Birding Braunie

Tomorrow we hit the Spring Equinox when we can all spend hours staring at the oven clock trying to remember how the damn thing works so that we can move forward with our lives. Lee Valley is a bit like my oven clock to some extent. Today I stared at it trying to will it forward into spring so that I could get out of the chilling wind and see the clouds part bringing down rays of warming ultra violet. It didn’t start well as rain sprinkled down from a flat concrete sky. I probably should have stayed in bed for an extra hour so as to balance the one I will lose tomorrow. Still, you know me... I took my car to the Hooks Marsh car park and walked along Walton’s Walk getting a small blast of spring from a couple of enthusiastic Chiffchaffs. All the regular chaps were about; Chaffinches, Robins, Goldfinches, Song Thrushes and a bucket of Blackbirds that threw themselves at me. I ignored most of these and made my way to Friday Lake. There had been a Redhead Smew here for some while and if...

Admittedly, I only go there because I promised to. I guess it’s like the last kid to get picked for the football team at school and unfortunately Nazeing Meads had no one going there to do the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS), a survey carried out on key dates through the year to log the numbers of wetland species, so I volunteered. It’s alright really. A few anglers, the odd dog walker (they’re all odd) and absolutely no birders. Why? It’s got plenty to see. Kingfishers, Bullfinches, Redwing , Fieldfare, Goldeneye, Goosanders, millions of Great Crested Grebes and the most Tufted Ducks I ever saw. Cormorant Things seem to have quietened down now as we reach the beginnings of spring. All the Goldeneye have gone and of the 12 Goosanders that were regularly there, only one remains. I guess the others could have been hiding for like a joke or something but that isn’t in their nature. I can see you! I did my normal route watching for any fly over birds that might mess the count up...

What turned out as the warmest day of the year, found me stupidly volunteering to give our sorry internal door a fresh lick of non-drip gloss. I really need to think before I open my gob. With the skies clearing to a colbalt blue, I prepped the doors and swore into my tea. My good lady is more sensible; she had already planned to go on a group walk around Wanstead followed by a historical talk somewhere. Which ever way I tried to look at my task in hand, it was going to take most of the day. On top of all this, I had to go and buy a new toaster from Currys. What a life right? Try and keep up. The math was simple. If I took ten hours to do the doors, I could probably steal an hour or so without anyone asking why I was taking so long to slap a bit of brilliant white on some doors? Okay so the best place for me to get that hour is usually Connaught Water. It has average ducks and stuff on the water and always a teasing nuthatch or treecreeper that draw me to them like a siren does a...

It was 6.30am; I was in the middle of nowhere and I couldn’t hear myself think. The birdsong was extraordinary. It was if the birds knew we were on the cusp of BST and they were going to go for it. Wrens with their high velocity, high pitched call attacked me from areas low down among the broken trees of past storms. Above, high above, Chiffchaffs played out their relentless 'chiff-chaff' song as they moved around the bare tops of the trees. Elsewhere you could hear the gurgling of Blackcaps followed by the beautiful flute-like warble that came from somewhere deep in the hawthorn. A supporting cast of Robin, Chaffinch and Song Thrush all added to the cacophony around me. Made me smile. Chiffchaff, giving it some. Chaffinch Wren As is normal with me, I like to have a couple of hours walking around the Lee Valley Park to see what’s around (punters alway ask and we have a sightings board in the info centre that always looks better with something on it). I was su...