Monthly ornithological summary for: January 2009

SIBERIAN CHIFFCHAFF - along New River east, Stoke Newington Reservoirs, from New Year's Eve 2008 to 6th;

BITTERN - Lea Navigation, 9th;

Jack Snipe - New River east (SNR), 10th;

Firecrests - Abney Park Cemetery: two on 2nd; two on 7th; two on 11th; one on 14th; male, 16th; male, 17th; two, 19th; male and female, 20th; one, 21st; male, 26th; male, 31st; Middlesex Filter Beds, one on 15th;

Mediterranean Gull - Clapton Common, 7th;

Woodcock - Wick woodland, 11th.

After arguably the best autumn and early winter in the borough in recent years, expectations were low for January, it being traditionally one of the quietest months locally. How wrong could we be....

An interesting Chiffchaff, first seen at the end of December along the New River east, became much more interesting as January arrived. After close and prolonged study, it became evident that the bird fitted the suite of characteristics which define P.c.tristis, the Siberian race (considered a seperate species by some authorities), a very rare visitor to the UK.

Observations of the bird continued over several days, and a collection of good-quality photographs were obtained; so far so good, but the final piece in the jigsaw fell into place when the bird began to call. A distinctive, plaintive, slightly downslurred pheet or pheep was heard increasingly, with the bird even reacting swiftly and vociferously to MP3 recordings of Siberian Chiffchaff via a mobile phone.

The bird remained in the area until the 6th, by which time it had appeared in several national newspapers, on the BBC, on worldwide radio and across multiple online news sites.

After such a fantastic start to year, to expect much more would surely have been greedy; but as the cold snap continued, temperatures dropped further and the ice cover thickened, the possibility of a scarce, cold-weather related arrival increased.

The following week provided another stunning and wholly unexpected visitor, in the reptilian shape of a Bittern, an extraordinary record in extraordinary circumstances. Phone calls from non-birding friends at Springfield Marina on the morning of the 9th were swiftly acted upon, and in bright sunshine and still frosty conditions, there it was - perched a few metres above the busy tow-path, unruffled by the disturbance or occasional mobbing from corvids and gulls.

Remaining in the same tree until at least dusk (and not present the following day), this is the first Bittern recorded in Hackney since a bird was picked up in a local bus-shelter in the infamous winter of 1963, 46 years ago....

The extended freezing conditions produced two more good birds locally, both scarce, cryptically-plumaged waders - a Jack Snipe was flushed from the New River east on the 10th (the first for several years), and a Woodcock (the first of the winter) was flushed from Wick Woodland on the 11th.

The second half of the month was less dramatic - almost a welcome breather - although local long-stayers still frequented their chosen localities. The adult Mediterranean Gull still visited Clapton Common (despite the draining and renovation work), often commuting the few hundred metres to Walthamstow Reservoirs, and Abney's Firecrests were once again a regular joy, with two seen up to the 20th at least, and single sightings to the month's end. A single bird was also reported from Middlesex Filter Beds on the 15th.

Other more usual sightings included Kingfishers along the New river and in Clissold Park, Redwings (also in Clissold), Grey Wagtails at the reservoirs, and a rare record of a Tawny Owl outside Abney - in a private garden, near Allens Gardens, on the 31st.

Mark Pearson