LWC Barnes, 24th October 2017

For once, I got to Barnes in the morning and by 11 was checking the sightings board in the entrance area. With nothing seen other than Snipe and the like, my expectations were low, more hoping for a miracle to drop in. I was back with my friend Dexter, and we opted for the Wildside route. From the Headley Hide, there was barely anything showing so we moved on to the Wildside hide, which was the same. The Stonechat made a brief appearance as did a few Meadow Pipit, and the Cetti's Warblers continued singing. Other than that, there were a few Great Crested Grebe and Pochards. Nothing interesting.

We soon switched to the South Route, which also was quiet. There were numerous woodpeckers, and so many dabbling ducks, with Teal, Pochard, Shoveler, Gadwall and many Wigeon, with around 100 across the South Route. From the feeders, there was no sign of any Siskin but along with lots of tit species, there was a Redpoll sp. that flew out of one of the trees - probably Lesser. 

The most puzzling moment of the day came while up on my first trip up to the Peacock tower. Admittedly, pipits aren't my strongest point, but I've been familiarizing myself with them recently. At one point, around 1:30pm, a pipit suddenly appeared calling loudly over the wader scrape, sounding nothing like a Meadow, Water or Tree, but more like a Rock Pipit. Having heard them a lot in Cornwall, it didn't ring a bell. Nonetheless, it flew towards the Reservoir Lagoon, and wasn't seen again. 

GCG

GSW

Teal

After getting a run-around by Cetti's Warblers, we did a circuit of the sheltered lagoon and headed back up to the Peacock Tower again, having seen 19 Grey Herons and a monstrous Great Black-backed Gull. I had managed to find the Peregrine on Charing Cross, but without my scope it wasn't possible to tell whether it was male/female. 

Peregrine (barely)

Then finally someone found the Snipe.

Snipes

Snipe 1

Snipe 2

Gadwall

Snipes

itchy neck

Lapwing

Soon after, we did another circuit where there was nothing new so we headed back, with just a pair of Sparrowhawk terrorizing the main lake to finish. More quality than quantity today, but a fairly nice visit.