Friday, 6 September 2019

London Wetland Centre - A Wry Smile and a Crooked Neck!


When late news broke of a Wryneck at the London Wetland Centre I was dreading today! The bird would remain and be on view and I would not be able to get out to add it to my VC17 Surrey total. I have missed several birds over the years through being abroad. I also missed the Beddington Farm bird that was caught in the nets having arranged to go out for the day with a girlfriend (an ex!). I remember the news breaking as I was sat on a train. Tough times! 


The Wryneck did remain and by a non serious quirk of fate my hospital run was delayed by a few hours! With no time to lose I was making my way back to LWC to find out the bird had not shown since 1000hrs. The likely scenario was it was sitting tight in a bush having been spooked by a crow. I gained a prime viewing position in the hide as people drifted away and waited!


The bird appeared near the first post along the fence-line right in front of my position. Fantastic! Some 100 shots later and my first SVC Wryneck was in the bag.
This was my 238 VC17 Surrey species and one I was relieved to have finally caught up with! The VC17 top listers page is on the dashboard to this blog.

I am hoping my next tick will be Stone Curlew another species I keep missing for similar reasons!
Woo Hoo!

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