Birding Braunie

I say this at the start of every new year, the first trip out is alway great because every species sighting is a tick for my year. 2016 was no exception. With two bird races kicking off, The Rainham Marshes one created by Howard Vaughan and a smaller more private affair in the Lee Valley with Roy Woodward and Dave Hutley. Lee Valley, particularly around the Fishers Green area held a good number of Lesser Redpolls through January. These were mainly seen around the Longlands Hide occasionally coming to the feeders. A pair of Coal Tits also enjoyed the feeding station while large flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing could be found on the outlying fields. A Lesser spotted woodpecker was also sighted near the hide by my friend Brenda. Lucky lady! Up at Holyfield Farm, regulars included Grey Wagtail , Chiffchaff and a pair of Stonechats , often sighted on the pathway towards the farm. Common Buzzards , Kestrels and a couple of Red Kite were in the area. Nightingale Wood had a good nu...

Normally I take an early morning walk around the Lee Valley at Fisher’s Green on my own, before going on duty. Today was different. Today was special. The powers at LVP are always looking for new volunteers and are always asking how and why we (volunteers) do it in order to get an insight on how they can persuade others to join the team. well, the answer is simple; volunteers form close friendships with other volunteers and this means days like this. Instead of my normal insular walk, I was joined by my good and generous friends Brenda and Jo. We met at Fisher’s Green before most people are even awake and enjoyed a bracing 3 hour walk around the park pretty much to ourselves before taking up duties at the Bittern information Point. 50 shades of Grey Wagtail. We made our to the Grebe hide, a trail I often take and stopped at the vantage point that look across the Grand Weir. Now, I have only ever seen a Grey Wagtail once in this park...back in some forgotten year but we were luc...

Yin and Yang. Heaven and Hell. The phrase polar opposites seems to be quite apt for me after a day in the Bittern Watchpoint yesterday. Actually, polar vortex is closer to the truth. The day had started with my car warning me of ice – like I needed to be told! still, it’s a caring car so i mustn’t be rude about it. With freezing rain sliding off the windscreen, I drove over to the Lee Valley Park. By the time I got there, the rainy sleet was slowly petering out. I have been looking for the regular Yellowhammers now for a few weeks and the possibility that there might be signs of these bright buntings (not academically you understand) was too much to resist. Greylags in motion. There were clattering of Jackdaws up at the farm and mutations of Fieldfare and Redwing hanging about outside the open barn as if they were having a crafty fag. Their guilt is magnified by the way they scatter at even my distant presence. They are quite funny really. Filter-tipped Fieldfare The...

In order to better myself and following my cinema visit to see The Theory of Everything and getting my nose stuck into Steven Hawkings A Brief History of Time, I managed to discover the complete formula that makes our universe make sense – birding. Somehow and with the aid of a fortuitous worm hole, I managed to bend time and get some serious birding in this week. So a visit to Rainham Centauri. Landing Craft. With a landscape not dissimilar to the icy moon Europa, I found myself, alone, at Rainham. To be fair, the mother craft that is the visitor centre did open its lower hatch with a burst of dry ice and a figure almost human in the shape of HV-1 did invite me in with a pointing finger but I declined. I took the opportunity to have a scan around the car park area and flushed a little green monster in the shape of a Green Woodpecker. Little Green Man Instead, I chose to traverse the rugged terrain of the the river path in search of life in the shape of Water Pipits and...