02/01/2015 London Wetland Centre

Ring-necked Parakeet: My first post of 2015 and there is no little Bustard or Harlequin Duck, but I can offer some nice London locals.

After a super New Years Eve watching the London fireworks then the London day parade Dawn and I headed across to Barnes to the LWWT.

Upon arriving the first bird we saw and heard were RN Parakeets, these were shooting around the visitor centre like one of the previous nights green fireworks.

Bittern: Our target bird was the Bittern that has been skulking around the reedbeds there for ages and once we had our parakeet fill we headed down to the Wild Side Hide where the Bittern can best be viewed.

After a short wait it was Dawn who picked up the almost invisible bird trying hard not to be seen.

I thought LWWT was great and well worth the visit however maybe because I am from the North or grew up with it, I think Martin Mere is better, the wildfowl and Swan Link Hide in my mind make Martin Mere WWT a really special place.