature reserve a couple of times. Although on our last visit it rained continuously, for this visit the weather was good. We didn't see many birds during the walk in from East Tilbury, but it's a pleasant walk along the Thames Estuary Path. However, things improved at the centre. We saw quite a lot from the comfort of the centre including a sparrowhawk. The tide was in when we arrived, but by the time we left it was out and the range of birds on the shoreline was very varied. The highlights were the flocks of avocets and redshanks. We headed out, spotting a few more things on the way to Stanford-le-Hope. Overall a successful day.

Walthamstow: this was our local monthly outing. Walthamstow Reservoirs are an important part of the system for supplying London's water. Some of them are quite 'hard-edged' and not so great for birds. Others are much softer-edged and there are islands and so forth, so that overall it a very good place for birds. It was a wet windy day so not the best for birdwatching. However, we did see a good variety of ducks, herons, cormorants, goldeyes, grebes, etc, etc. The highlight was a firecrest — up close and displaying for us. We were glad to get back to the Engine Room for a chance to dry out and have a hot drink.

Brighton, Starling Murmurations: while some felt the trip should be cancelled due to Storm Ciara, 21 of us headed for Brighton. There was some train disruption but we all got there only half an hour behind schedule. The rain stayed off but the gale-force wind on the front made it tricky for us to even stand up. Most went for the lunch at the Regency and enjoyed a very good menu and a range of fish dishes. Some made it to the Pavilion for a quick visit, some just had a ramble in the Lanes. We all gathered at dusk (4.30pm) on Palace Pier. I think there was still some doubt that the starlings would venture out but they soon started flocking, probably lower in the sky this year but still spectacular — seeming to be surfing in on the waves at times before swooping up and round again. We tried to find some shelter from the winds but it started to drive some of us back toward the train station. All agreed that, regardless of the weather, it had been an amazing sight.

Regent's Park: a biggish group of us (11) had a good stroll through the park. Normally our count for this location struggles to get into the 20s. This time we made it to 40. A very high score for us — at any location. And that's just with the native species: adding in the non-indigenous sightings at the Wildfowl pond would have made it over 60. The non-indigenous varieties do always add different species to what we normally see at our other visit locations, and are often very attractive. We struggled a bit over whether some gulls were bog standard black-headed gulls, or whether they were the rarer Mediterranean gull. There are more sightings at this time of year of 'Mediterraneans' so we included it in our count. 

Two Tree Island: our main day visit this month was back to this good location. While it wasn't quite as spectacular a visit as previous years, we still had some good sightings. There were just so many teal — over a hundred — and lots of redshanks. We had murmurations of knots (or were they sanderlings — or dunlins? — too far away to tell). The special sightings were curlews, Mediterranean gulls and brent geese. Missing this time were the avocets and godwits.

Woodberry Wetlands: a clear bright cold day, rather blustery for the birds — and us. I'm not sure if it was the weather forecast or the fact that this was a local visit, but we had one of our highest turnouts at 13. However, we didn't linger but had a smart walk around the perimeter. No great sightings. The birds were hunkered down. One mystery was the photo: we couldn't work this one out. We ended up warming ourselves back in the café over coffee and cake — the cake was a 'Farewell' to one of our regular members, Alison T, who's returning to her homelands of Northern Ireland — soon. We wish her well! We also discussed future dates and visits, so this prompted me to commit and fix dates for January and February — as above.

Rainham Marshes: the weather forecast was not promising but when we arrived at the reserve it was a great day, cool but clear skies (not that this lasted the whole time we were there). But with the rain staying off the birds were out. The benefit of visiting Rainham is that there is always much to see — in quantity and variety. There were only five of us but we managed to spot 38 species. The highlights were probably seeing a stonechat and a curlew, but also seeing the large flock of avocets swimming along was a rare sight.

With the rain breaking out we then had a quick march back to the centre for some food and warmth.

Walthamstow Wetlands: we welcomed two new members to the group and our monthly local outing. It was a chilly day, so we headed briskly along Ferry Lane to the reserve. Walthamstow Reservoirs are an important part of the system for supplying London's water. Some of them are quite 'hard-edged' and not so great for birds; others are much softer-edged and there are islands and so forth, so that overall it a very good place for birds, particularly waterfowl. We saw the usual variety of ducks, herons, cormorants, and loads of gulls (black headed and herring). We witnessed some 'gull dancing' — for further info on this habit see here. The resident peregrine was on its perch — high up on the pylon. We enjoyed the new hide (about time too!) as a chance to get out of the biting wind, and there was a great display of little egrets (up to six), cormorants (up to seven), and gulls — all diving for fish at a water outlet. We'd got our timings a bit off as we realised we had to get going or be locked in the reserve overnight, but more importantly it meant we were too late for tea and cake in the Engine Room. So we had to head for the Costa at Tottenham Hale — with a chance to thaw out there.

Rye Meads: this time we had good bird watching weather — clear blue skies but cold. On arrival the welcome board showed a good varied spot list so our visit held promise. And we weren't disappointed. We spotted a good range of birds and the highlights included green sandpipers (only confirmed by a local expert), snipe, and my favourite, teal — such bright shimmering colours with sharp outlines. Our count at 31 was quite reasonable. No kingfishers on this visit but their hide is being expanded so I'm sure we'll return in the Spring to try our luck.

Previous Visits
For a record of our other recent visits (from November 2019 until September 2020) click here (to be added).
You can see a record of our earlier visits as follows:

2018/19 here
2017/18 here
2016/17 here
2015/16 here