Sunday, 16 June 2019

London Wetland Centre Barnes - Trickle of Shorebirds!


With more unsettled weather forecast I decided to return to the London Wetland Centre with the prospect of catching up with shorebirds that I had missed during spring migration whilst down under. The site has had a good run of shorebirds of late therefore there was a good chance of more stopping off on the wader scrape. 
The centre opens at 0930hrs which gave me time to stick my head out of the window and look at birds frequenting my garden before a trouble free journey to Barnes.
The rain had descended by the time of my arrival so I utilized the glass fronted viewing area overlooking the main lake. I made my way to the Wader scrape hide ducking into other hides to dodge showers along the way. News was passed on regarding a couple of Green Sandpipers on the muddy area in the centre of the scrape and it was not long before they both appeared in that area. Both birds showed spotting across the mantle, back and scapulars indicating birds in breeding plumage.
The LRP and young were attracting a lot of attention in the Peacock hide so I decided to look through the gulls that were scattered about on the far islands. I had recently bought an adjustable mobile phone adaptor for my old Galaxy S4 and tested the quality of image at long range. The subject a 3rd summer Great Black Backed Gull showing a pale tipped bill and brown feathering through the upper-wing. The mantle and back dark grey.

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