More of the same

After the rain of the last few days, water levels at the London Wetland Centre have risen again, covering the fresh mud recently exposed on the Wader Scrape. 2 Dunlin on the Main Lake were a sign of movement but other than that it was business as usual. Duck numbers remain about the same with 3 Pintail, 20 Gadwall, 31 Wigeon, 24 Pochard, 118 Shoveler, 130+ Teal and 186 Tufted Duck counted. 1 Bittern showed well on the Reservoir Lagoon and 21 Common Snipe (photo), 32 Lapwing, 1 Water Rail, 10 Fieldfare and 6 Redwing were the only other notables.

The end of winter?

Another spring-like day and another scout around the London Wetland Centre. Since Monday the water level on the Wader Scrape has been lowered revealing a good expanse of fresh mud that is really pulling in the birds (top photo). This pool alone produced 2 Jack Snipe, 6 Common Snipe, 1 Water Pipit, 5 Pintail (second photo), 102 Shoveler, 110 Teal, 6 Gadwall and a Shelduck. Surely an LRP is due here any day now? Other birds seen around the reserve include 33 Wigeon, 10 Pochard, 127 Tufted Duck, another 20 Shoveler, 3 more Common Snipe, 37 Lapwing, 1 Redwing, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Reed Bunting and 1 redpoll sp. over. With reports of a Willow Warbler heard singing from the car park over the last few days, it feels like spring is finally here, but maybe the pair of nest-building Long-tailed Tits seen today were getting just a little overexcited - surely they are forgetting the late winter freeze that's just around the corner?

Sun is shinin' in the sky...

Woke up today to some freak weather conditions - blue sky, sun and no wind - so I quickly forgot any ideas about working and rushed off to the London Wetland Centre. No hoped for early migrants materialized (a Little Ringed Plover was at Staines Reservoir two days ago), but a Bittern showed well for a minute or so on the Main Lake and 1 Water Pipit, 8+ Common Snipe, 24 Lapwing and a single Redwing were also seen (and a Cetti's Warbler heard). Duck numbers were about the same, with 2 Pintail, 29 Wigeon, 15 Gadwall, 54 Shoveler, 20 Pochard, 130 Tufted Duck and at least 100 Teal counted.

I'm really getting to like this place, despite the fact that there are usually screaming kids everywhere and during half-term it's like being at a mother and child social gathering in Starbucks. Still, if its a choice between dog walkers and kids, I'd choose the kids any day. This Grey Heron fishing right next the path certainly didn't mind em!

London Wetland Centre

A few hours at the London Wetland Centre this afternoon produced 1 Bittern showing fairly well on the Sheltered Lagoon (though still not close enough for a decent photo), 3 Pintail, 1 Shelduck, 34 Wigeon, 35 Gadwall, 48 Shoveler, 185 Tufted Duck, 100+ Teal, 89 Lapwing, 3 Common Snipe and 2 Sparrowhawk.

The Grazing Marsh from the Peacock Tower

No show Short-eared

This afternoon Rachel and I tried for the Short-eared Owl seen recently in Richmond Park, but unfortunately all we had was the usual gangs of Ring-necked Parakeets. While scanning I got to thinking back to the Short-eared Owl we saw on the island of Genovesa, Galapagos in 2006 (photo below). This endemic subspecies - Asio flammeus galapagoensis - looks quite different from the European birds, but the biggest difference is their unique hunting strategy - where they clamber around on the lava fields stalking Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrels returning to their nests. Check out this excellent BBC footage.

A dull day at Staines Moor

Spent a few hours today seeing nothing at the moor. 2 Goosander, 1 Little Egret, 50 Fieldfares and 25 Redwings was all I had to show for grilling the place. The wintering Firecrest once again alluded me and a pair of Mallard constituted the wintering wildfowl population. I don't think I've ever seen the moor so devoid of birds - where have all the wildfowl gone?? Perhaps the swarms of dog walkers traipsing around has something to do with it? So why is it I have a problem with dog walkers? Maybe it's the two terriers that wouldn't stop jumping up at me, defying the raucous yelling of the owner to control them? Or maybe it was one couple's pack crashing into the river ruining the tranquility and flushing a probable Water Pipit? The list goes on...

Staines Moor looking south from The Butts - note the absence of avifauna

The River Colne - note the presence of dog walkers

The lynx effect

Arrived back early this morning from a five day trip to southern Spain to try and see the world's rarest cat - the Iberian Lynx Lynx pardinus. Now classified by the IUCN as Critically Endangered, the population has crashed over the last couple of decades, with surveys estimating only around 150 individuals remaining, and just 40 breeding females! Today there are only two known isolated breeding populations, both in Spain - one in the Coto Doñana and the other, the species stronghold, in the Sierra Morena. Both areas are vast, but regular sightings over the last few years from the Sierra de Andújar Natural Park in the Sierra Morena prompted me, Rachel, Jaffa and Helen to try and connect with one.

After four long intense days scanning endless boulder strewn dehesa hillsides (photo below) we managed two Lynx sightings. The first was a very distant animal found by Jaffa and seen for just a few seconds walking along a hilltop track on the evening of 2nd. Lucky as we felt about seeing such a rare animal, it wasn't the view we wanted, and the image of Steve Bird's irritatingly awesome photo of a Lynx lying on a rock, taken last year from the very same road we were standing on, just wouldn't stop haunting us! So the scanning intensified, the night-drives got later and the number of sites visited increased. Two days later and we'd had no further sign - this was hard work! Then at dusk on 4th, our last evening, just as we were heading back to the car, a Lynx suddenly appeared on the hillside just a few metres from us! We expected it to bolt but instead it just looked at us nonchalantly, then slowly swaggered down the hill and across the car park, passing within four metres of Rachel who was sitting in the car (who first saw it in the side mirror!), before ambling across a bridge that we had been standing on just a short while before! The sighting lasted for about 10 minutes and has to be one of the best wildlife experiences of my life! Frustratingly I couldn't get a photo, but for some great footage that sums up our elation visit Cream Tea Birding.

Other mammals seen include 1 European Otter, Mouflon, 2 Wild Boar and lots of Red Deer and Fallow Deer (first photo below). The best birds were 2-3 Spanish Imperial Eagles, 4 Golden Eagles, Black Vulture, Rock Bunting, Rock Sparrow, Blue Rock Thrush, Hoopoe, Hawfinch, Woodlark, Iberian Grey Shrike, loads of Black Redstarts and hundreds of Azure-winged Magpies. Also noteworthy were small flocks of overwintering House Martins (or early migrants), 2 Barn Swallows, a few White Storks and an unseasonal Red-backed Shrike. Other highlights include a Horseshoe Whip Snake Hemorrhois hippocrepis (second photo below), Southern Tree Frogs Hyla meridionalis (last photo) and Natterjack Toads Bufo calamita. A full trip report will follow soon.

For more information about the Iberian Lynx see the IUCN Red List. To find out what is being done to try and save them visit SOSLynx.org.