London Wetland Centre (20 February 2025)
14 of us met on the bridge and it was nice to see some Shovelers and Gadwall in the Entrance Lake. Despite the grey day, we became hopeful of a good bird list. We proceeded to the Observatory to see what was about and were delighted that one pair of sharp eyes and a telescope, spotted a Bittern in the reeds, on the far side of the Main Lake. We all saw it eventually but one needed a good imagination. One find was a Pied Wagtail walking upside down in a puddle. Some bright spark suggested that it was a reflection! Another tick. We had a good sighting of a Peregrine high above Charing Cross Hospital, where they breed every year.
From the Dulverton Hide there was very little to see because we had to peer through totally misted up windows. The condensation was interestingly on the outside of the glass so we couldn’t wipe it away. We moved onto the feeders, where we saw a lot of tits and finches but nothing spectacular. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was in the trees above the cage.
In the WWF Hide we got close to gulls and ducks. There was one very scruffy looking gull, and we had lots of debate as to what we were actually looking at. Was it a Juvenile Common or Herring or something very rare? We were not sure. Yellow on the beak and very pale legs.
At the Peacock Hide we searched for Snipe and one of our sharp-eyed telescope spotters eventually found one. It was so still; it was hard to distinguish whether it was a bird or a stone. We decided on a Snipe when it finally lifted its head. We had excellent views of a two Little Grebe. The lakes are very full now, so not much sign of any waders. They need mud! It was suggested that the expert staff are keeping the water high to encourage the Lapwings to nest in the grassy areas where their eggs are not so easily taken by the herons. We were now all getting a bit hungry, so we decided to retreat to the café.
Our list inched up towards fifty which was quite pleasing.
Hot soup in the café completed a good morning’s birding.
by Christo Impey
List. In roughly the order we saw them:
Gadwall, Parakeets, Wood Pigeon, Shoveler, Mallard, Black Headed Gull, Coot, Starling, Moorhen, Jackdaw, Herring Gull, Grey Heron, Lapwing, Mute Swan, Tufted Duck, Egyptian Geese, Pochard, Great Crested Grebe, Bittern, Oystercatcher, Cetti’s Warbler, Pied Wagtail, Canada Geese, Peregrine Falcon, Magpie, Blackbird, Robin, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Greenfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Bluetit, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Dunnock, Wigeon, Teal, Stonechat, Little Grebe, Snipe, Green Woodpecker, Feral Pigeon, Wren, Bearded Tit, Mandarin Duck, Jay, Song Thrush, Water Rail (heard). 49.