Trip reports

WWT Barnes - by Peter Hambrook

Wednesday, 11 March 2009

After the usual battle through the remnants of the rush hour traffic, ten of us arrived at Barnes on a beautiful early spring morning. The first arrivals were greeted by Canada geese and greylags flying out to nibble the grass on the adjacent football pitches, while a green woodpecker yaffled in nearby trees and a party of siskins flew into one of the birches on the reserve.

Having gathered the flock together we headed out in the direction of the multi-storey Peacock hide, but our attention was soon grabbed by a mixed flock of common redpolls and siskins that were foraging in one of the groups of birches along the path. Moving on, we came to the area where Angela had advised Dennis that a woodcock was seen roosting the previous day. An attentive group clustered around a couple of telescopes suggested that it was still there and, thanks to one of the friendly volunteers, we were soon getting good views of a beautifully camouflaged woodcock, well lit by the sun under bushes on a nearby bank. We were able to admire the way it blended into the background perfectly and thanked the lady concerned as we would never have picked it out ourselves. Thank you too Angela.

The Peacock tower affords excellent views across the reserve and there was the typical collection of wildfowl that you would expect at the turn of the seasons. Mallard, teal and shovelers were still quite numerous and careful searching revealed a scattering of widgeon, pochard, gadwall, tufted duck and the odd pintail. Standing out like a sore thumb amongst the Canadas and greylags was an Emperor goose, obviously escaped from a collection as they are found in the wild in the Aleutians, west of Alaska and the adjacent Kamchatka Peninsular in the far east of Russia. Waders were fairly scarce but we found a few snipe and lapwings scattered around. There was a fair collection of gulls too, including black-headed, common, and great and lesser black-backed. Deciding to return to the centre by the back route, we hadn't progressed far before we noticed a lady photographer concentrating on a patch of reeds. Drawing closer, we could hear an unusual call and, spotting us, the camera-toting lady beckoned us over. There, out in an open area of beaten down reeds, was a water rail, apparently advertising for a mate, and we were able to watch it for some minutes before it gave up and disappeared into the reeds. The rest of this area was fairly quiet but some managed to see a goldcrest.

After an excellent meal at the centre we headed for the Wildside, passing through the collection birds, which were largely ignored, although they do have some young Demoiselle cranes here which are quite interesting. Continuing on, you then come to a hide and nearby a gate leads into another wild area, the path eventually leading to a two-level hide. Not a lot new was seen here but we came across some little grebes which had almost completely moulted into their breeding plumage, a pair of displaying great crested grebes and a solitary redshank. A chiffchaff was seen calling from the birches.

Time was marching on and it was soon time to head for home before the commuters made the journey too much of an ordeal for us country folk. Thanks to all for their company on what was a most enjoyable day in the fringes of the metropolis.