Weather: Bright but overcast, mild but breezy; spots of rain.
In the car-park: Magpie, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Collared Dove; overflying Cormorant.
First look at the river in the shrubs next to the visitors' centre, a couple of active & noisy birds which after observing the dark legs, buff upperparts & white throat were revealed as Lesser Whitethroat, a new species. One of the birds appeared to be a youngster & an adult was bust feeding it; the noises they made were distinctive 'kek' & a tchurr; they then moved away towards the centre's feeders & then further into the reserve.
Other species on the centre's feeders: Great Tit, Blue Tit, House Sparrow, Greenfinch & Woodpigeon.
On the river-side mud or on the grass on the bank: Black-Headed Gull, Carrion Crow, Starling; a couple of female or immature Reed Bunting perched on a dead shrub; Linnet & Lesser Black-Backed Gull.
After walking further up & again scanning the river-bank's mud quite a few small waders were picked out, some obviously Common Sandpiper, but amongst them one much more upright & slender looking & with distinctive, if not quite diagnostic, yellow legs: Wood Sandpiper. Although I didn't see it for long enough to be able to pick out its white stripe above the eye, also its underside was very white & appeared distinctly separated from its brown upperparts, the next day (Monday) a wood sandpiper was reported on the official RSPB site, so that along with the differences I did observe from the nearby commons were enough to confirm it in my mind. A bird I last saw nearly 25 years ago!
As the sandpipers moved closer to the bank, or flew off, out of view I moved further along the bankside path & immediately noticed a curlew-like bird flying up river, however it looked smaller & had a 'flappier' flight to the usual curlew; after it settled & I trained the 'scope on it I eventually picked out the distinctive head stripes of Whimbrel, another new species, one I've hoped to see for some time now. It stayed visiable for a while then like some of the sandpipers it flew down-river & out of view.
A couple of other species along the river: Kestrel hunting over the grass; Great Black-Backed Gull on the river-side mud amongst any black-heads.
After walking the public river-side path I then headed back to the reserve proper, & through the visitors' centre where a helpful expert pointed out Yellow-Legged Gull through a 'scope on the Thames' far bank-side ud, & tips to identify them: they have the same upperparts colour as common gull, whereas herring gull is the sae colour as back-headed gull; lesser black-backed gull has charcoal upperparts (usually). All very useful & even better, this was the first the time I'd seen the yellow-legged in the UK.
Finally entering the reserve, on the first area of marsh: Mistle Thrush, Little Grebe, Coot, Grey Heron, Pied Wagtail, Moorhen. At this point a militray helicopter overflew a few times to take part in the war games going occurring on the other side of the river, disturbing for a while almost everything on the reserve.
Walking through the forest zone & the plentiful berry shrubs: Wren, Reed Warbler & more goldfinch.
From the hide: Mallard, Little Egret; in the distance another wader, pale & active on the water's edge, a Greenshank.
Leaving the hide, along the path, looking back onto the flash: Greylag Goose, Shoveller; by this time the greenshank had been joined by a couple more, but which were roosting, beaks under wings, rather than foraging.
Beyond the flask crossing a creek for Water Vole, then on the 'back' creeks of the reserve, Mute Swan & Skylark.
Heading back to the visitors' centre: overflying Herring Gull & Sand Martin.
Passing through the centre & back to the path over-looking the river, the tide had now risen& on one of the rocky islands the whimbrel had re-appeared & got much better views as it foraged amongst the rocks. Finally an over-flying Black-Tailed Godwit.
Excellent day, with a couple of target species seen (yellow-legged & sandpiper[s]) & a couple of bonus lifer-ticks (lesser whitethroat & whimbrel).
42 species, 2 new.
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