I managed a trip to the Lee Valley Country Park yesterday. Not an intensive birding session, just a gentle stroll with the bins around the northern end of Forty Acres, Holyfield and back down alongside the Flood Relief Channel.
Works to reprofile the islands and remove scrub meant that I saw flocks of lapwings in Forty Acres, something I have missed for the last few years. Somebody with a scope mentioned snipe as well. On the lake were a pretty standard collection of water fowl, but then unless you see a bittern or rail in the reeds that lake is normally quite predictable.
Up at Holyfield I was surprised not to see any goosander, which are normally present at this time of year, and hoped in vain for smew. I did see a party of ruddy duck, a mature drake, a juvenile and a female. The high point was seeing a grebe take a fish. Of course he kept his back to use while I was trying to photograph him with the fish in his beak.
Surprisingly there was not a single gull perched on the boom at Holyfield Wier. Normally they stand shoulder to shoulder, mostly black headed but a careful study of the legs with bins or scope usually picks out a common gull or two among them.
The Flood Relief Channel was remarkable for the number of dabchicks that I saw. At least four individuals as well as one or two on Holyfield itself. I hadn't seen any along this streatch before and never in such numbers.
The mildness of the winter was in evidence with daffodils in flower at the visitor centre.
Works to reprofile the islands and remove scrub meant that I saw flocks of lapwings in Forty Acres, something I have missed for the last few years. Somebody with a scope mentioned snipe as well. On the lake were a pretty standard collection of water fowl, but then unless you see a bittern or rail in the reeds that lake is normally quite predictable.
Up at Holyfield I was surprised not to see any goosander, which are normally present at this time of year, and hoped in vain for smew. I did see a party of ruddy duck, a mature drake, a juvenile and a female. The high point was seeing a grebe take a fish. Of course he kept his back to use while I was trying to photograph him with the fish in his beak.
Surprisingly there was not a single gull perched on the boom at Holyfield Wier. Normally they stand shoulder to shoulder, mostly black headed but a careful study of the legs with bins or scope usually picks out a common gull or two among them.
The Flood Relief Channel was remarkable for the number of dabchicks that I saw. At least four individuals as well as one or two on Holyfield itself. I hadn't seen any along this streatch before and never in such numbers.
The mildness of the winter was in evidence with daffodils in flower at the visitor centre.
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