Had a nice day’s birding at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust place at Barnes. Didn’t manage to see or hear the Lesser Whitethroat which was apparently there this morning, but I did see Little Ringed Plover, which scratches one more species off my ’embarrassing gaps’ list: i.e. birds I’m slightly embarrassed to admit I’ve never seen.
Other mildly notable sightings include Buzzard, which is common as muck over most of the country but not in the south east of England, loads of chirruping Sand Martins (i.e. what Americans call ‘Bank Swallows’), Lapwings making those extraordinary noises they make. And nice views of Reed Bunting:
Not a great photo, I know, but I’m just amazed I managed to get anything at all by holding the camera of my iPhone up to the telescope eyepiece.
Full bird list after the jump, (unless I’ve forgotten something; wasn’t taking notes).
- Little Grebe
- Great Crested Grebe
- Cormorant
- Grey Heron
- Greylag Goose
- Canada Goose (and poss. Canada x Greylag hybrid)
- Gadwall
- Pochard
- Mallard
- Teal
- Shoveler
- Shelduck
- Egyptian Goose
- Wigeon
- Tufted Duck
- Mute Swan
- Buzzard
- Kestrel
- Moorhen
- Coot
- Redshank
- Little-ringed Plover
- Lapwing
- pigeon
- Woodpigeon
- Ring-necked Parakeet
- Green Woodpecker
- Wren
- Robin
- Blackbird
- Blackcap
- Willow Warbler (h)
- Chiffchaff (h)
- Reed Warbler (h)
- Great tit
- Blue tit
- Long-tailed Tit
- Carrion Crow
- Jackdaw
- Magpie
- Starling
- Chaffinch
- Greenfinch
- Goldfinch