Spot On

Back to basics after my trip to Cornwall which had loads of birds and a few people. EIDB is usually the other way round. Nick had a couple of good birds (Spotted Flycatcher and Garden Warbler) on Thursday evening in the copse, so I checked here first, though with clear skies I did'nt expect anything. After about 10 minutes of scouring the copse the Spotted Flycatcher flew into view on top of a tall tree, and then it flew into the depth of the copse. The copse at this time of the morning (07.30) was lively. A pair of Chaffinches, Blackcaps, Greenfinches and a male Reed Bunting and a Jay were present, but at about 09.30 it all went quiet. The Spotted Flycatcher could not be relocated. The Thames was again dead even though the tide was flowing. The weather started to change as the wind veered to the NW and cloud replaced clear skies. A Common Swift flew over, the first sighting this year, and I breathed a sigh of relief, this can be a hard bird at EIDB. One worrying sign was that the dock had the lowest ammount of water I have ever seen here, a combination of low tides, a lack of rain and leaky lock-gates were probably to blame, though water began to flow in as I was leaving