Viz Mipping

Had another go at viz migging this morning. What a difference a day makes, much quieter this time and actually a few birds, well 9 Meadow Pipits to be precise and possibly a couple of migrant Chaffinches. It's always difficult to decide what's local and what's a migrant with Chaffinches. Meadow Pipits, well they are easy, they don't live here so they are migrants and the first over the house this autumn so doubly welcome. Grey Wagtails and Great Spotted Woodpecker are pretty local, the former much commoner in winter than summer but both were quite obvious this morning too.

(When will Tree Pipit do the decent thing and give itself up over the house? Just how many Mippits = 1 Trippit? Talking of Lapland Buntings, which we weren't, I glimpsed a group of about 15 chunky Finch/Bunting things flying away from the house yesterday, oh if only I was outside and heard one of them call!)

Meadow Pipits were passing over on a broad front all day it would seem, judging from the number reported from different London sites and the fact that I heard them everywhere I went locally this morning. Every street seemed to have Chiffchaffs in the roadside Trees too, I wonder what else passes through suburbia unnoticed?

Later this afternoon I had a stroll over Walthamstow Marshes and saw the first Lesser Whitethroat for a while, in with an itinerant Tit flock. Sadly nothing much else gave itself up. I did see a pale Warbler disappear into some dense vegetation but it did not reappear. I flushed up 6 Reed Buntings from some other dense vegetation but unfortunately left with about 2000 seeds attached to my fleece for the trouble!

Another 15 Meadow Pipits flew over in one flock and some singles and the male Peregrine was seen flying over the Marsh and then sitting on it's favourite pylon. I was struck by how similar the call was to Ring-necked Parakeet, one or two of which were calling from nearby. Lol totally disagrees but what does he know he's only a musician:-)

On this date:

18 09 89 Lockwood Reservoir; A 1st winter Grey Phalarope was bobbing around in the waves at the North end, also still a female Common Scoter. An immature/female Ruddy Duck on the East Warwick. A large Sparrowhawk seen later over St’ James’s St. (that's when they were noteworthy!)

18 09 99 An Osprey flew South-south-west over the house this afternoon.

PW