Winter

Almost the first bird that greeted me on Wanstead Flats this morning was a Common Snipe. I've not seen a Snipe in Wanstead since December 2022, so this was both very welcome and a nice surprise as it rasped over near Long Wood. I think it had been put up from the brooms near the airfield by a dog walker, so pretty lucky as although the fencing is now down there is a lot of long grass that things can hide in. There are barely any paths remaining after a long period of no footfall so we are still a little restricted in the areas we can cover. The main north-south path is beginning to re-emerge as people start to cross the area, but it's a considerable feat of memory to be able to recall where all the others started and finished, and so at the moment I'm picking my way around rather tentatively. Once I did negiotiate my way through in a vaguely east-west direction I only managed to add around a dozen Meadow Pipits. There is plenty of time left in the autumn for stuff to drop in though.

The main path through the Skylark area is beginning to stand out again.

Heading back for breakfast, blog-writing and work I made a short detour via Jubilee. Score! My first Wigeon since October 2022 and the first on the patch since March 2023. Amazing! I didn't see Snipe or Wigeon last year at all, my first blank year for either of them, so to clean up both on the same morning feels rather peculiar. It must be winter. I don't carry a camera around these days, I simply can't be bothered, but maybe I should as my phone is totally inadequate in these situations. Still, a record shot is a record shot, and hopefully acts a spur for a local twitch. I've only seen Wigeon on the patch seven times this decade so it's definitely one of the rarer ducks locally, and if the most recent record is a year and a half ago then there could be a few people for whom it's a patch tick.