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Lake and Sea Shore

On Sunday I stopped off at Fishers Green in the Lea Valley Park. From a birding point of view it wasn't particularly fruitful. The footbridge over the Lea was closed so I couldn't get to the hide facing the reed bed on Forty Acres Lake. Following the Flood Relief Channel up to Holyfield Lake gave a nice view of a flock of lapwing in the air. When I used to visit the park regularly this lake was usually good for a sight of a goosander in the winter but my necessarily brief visits in recent years haven't resulted in a sighting. The Grebe Hide gave me a nice view of some common pochard, something that was curiously absent on my last visit to the Colne Valley. Many years ago I saw a smew from this hide and I always go there full of hope in the winter and am always disappointed.
Holyfield Lake
 The real highlight was a nice view of a goldcrest in the bushes adjacent to the Flood Relief Channel. At first I assumed that it was a wren but realised my mistake when I could see that the tail went out straight behind and some careful manoeuvring let me see the gold flash on the head.

Yesterday I took advantage of the good weather to take a trip to Leigh on Sea. I arrived just as the tide was at its peak and parked behind the station. They have a nice system for deterring commuters from the visitor parking by charging until 10AM on weekdays but making parking free for the rest of the day. Stepping up onto the sea wall the marsh between the car park and Two Tree Island seemed empty at first sight but after watching for a minute I could pick out brent geese gliding between the patches of vegetation. Once my mind had edited out the urban noises from behind me I could start picking out the various calls. The geese chattering to each other and a curlew. I got the bins focused on a tiny island where the call came from and was rewarded with a long billed head sticking up from the grass.

At one end of the cockle sheds there was a mass of turnstone gathered on one of the small quays.
Turnstone at High Tide
After a quick snack of cockles at Osbornes I watched as the tide started to turn and the geese responded by moving out of the creek onto the flats, waiting for the water level to drop beneath them. At Bell Wharf there was an flock of gulls which seemed to see something edible in the water as they kept diving down to snatch things that I couldn't see. Then I thought that I saw a black dog swimming a fair way off the beach. After a minute or two it didn't seem quite right and the use of the bins revealed a seal. He dived several times and posed nicely, showing off his whiskers in between. I have been closer to seals in the wild but not when carrying binoculars so this was probably the best view that I have had in my life. He seemed quite unphased by being so close to a working quay.

Walking back the mud was becoming exposed and the usual suspects started to appear including sanderling, redshank, grey plover and knot. I didn't make out any dunlin which is unusual but that was probably more due to the sight lines from where I was standing rather than absence.

I decided to walk up to the Two Tree Island bridge and back. I heard a clear call from a curlew and had a nice view of one in flight. To finish off the day there is a lagoon by the bridge which had a party of teal swimming in it.

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