WeBS

A delayed survey this month, with the lower estuary counted on Sunday and the middle and upper estuary counted yesterday. Totals included 259 Oystercatchers, 61 Curlew, 50 Redshanks, 27 Turnstones, three Greenshanks, three Black-tailed Godwits, 12 Dunlin, six Ringed Plovers, two Common Sandpipers, 12 Little Egrets, nine Cormorants, six Shags, 30 Shelducks, 29 Red-breasted Mergansers, 23 Mute Swans, 10 Wigeon, a Teal and a Kingfisher. 

Otter!

Feeling a bit under the weather following a Covid booster jab, I managed a short walk around Hackney Marshes yesterday morning and was stopped in my tracks when an Otter lumbered across the path near the screen. It then proceeded to fish in the channel between the railway and the racecourse for about ten minutes, swimming right up to the edge of the cycle path and giving memorable views just a few metres away. I cursed the fact that I didn't have my proper camera with me, although not trying to get the perfect shot allowed me to enjoy the experience more. There was no sign this morning unfortunately, although a couple of passers-by commented that they had seen recently an Otter in the same area.