One of those days

Up on the George at 5am this morning having had a day off yesterday and it turned out to be one of those days, in fact probably the best day I've had up there this year.

First I had a Redshank calling as it dropped on to the pontoons with a couple of Common Sandpipers then a Greenshank flew in calling and landed briefly on the far western bank of south basin. I then scoped the causeway to find five Lapwing resting high up on the lower bank. On the causeway were loads of Black headed gull which is an unusual place to find them and prompted me to scan through them checking the juveniles out when I found an adult Med Gull amongst them. This is a site first for me as I just seem to miss them every year so I was extremely pleased to finally find one. I messaged a couple of the local guys that I thought it might interest and carried on up to the magic corner.

There were lot's of Canada Geese in the top field and I found two Greylags too. Little Egrets and Herons were in good numbers and a total count of the Tufted Ducks showed them at 626 now from just 52 at the start of the month. 

As I scanned two fresh juvenile Lesser Black backed Gulls I heard the call of Whimbrel and looked up from the scope in time to see it flying north along the centre of the north basin but I couldn't locate it with the scope so guess it went straight through. A single Raven was heard then seen as it landed on a Pylon and then the final surprise of the day when four Ostercatchers flew around me several times before heading south towards the Girling. I would think these are the local pair with this years recent fledglings. I found six Common Sandpipers in all but couldn't find the LRP that Chris F. had yesterday.

Harry had arrived before I left to try for the Med Gull but in the two hours since I found it and he arrived the bird seemed to have moved on. We had a large flock of around 70 Cormorants fly in from the Girling to round off a cracking days local birding. Oh and after moaning at the lack of Pheasant this month I saw one and heard another on my circuit today.

For the month I'm at 75 for the reservoir and for the year now 115 (life list for KGV now 140)

Greylag with a Canada

Oystercatcher

Oystercatchers

Oystercatchers

Little Egret

Med Gull

Record shot of 4 of the 5 Lapwings

Med gull

Med gull

Redshank

oh and I had six Parakeets at the garden feeders too............

KGV

I write this blog as a diary of my birding time and that time is at the moment dominated by my continued walks around the King George V reservoir in Chingford around five miles from home and so the blog I'm afraid is also dominated by the diary posts of those walks.

I walked the four miles again today and found 8 Common Sandpipers and a Redshank  of interest. As far as new ticks for July I managed to see a Kingfisher and my first Green Woodpeckers were also heard. Tufted Ducks continue to return to complete their winter moult and have sored from just 52 on 1st July to 383 today. 

I've set myself a target for July of 80 species and currently sit on 69 so I have to find a few unexpected ticks if I'm to hit that target. I'm yet to see Pheasant, Hobby and House Martin all of which I would expect to cross paths with at some point this month on the George but after that I'm looking for some passage birds to help but I think 80 may have been a bit optimistic. 

Heron

Common Tern

Common Tern

Cormorants

Great Spot Woodpecker

Common Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Little Grebe

London

Oare marsh Kent

I could have driven the 500 miles to see the Long-tailed Shrike in Fife today but I would also have had to drive 500 miles home and I just couldn't be bothered to do it so instead I booked a trip to Oare marsh in Kent with Dad and Jim. We set off at 5am after watching England beat Mexico in the early hours and arrived at Oare around 6.15am.

We set up to scope the east flood only for another birder to tell us exactly where the Bonaparte's gull was among the c350 Black-headed Gulls which made the search a lot easier for us. (The Bonaparte's Gull is now 16 and has been returning to Oare for 14 years. I first saw this bird in 2013 I've seen it in 13 of those 14 years it's been coming to Oare.) A Grasshopper Warbler was reeling in front of the viewing area and two Turtle Doves were sat on wires behind us. 

Out on East flood we had c150 Black-tailed Godwit along with good numbers of Redshank, Lapwing and Avocet. I picked out a few Knot and Dunlin along with singles of Greenshank, LRP, Common and Green Sandpiper and a few Med Gulls. We saw four Cattle Egrets on west flood and a Peregrine sat on a distant pylon too. Before the walk around to the hide we added Raven and Sparrowhawk.

Along the walk we had Bearded Tits, Sedge, Reed and Cetti's Warbler along with Reed Bunting and a fly over Bunting that was very likely a Corn Bunting. We refound the Bonaparte's Gull out on the mud later in the morning allowing a couple of record shots. Two juvenile Yellow Wagtails were seen to finish the day and I added a few other ticks bringing the days total to 69 and making an enjoyable few hours with Dad and Jim before we headed for home. 

Bonaparte's gull

Bonaparte's Gull

Black tailed Godwit

Godwits

Godwits

Med Gull

Year list now 224

Time for another KGV update

If you think reading my diary here is boring try walking four miles round the King George v reservoir counting ducks a few times a week but I'm still finding some reward for my effort and still to my own amazement finding the motivation to go do it on the days I have a couple of hours in the mornings.

Since the last diary entry (blog post) I've been over the reservoir just three times.

The 30th June see me give it one last go for the month and I bagged 56 species for my trouble and the highlights were a couple of Little Ringed Plover on the causeway, 2 Common Sandpipers, the continuing Redshank and a new bird for the month as a Hobby flashed up the channel towards the Girling at 5.15am and then an hour later it or another bird flew north along the channel too. Harry pointed out a Peregrine on one of the distant pylons too which was nice as I haven't seen one for a while now on the reservoir. A Little Grebe was again seen on south basin where it has been popping up on the odd visit this month. Having recently found a young Mistle Thrush with an adult bird on 30th I found five birds in the same field. I had a high count of 27 Blackbirds too as they seemed to be dropping out of bushes all along the four mile circuit.

The view of London at 5am from KGV

Little Grebe

The Fishers Green Black headed Gull

2K54

Common Sandpiper

Buzzard

I visited again on 1st July to get the month off and running and here the surprise for the day was a large flock of Canada Geese in the top field along with a single Greylag and a hybrid offspring. The Redshank was still present for its tenth day now and I found a couple of Common Sandpipers again. A juvenile Black headed Gull had a leg ring which showed it to have been ringed as a nestling at Fishers Green on 26th May this year. Again Blackbirds were very evident with a count of 27. 

Common Sandpipers

Common Sandpiper

Cormorant and Sandpiper

Today 3rd July I walked it again despite the heat. The walk was quite rewarding as I found four Common Sandpipers, four Buzzard, two Red Kites, a Sparrowhawk and a Kestrel. Tufted Duck and Coot numbers continue to build with 99 and 233 counted today. I was enjoying watching the five resident Ravens when two more birds came over calling from the Girling and to my surprise they dropped to the floor with the three young birds before they went to sit on the pylon with the two resident adults and then all seven took off north calling as they went. A new high count for the reservoir. As I returned along south bank I picked up three birds on the wall and scoping them they revealed themselves to be Yellow Wagtails. An early record for the reservoir but when I got to to the car park I bumped into Harry who said that he and Dominic had one fly over the sailing club too and Harry had seen the sixth Raven come in but missed the seventh bird. A decent walk and I'll probably have a few days off now before giving it another go next week.

Yellow Wagtail

Two Yellow Wagtails

Two of the seven Ravens present on 3rd July

Raven

Raven

Raven

Raven

Black headed Gulls

Reed Bunting

Reed Warbler

Cetti's Warbler

Blackbird

Common Tern

Swift

Buzzard being mobbed by Starlings

Common Sandpiper

The 5th July saw another visit where I added Osyercatcher and Jay to my KGv July list which now stands at 67. 

Year list still 222 with a distinct reluctance to go chasing year ticks further afield at the moment.