I had to make a work-related trip to London and with a few hours to spare I decided to visit the London Wetland Centre.  For those who have not been it is a big nature reserve run by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) in one of the biggest cities in the world.  From Euston I got a tube to Green Park and then to Hammersmith.  At Hammersmith I boarded a bus to the wetland centre.  The journey takes less than an hour from Euston to the actual centre.  I was tired so first stop was the café for a slice of Victoria sponge with a cappuccino.  

There are two routes - the southerly route and the westerly route.  I decided to head south first.  I stepped outside of the visitor centre and was greeted by a sound which had always transported me to the age of 5 when I visited my parents birth country Pakistan for the first time and a cousin would take us out into the fields.  It was the sound of Ring-necked Parakeets but quite loud.  I thought it must have been a toy in the hands of a family nearby as it sounded very close.  It was not until I looked up I saw something green, slim and long in the bare tree.  I had never seen a Parakeet this close.  Surprisingly, it allowed me to take photographs and was then joined by three other birds.  After ten minutes they all flew off. 

On the path out and into the main reserve I noticed a Green Woodpecker in a bush, eating berries?  I had never seen one this  close.  It was aware of my presence but it did not appear alarmed.  It was almost upside down, wings spread out and then the green and the red were lit up by the sun which had broken out of the miserable clouds.  I had signalled a photographer to come over who I had spoken to earlier and by the time were ready to take photographs the bird flew onto the wall.  It looked at us very bemused.  I did wonder to myself why I bothered to signal the other guy when I could have taken a good photograph.  It decided to fly away although I waited for  fifteen minutes hoping it has found a good spot to return too but no luck.

The reserve attracts many nationalities and the staff and volunteers are quite diverse, reflecting London's diverse communities.  It was my second visit to the reserve.  I wanted to see it in autumn however, it was still quite green.  The forecast was wrong.  It was supposed to be a sunny and dry day but the reality was cloudy with some showers, one quite heavy. 

There were a couple of Great Black Blacked Gulls around the reserve and a Bittern!  I was directed to the Bittern but just about saw it.  It was very hard to see Bitterns but to see one in the middle of London, well that was a treat!  Bitterns wintered here quite regularly and could number to more than  two.  Conservation was working if a bitter decided to fly over London and spot the reserve and decide it was good enough for the winter.  The reserve did attract a wife variety of species some very rare and unusual for an urban area. 

Here is a list of birds which I saw within the few hours I was there:-

Bittern

Blackbird

Black-headed Gull

Coot

Carrion Crow

Blue Tit

Canada Goose

Coal Tit

Cetti's Warbler

Chaffinch

Collared Dove

Common Gull

Cormorant

Dunnock

Fieldfare

Gadwall

Goldfinch

Great Black-Backed Gull

Great Crested Grebe

Great Tit

Green Woodpecker

Greenfinch

Grey Heron

Herring Gull

House Sparrow

Jackdaw

Jay

Lapwing

Lesser Black-Backed Gull

Little grebe

Long-tailed Tit

Magpie

Mallard

Mandarin

Meadow Pipit

Moorhen

Mute Swan

Nuthatch

Pied Wagtail

Pintail

Redwing

Reed Bunting

Ring-necked Parakeet

Robin

Shoveler

Snipe

Song Thrush

Sparrowhawk

Starling

Teal

Tufted Duck

Wigeon

Wren

Woodpigeon