Wednesday 2 September 2015

Wryneck, Wanstead Flats

News broke of a Wryneck at Wanstead Flats on Monday evening, and with another positive sighting early Tuesday morning it was time to make the short trip.
After parking up we start scanning the surrounding area without any luck. We meet up with Marco and move on to the Enclosure area.
Although there is no sign of the Wryneck, we do get views of Common Redstart, Common Whitethroat, Spotted Flycatcher and Pied Flycatcher while we are searching.
A call from another birder to say he's seen the Wryneck and we head back towards the "Viz Mig" area. Unfortunately the bird has disappeared by the time we reach him!
With more birders arriving we decide to split up to cover more areas. Dad heads back to our original starting spot and picks the Wryneck up low in a bush. As luck would have it, it's disappeared again before I make it to him! A very frustrating morning spent searching and failing to locate the bird.

Another early morning visit today, we bump into Nick before leaving the car park. Soon after arriving at the same spot as yesterday I spot movement in a nearby tree.
Jono indicates it's the Wryneck, so we move round to his location. It doesn't stay in the tree long and before I can get a view it flies low into the Brooms and disappears again. 
A couple of cracking looking Lesser Whitethroats and a Spotted Flycatcher break up the time spent searching.
I decide to head off to the next section of Broom and of course as soon as I did the Wryneck pops up in front of the other birders where I had been standing! Many of the birders had by now seen the bird and were heading off. Over the course of two mornings I had seen the Wryneck 3-4 times in flight and was just about to head off home disappointed when, while watching a Common Whitethroat the Wryneck pops up in the bushes right in front of me!




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