Trip reports

Bird Walk at Fishers Green, Lea Valley on Sunday 13 January 2008

Sunday, 13 January 2008

For many years we have been lucky with the weather for this first walk of the year. On this occasion the 13 participants experienced an extremely cloudy but dry day but not helped by a strong blustery south-west wind with was not conducive to seeing many small passerines. There were plenty of water birds with both Little and Great Crested Grebes present in good numbers. Amongst the ducks we saw Gadwall, Shoveler, Wigeon and Teal and at the approach to Grebe Hide at the northern end of the walk we had a beautiful male Goosander and a couple of Ruddy Ducks. We also had good views of male Goldeneye.

Very few Blue or Great Tits were seen but we were entertained at one stage by a flock of Long-tailed Tits feeding and flitting through the riverside willows. On the return walk we saw about a dozen Redwings in the top of a tree and also watched a Buzzard quartering the hillside to the east, occasionally hovering as it searched for a meal.

At the end of the walk I returned to the hide at the Bittern Watchpoint to eat lunch and hoping to see a Bittern and Water Rail which we had not seen earlier. In fact there has only been one sighting of a Bittern from this hide all autumn and winter so far (up to three use to overwinter in this small reedbed making it a reliable place to see this enigmatic species). It would appear that with the planting of new reedbeds in the vicinity there is now a greater choice for these birds to select from.