Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

A little out of our immediate area, I'll grant you, but only a short bus ride away is the newly opened Walthamstow Wetlands, a wonderful place to walk and do a spot of winter birding. 

Last Friday, I was walking with a friend and, as we emerged from the very nice cafe after coffee and cake (got to prepare for the cold), we saw a number of men (and they were all men) clad in khaki and warm hats, carrying very fancy photographic equipment and sporting some impressive binoculars. We slowed and heard someone say they were looking for a 'bunting'  - not armed with binoculars, we squinted at the straggly bramble on which the cameras were being trained but soon moved on. 

Having never seen it before, my friend and I hadn't realised we'd unwittingly joined a group of 'twitchers' and the 'bunting' they were all looking for was a little bunting, a tiny cousin to the more common reed bunting, with which it likes to hang out when it's as far off its normal course as this one was. 

Later that day, I fired up Twitter and discovered what all the fuss was about. Birders from all over North London were hurrying to Walthamstow in the hope of spotting the tiny visitor. Birder Twitter informed me that this was the first time this bird had been seen on the site and that the last Little Bunting to visit London had been seen five years ago. My Dad (quite jealous even though I hadn't actually *seen* it) tells me that its unusual for it to be this far inland.

Anyway, I know for a fact that two of the HOLs expert birders went to see it over the weekend, hopefully they'll join this thread to tell us a bit more (Chris? Harringay Birder?)

Tags for Forum Posts: january, little bunting, nature notes, rare birds, walthamstow wetlands

Views: 428

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

I love down the canal there. Nice walk....with couple of caffs to choose from.

RSS

Advertising

© 2024   Created by Hugh.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service