East London excites!

I thought I would let the dust settle before writing about this week’s exciting events. On Wednesday morning I received information of a Melodious Warbler having been seen and heard in Leyton (E10 - London), after digesting the news and confirming the sighting was genuine I planned to try and see the bird that evening after work.

A Melodious Warbler is an infrequent visitor to UK, typically seen in the spring or autumn around the usual coastal birdwatching hot-spots like Dungeness, Portland or Languard with around 50 birds recorded most years. But somehow this particular bird on its way to breeding grounds in Central/Western mainland Europe after wintering in Sub-Saharan Africa overshot its usual route and landed in deepest East London! This is only the 8th time a Melodious Warbler has ever been recorded within London’s boundaries.

After a mad dash in the car after work with two young children in tow - my wife had already made plans to go out that evening (typical!), we reached the location at around 6.30pm. Following a short wait with several other birders, somebody picked up the bird in a nearby hedge, alongside the volleyball courts (which are being used as practice courts ahead of this years 2012 Olympics). After brief but good enough views and with the two restless children edging closer and closer to a busy main road, I decided to cut my losses, happy I had seen the bird and headed the short distance home.

One of my two children, who enjoyed the adventure.

What struck me most about seeing the Melodious Warbler wasn't the bird itself (although very nice) was the location in which the bird had chosen to spend a few days. Although nicely fenced off so nobody could walk through the area, this overgrown patch of rough ground was no bigger than a decent sized back garden with long uncut grass, mature hedge plants and a couple of medium sized trees, all squeezed between a row of terraced houses and a tennis court (temporarily a volleyball court) and very close to a main road in the middle of the urban metropolis that is the East End of London - amazing!

I did notice this green but unkempt area seemed to be an absolute haven for midges and insects, which is the perfect diet for this type of bird. This, coupled with the secure fencing which obviously keeps people and other animals out thus reducing the amount of disturbance, must all have contributed to the birds choice of location - but still of all the places for a bird like this to show up! Which only goes to prove how important these small green urban oasis are for our towns and cities, not just for this rare bird but far more importantly for the micro ecology which occurs in all our gardens and parks, supporting not just our birds but the insects, bees, butterflies and wildflowers.

As I write this I have just returned from seeing a Bonaparte's Gull on the foreshore of the Thames in Barking Bay, a very rare American Gull, with this potentially being the 1st ever record for London.....Wow - what a week East London is having! They say good things come in threes - whatever could turn up next in!?!?