Nothing to see here

After Wednesday's audacious attempt at border raiding (trying to hear the Tottenham Common Rosefinch from within the Walthamstow patch boundaries) was foiled, mainly by the abscence of the bird itself, enthusiasm was mustered, by myself and Lol to go out over the marsh and find Walthamstow's very own rare migrant.....

.....there were none (in fact nothing) on the Horse field, yes there were plenty of Swifts over the filter beds but none of them remotely Pacific, a half a dozen Chiffchaffs, now getting ready for a second brood, sang across the marsh but none had an Iberian accent, a Heron fished in the Lea amongst the large Carp, but it was not the least bit Purple. Ahh well we tried. Something beckoned us to head for a more tranquil spot and see what we could turn up there.

The Dove of peace lied! (well Woodpigeon with twig) The Waterworks N.R. was not a haven of respite and rarities, it was full of year 7 pupils on a 'nature walk'. Apparently they had been told specifically not to stand on the benches and slam the hide flaps. How did we know? Because we heard them being reminded after they had done it of course! The/a Cetti's Warbler was still there, the usual suspects were probably breeding, Reed Warblers, Pochard, Little Grebe etc but nothing scarce to get the juices flowing.

Surprisingly few Insects around too, the only Butterflies were a couple of Red Admirals and Small Whites and no Dragonflies at all. The best show really was the plant life, Honeysuckle was absolutely abundant and fragrant too, I don't remember it ever being so plentiful on the marsh. In fact all the plants looked very lush indeed and fittingly so for nearly high summer. Bee Orchids have been discovered on the Waterworks, which is nice, or will be in a month. Whoever discovered them needs a medal as the only sign at present is about 1mm of green leaf, I think that pretty well sums up this blogs title.
PW