It seems like it's still winter here....
Drake Pintail on the Thames this week. Winter bird.
Gadwall flying around the Wandle yesterday. Winter birds.
Loads of Starlings heading over to the Wandsworth Bridge roost last night? Winter birds.
All I need now is a dubious gull to turn up on the foreshore and I shall have no options left to me but to write to my MP. It just isn't good enough.
Not you - I know what you are doing here (kind of).
No, the question is directed at a bird.
Specifically this bird that was seen in the patch today.
There was a piece in the paper in the weekend where a bloke of the gardening telly made a funny point about the latin name of a plant, or a shrub or a tree. Anyway the was binomial specific was cockburnianus which produces hoots of laughter in garden centres.
That brings me neatly, perhaps, to the promised Pintails. Possibly the best looking duck going. Possibly the best duck latin name going (Anas acuta). Last winter the Wandle basin didn’t get much Pintail action due to the creation of the Attenuation ponds, which scared them off. Hopefully this winter will be better, as it is currently not a building site. Started with a male, increased to two males and a female by mid week, and back down to a single male by Friday. Hoping to be back to the levels of two winters ago when there would be a dozen or so, kicking about with a fair few Gadwall and a couple of dozen sleeping Tufties.
So there you go, a short post regarding Pintails, and no swearing.
