The clear highlight of the month was a great white egret which passed over early on the 27^th accompanied by four grey herons. This was the second visit of the year by this species, which ten years ago would have been a major London rarity. They have become more or less annual here now.

Water rail (below) and snipe are favourite but elusive winter visitors. The first winter arrival of the former was in the reed-bed near the water outlet from the 22^nd. Unusually, no snipe had been seen by the end of September, although there is a good chance that at least one has arrived but has so far gone undetected.

Common sandpiper are one of our reliable passage migrants and there were several sightings early in the month. The high water levels meant they didn’t really enjoy the habitat though and often didn’t hang around for long. Migration picked up a bit at the end of the month and jackdaws became regular flyovers. The 23^rd was a busy day for migration with good numbers of both meadow pipit and swallow passing over. A red kite was seen on the 25th, and late sightings of a reed warbler on the 29^th and a whitethroat on the 25th were probably birds which were passing through on migration.

The local mute swans (above) have provided a veritable soap opera over the years and there has been a recent development. A new pair arrived at the end of the month, and as usual were met with an unfriendly reception from our regular breeding pair. The breeding pair usually have no trouble ejecting new arrivals but this time the new pair stood up to them, and the following morning just the new pair were here. They both have orange darvic rings on the right leg and from reading one of them, 4GKP, the bird was ringed at Walthamstow in June this year. It remains to be seen whether this new pair will now be a permanent fixture.

Kingfishers have been a regular feature here outside the breeding season for the last few years and we have been getting near-daily visits all through September. Sparrowhawk are similarly regular, and although kestrels have become less common in recent years, we did have another visit on the 19^th from a bird which flew around the Skyline Tower.

Although reed buntings are here during the breeding season and also overwinter here, there is always a period in autumn when they go missing. They seem to have returned now though, with a few sightings in the last week of September. The similar-looking but only distantly related house sparrow (below) have had a very good breeding year here, and up to fifty birds can sometimes be seen around the bird feeders in the reed-bed near the roundhouse.

The total number of bird species seen here in September 2023 was 61, significantly down on the historical average for the month, but this figure along with the remarkable total of 74 in the same month in 2019 show how variable September can be.