Patch year ticks

On an overcast and damp morning (potentially great for grounding summer-migrants) the highlight was looking like Jono berating an ignorant dog-walker for traipsing through prime Skylark breeding territory! But somehow I managed to trump that by adding five - yes five Wanstead year ticks, making my current patch total this year a wee-bit more respectable.

 Year List

First up was a solitary calling Willow Warbler in Long Wood, followed by my patch nemesis and the long, long-overdue Collared Dove (I still think the current Wanstead Bird Report is a little out of touch calling these locally common breeders*). I then added a Peregrine Falcon which swiftly crossed the Flats heading towards Forest Gate, before saying au revoir and parting company with my fellow soggy Wanstead birders as I headed to Alexandra Lake for one final sortie before slopping off home for breakfast. Here, a flyover Little Egret lifted the gloom somewhat before finally seeing the patch's first returning Swallows of the year - as a pair quickly zipped past me and out of view, which had me almost skipping back to the car!

It may not have been the migrant-full morning I had wished for and the weather had almost promised, but you see nought by laying in your warm and cosy bed on a Sunday morning.

Coot - Not America! Just the Eurasion version

*I jest