On approaching the underpass along the main path of Walthamstow Marsh I heard a distant; sweet and bright dysllabic whistle, unfamiliar in a patch context but defiantly totally arresting. My thinking was it sounded like a Rosefinch, having only heard one sing a few weeks before at Dungeness it was fresh in my mind but this wasnt full song and without seeing the bird I was reluctant to blast out a hasty “just found a..” tweet. There is little high ground and i couldn’t see the bird at all which had gone silent for a while but began to sing again after 15 minutes or so and I eventually clapped eyes on it. An adult Male Rosefinch!
With nine previous records its a good bird for London. Many people seem to have come to see, and hear it and I’m very pleased to have eventually found a (much more) twitchable bird on the patch.
PERDIX BIRDER 