Migration surprises every day in Barnes
The mild weather continues to bring wildlife surprises at London Wetland Centre, including a mallard hatching eleven ducklings around 17 November. We've also seen a range of late flowering plants such as knapweed and marsh marigold, newts that would normally be hibernating, and bats and dragonflies feeding over the Centre.
In terms of bird migration, the numbers of shoveler, gadwall, wigeon and teal continue to climb. Three redhead (female or juvenile) smew dropped in on the reservoir lagoon on Monday 21 November. Three smew represents a nationally significant number - the average wintering population of these birds in the UK is usually around 180. This is also the largest number of wild smew seen on the site for some time. See Jamie's Wildlife Diary to find out why three smew is good news
On Tuesday 22 November we had a visit from a pair of red-crested pochard. These birds are seen across the UK, and are usually descendants of escapees from wildfowl collections. However some migrant birds do occur over here from Germany and eastern Europe. It is possible that these were migratory birds as they stayed well away from people and buildings at the Centre, out on the reservoir lagoon and the north side of the main lake.
Today four bearded tits were spotted on site, making their distinctive "pinging" call as they moved around the reedbed. These reedbed specialists don't visit us very often, but they're a very welcome sight when they make an appearance.
