2018 has started off quite nicely. Wilson's School playing fields has had a steady number of 200-500 gulls everyday for the last week and a half, and on the 10th a Yellow-legged Gull I'm 85% sure it was - flew over my head at 1ish and flew towards Beddington. On the same morning 5 Siskin and a Hawfinch flew onto Roundshaw Downs.
I have had a lot of work to do in the past few weeks and today I needed to go for a walk to 'blow some cobwebs away' and try and free my mind a bit. Since I'm not very fond of spiders I didn't actually blow any cobwebs away, although a troublesome False Widow spider is still living on my windowsill!
So I went to Morden Hall for a quick hour, and the sun was out. It was a nice surprise to be greeted by a family of 5 GSWs drumming away near the boardwalk, the loudest I'd ever heard them. I was then absolutely ridiculed by Chiffchaff which was singing near the river - something I'd never heard before in January. Yes, I'm not the most experienced birder but I can reassure all readers that it was singing! Either way, 3 Water Rails were heard today all in the same areas as before. One was calling loudly 10m or so diagonally left of the viewing platform. Other than that all was quiet, besides a hunting Kestrel, 2(-1) Wood Mice, 1 Little Egret and a Grey Wagtail.
The marshy side of the reedbeds is looking really good, like a small area of the marsh at WWT Barnes. I reckon, with a bit of effort, a Snipe or even a Jack Snipe could be found in the coming months.
On the way back we passed Carshalton Ponds, and a Grey Wagtail, c.70 Black-headed Gulls, c. 20 Herring Gulls and a mix of LBBs and Commons made up the rest- with a few left unidentified.
The camera is still being repaired, and with an old model of a Pentax also in for repairs it may finally be time for an upgrade...
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