Woodcock, Bramblings, Pintails

Another exceptional day on patch, with persistent rain and above-zero temperatures starting to thaw the snow and frozen ground. Early morning at Hackney Marshes was productive with a Woodcock flushed by a dog-walker and a pair of Bramblings by the feeding area near the second bridge. A dead Avocet floating in the main channel was a sign of just how hard things have been over the past few days.

Venturing out again after lunch, I stopped initially at Passage House car park where three very weak looking Golden Plovers were at least having some success pulling worms out of the thawed turf along with a couple of Snipe and Mistle Thrushes. Two Pintails flew over, briefly looking like they were going to drop in before continuing up river.

I then spent the next couple of hours focusing my attention on the racecourse which was crawling with birds. Totals of 'wetland' species included:

Lapwing - c.50
Golden Plover - c.50
Black-tailed Godwit - 29
Snipe - 8
Curlew - 1
Teal - 12
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 49

A group of approx. 25 Black-tailed Godwits were seen near Jetty Marsh yesterday, so the core of today's flock was almost certainly made up of those birds. It almost goes without saying that there were also hundreds of Redwings and Fieldfares on the racecourse. Finally on the walk back through Hackney Marshes a pair of Yellowhammers and presumably the same female Brambling from this morning were by the feeding area.