A detour across the marsh after a visible migration session on Wilson's Hill (just over the border in Springfield Park, Hackney), with four Stonechats and a small flock of Meadow Pipits in their favoured spot, and lots of wagtails and finches around the stables. I don't make it over onto the marsh anywhere near as much as I used to, and these days it's criminally under-watched - it's a crime to see such a promising place almost ignored in such an urban area....
....especially with a proven track record in the past. I covered the marshes regularly during 2007 especially, and it paid out with Stone-curlew, Ring Ouzel, Marsh Harrier, Turtle Dove and Jack Snipe amongst others. It'll come as no surprise when somebody prepared to put the time in stumbles upon a Lesser Grey Shrike or a Richard's Pipit one of these days.
