Thanks
Essex. Since they replaced that vandalised Hide the activity is much improved again, always worth a visit if you can get the tides right.
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Well I did promise I’d have my diary up to date by the end of November so here goes…
November 2021
Tuesday the 23rd. For one reason or another.. well mainly Covid related reasons, I’d not visited Barnes Wetland centre for quite some time. On checking the website it would seem a few species had been sighted there that I haven’t seen for a few years, Redpoles, Siskins and Brambling and it looked like a nice day, albeit rather chilly.
The first circuit of the hides didn’t turn up a great deal, just plenty of the usual suspects sitting around (there were the usual whispers of Bitterns from fellow watchers that you always get at this time of year). I managed to get a sighting of a Brambling (only my second ever sighting) at one of the bird feeders. No photo’s though, its good for spotting but hopeless for photography since you can only view it from the north side so you get a face full of sun and the feeders are in a large wire cage, presumably to deter Squirrels although today two of them had found their way in.
On the return wander I found something to point my camera at. One of the usual suspects was having a late breakfast, or rather breakfast, lunch and tea all rolled into one, rather comically observed by a juvenile Herring Gull who perhaps couldn’t believe what was going on. The cormorant started off playing around with the lifeless Eel, clearly building up to taking the plunge. Anyway for the next 10 minutes the Gull and I watched as it struggled to get the whole thing down. Technically it managed it, although the Eel obviously needed to be digested a bit at a time. It did look uncomfortably full!
At another hide the whispers of Bittern activity came to fruition when one decided to move the edge of the reedbed.
Whilst he was being ‘at one with the reeds’ a pair of Cetti’s Warblers noisily lurked closer to the hide and even started showing. There’s not a great deal that can draw a twitchers attention from a bittern standing motionless, but when I mentioned one of the Warblers was showing well, all eyes suddenly moved down to him. After hopping around, shouting in that Cetti way they have, he vanished back into the reeds and all eyes moved back to the Bittern. I stayed focused on the Cetti’s who hadn’t moved far and was rewarded when one popped out again and this time posed in a very un-Cetti’s fashion, basically giving me a full on Cetti’s Warbler photoshoot, left side, right side, feathery butt and even a coy look over it’s shoulder
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
.
An hour later I returned to see how the Cormorant was feeling. I’m thinking indigestion and possibly questioning its eye to stomach ratio.
At the Peacock Hide (a 3 storey hide) some Lapwing were doing some circuits and a few of Snipe were seen bathing and feeding.
![IMG_0283.JPG (97.11 KiB) Viewed 753 times How to sex your Lapwing: Note the female at the front has narrower wings to the males with their broader 'hands' just behind her.](./files/thumb_13753_d825d315f47f1983813959fb7dc55727)
- How to sex your Lapwing: Note the female at the front has narrower wings to the males with their broader 'hands' just behind her.
Two and half hours after the Eel was eaten the Cormorant was still feeling a bit full, now joined by a couple of pals.
I suspect it was still there the following morning.
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Sunday the 28th. The day after the UKB social was certainly much nicer if still rather cold. I took a wander on my local patch where I’ve not ventured since the spring. It was all rather quiet with very little to point my camera at, except for once again a Snipe, it’s been a good few years since I’ve found one here, although I’ve no doubt they’ve been here all along. There was also a fox prowling.