Wandle Wags

Trip out with the boys to the river. Not a great deal about: a Pied Wag on the railings by the new housing development, c25 Mallard on the Wandle, along with 2 Mute Swan, 4-5 Coot, a couple of Moorhen, f Tufted. On the Thames: a dozen cormorant, c40 Gulls (BH, HG, LBB), 2 more Tufted in flight upriver and a Goldfinch over calling.

Pied Wagtail alongside Thames

Garganey and the boy

Today was a bit of an experiment day - whether it's possible to do any real birding with the eldest boy (22 months) in tow. He is adorable and loves being outside, but is easily bored when I'm not paying him any attention. In general the answer was 'no not really' but it was possible to do a few quick scans of the Main Lake and some bits of the reserve. Trips with him or both boys to the Wandle tend to work OK because there aren't really that many birds so only getting about 10 minutes of birding time is OK. Trying to do Barnes with only 10 minutes of actual birding is frankly a bit tricky. The advantage of getting it to work is that I get an extra chunk of birding time at the weekend. Since my average this year is half a day a week (work, childcare, life occupy the rest) even a small chunk is a big step forward.

Anyway, despite the limitations of child centred birding I did manage a Barnes year tick (Garganey) and a few other bits of niceness including 9 Snipe and increasing numbers of duck. Winter is coming.

Wandsworth Common

2 Willow Warbler singing by the top pond plus all the usuals singing.

Wandsworth Common

2 Pied Wag on N Common, 2 Egy Geese on N pond (no chicks), c12 Tufties, 2 Canucks, Mallard, Blackcap singing from near railway bridge but just a brief snatch and v noisy, Dunnock, Robin.