On approaching the underpass along the main path of Walthamstow Marsh I heard a distant; sweet and bright dysllabic whistle. Then the repeating of a section of song, four syllables, unfamiliar in a patch context but defiantly totally arresting. My thinking was it had to be Rosefinch. Having only heard one sing a few weeks before at Dungeness it was fresh in my mind but without seeing the bird I was reluctant to blast out a hasty tweet – a photo of an escaped Canary type thing on Hackney Marshes had been sent to me by a non birding friend a week or so ago and I didn’t want to mess this up. There is little high ground and i couldn’t see the bird at all.
I called local Paul W and he arrived at a time when the bird had been silent for 15 mins. Five minutes later It sang clearly a 5 syllable undulating song. Paul agreed ‘Thats got to be Rosefinch’ ,but still no visual. I scanned from the highest point I could find, and saw the bird distantly perched up in a Hawthorn.
The appropriate texts and calls to locals as well as RBA etc were made and people began to arrive.
With nine previous records its a pretty 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.
The Bird ended up stayed for nearly 2 weeks and later choose the ariel of the Anchor and Hope as its singing perch.
