Saturday 14th. January 2012

For a little while now , Carol has been wanting to have a day up in London . I can't stand all the people that you have to be with there , but , as I usually do my thing , decided to take Carol to where she wanted to be . Local bus , tram and finally underground , and there we were looking down on the Thames , a very low Thames , and still getting lower . As we walked along the bank , several Cormorant , Teal and Black-headed Gull were seen , and where a small stream emptied into the main

river , this Great Black-backed Gull , usually very hard to get close to ,  was found looking for something to eat . A tree lined lane looked inviting , and produced Blackbird , Song Thrush , Robin ,

Blue , Great and Long-tailed Tits , and of course Rose Ringed Parakeets , these two checking out a possible nest hole . I must admit it was a bit chilly down by the river , and I could see Carol was missing her regular tea/coffee intakes . The lane opened up and overhead a flock of Lapwing

shimmered as the sun caught their colours . Thinking only of Carol's lack of caffeine , I pointed to a gateway and suggested we tried to get a coffee there . Carol agreed and we walked into the London Wetland Centre at Barnes . Caffeine sorted , we thought we would have a look around , seeing as how we had stumbled onto it . With few people about , we headed out towards the first hide . Tufted , Shoveler , Mallard and the usual Coot and Moorhen were all seen , along with a couple of juvenile

gulls , which I think are GBBG , but only managed a shot through a window before they flew off . The reedbeds were very quiet and it was the common species that were singing around the edges of
the site . We were watching a 'Coot war' in one of the ditches and I was hoping that one of the birds
would fly directly towards where I was standing on a small bridge . That didn't happen , but this

Great Crested Grebe popped up right beside me , and wasn't worried at all by my presence . By now , Carol was needing a rest for her leg so we made for the Tower Hide , which also got her out of the chilly wind for a while . I made for the top floor and had a scan over the area from this vantage point . The grazing marsh held good numbers of Wigeon along with the species already seen , and

also just two , a pair of Pintail , which stayed around just long enough to get two shots at distance , before flying off and landing even further away , before disappearing into the bankside vegetation .
From the same place I found 2 possibly 3 small birds , flitting about amongst the dead Bullrushes .

They too were distant , but finally managed to identify them as Stonechats , both male as above and female were seen . A Common Snipe was also seen as it flew into the same area , but vanished straight away . When I found Carol back on the ground floor , she said someone had spotted a Water Rail on a different side of the hide , but it was only fleeting . Moving on , we found male and

female Wigeon sunning themselves , they too didn't seem worried . A lot of noise drew our attention to a pair of adult Egyptian Geese and two juveniles joining in the racket . The adult male was

pushing down and pecking at the adult female and she was calling out which seemed in turn to make the juveniles make more noise . I stopped to check the replay on the camera , when Caro said 'you've missed it ' . The pair had mated and flew off noisily , along with the juveniles . Didn't hear of any Bittern sightings whilst we were there , but from the hide where they have been seen , a male and female Pochard , once again usually difficult to get near to , hauled out of the water for a wash and

brush up , as the early afternoon sun began to drop on the sky . On leaving that hide , we were heading back to the visitor centre and on the way , as we crossed a small bridge , had a close

encounter with a second Grebe species , this time Little . The Shoveler , many of whom were tucked into the bank snoozing earlier , now seemed to be more active , and managed to get these two a little

further on . Almost at the courtyard of the visitor centre , movement high in a Silver Birch caught my eye , but I was looking straight into the sun , so had to get around the other side to confirm my

suspicions . Sure enough , it was a small flock of Redpoll . I took several shots , but a lot of them had

the birds deep in shadow , but they rounded off the day nicely .
No dancing Bittern today , but the important thing was that Carol had her day 'up in the smoke' .
I did take some shots in the World Wetlands area , covering foreign and some native species , if things are quiet tomorrow , I might post some of those for interest .