Having not been able to attend any of the recent Leith Hill Towerwatches, I was excited to convene with Matt P, Paul S and Stuart C yesterday morning. After huffing and puffing our way up from the Windy Gap car park, we yet again greeted by a scene swathed in a yucky, cold fog. There was very little moving and we were just about to go when a
Hawfinch flew across our view to the north, a new bird for me at Leith Hill and my first in Surrey for a few years! Made up with the finch, I was content to leave when it started to rain quite heavily, having also noted four
Crossbills, a
Woodcock and a singing
Firecrest around the tower, as well as hearing my first
Cuckoo and two
Garden Warblers of the year.
I took the rain as a signal to head to the hide at Beddington, where I joined Dodge, Koje and Swifty.
Ringed Plover and
Redshank on the main lake were the first I've seen locally this year and I picked out a 2cy
Caspian Gull bearing the yellow German ring X242. There was also a
Common Sandpiper and two
Little Ringed Plovers knocking around but a
Little Egret was more of a surprise.
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| 2cy Caspian Gull 'X242' at Beddington on Monday |
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| Ringed Plover at Beddington on Monday |
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| Redshank at Beddington on Monday |
Planning on visiting Canons first this morning before heading to Beddington, I opted to do it the other way round when I saw how foggy it was outside, meaning it was bound to be a pea-souper at Canons. Starting with a walk around the south-east corner, I stopped for a quick look at the landfill site on the way and spotted the 2cy
Caspian Gull X242 again. The walk was fairly uneventful in terms of migrants, save for two
Yellow Wagtails flying over. There were several rather sweet
Canada Goose broods being taken out by their parents and the local
Lapwings were making their presence known. Back at the lake, I joined the same team as yesterday; the
Redshank was still poking around the islands and a
Common Sandpiper whirred to and fro. One or two
Red Kites passed overhead, the first time I've seen a complete specimen at Beddington! I had a walk at Canons in the afternoon but saw little of note, failing to find Steve's Ring Ouzel from yesterday.
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| Sedge Warbler at Beddington today |
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| Little Egret at Beddington today |
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| Red Kite at Beddington today |
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| ♂ Lapwing at Beddington today |
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| one of at least four Canada Goose broods at Beddington today |
