London Wetland Centre - 28th May

Today I visited the London Wetland Centre for the first time, a nature reserve managed by the Wildfowl and Wetlands trust. It is a beautiful spot, a real oasis in the city, there were a lot of families out enjoying the sunshine. I arrived and walked the 'West route' over to the 'Wildside' hide.

Just below the hide was a Lapwing which I watched for a good hour, it was feeding in a shallow pool and chasing away starlings from a nearby group that came near. At one point a Grey Heron landed close and the scrappy little Lapwing chased that away as well! It wasn't until I watched it for 15 minutes that I realised that there were 3 chicks feeding nearby, it was a very protective parent. I got a snap of it but without a decent camera I am afraid none of my photos are very good. The current UK population is 140'000 pairs. Unfortunately they are on the RSPB redlist with a 50% reduction in their population since 1985 mainly due to habitat loss through changing farming practices. I know from Dad that some have nested in the fens near Thorney in recent years, the move to planting Winter cereals has meant that often the cover is too dense for them to nest in the Spring.

Lapwing feeding, the chicks were too hidden to get a clear photo

Nearby there were also a pair of Great Crested Grebe (5'300 adults) and a Common Tern (12'00 pairs) surrounded by Tufted Ducks. 

A pair of Great Crested Grebe (they were quite far away...)

Below is a summary of all the species and numbers I was able to spot.