evwetlands02.htm

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Singing Nightingale at London Wetland Centre

Heralds influx of rare birds to South West London

A singing Nightingale at the London Wetland Centre in Barnes, SW London � the closest one has got to Berkeley Square in years - has heralded an influx of rare birds to Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust Wetlands Centres across the UK , with many new site records and several national rarities in one week.

Since the Nightingale was first heard on Sunday 25 April, the London Wetland Centre has seen the arrival of two White-spotted Bluethroats, a rare Night Heron and a Ring Ouzel � all species which have never before been recorded at the centre, and a long way from their normal residences. The arrival of two Bluethroats together is thought to be unprecedented in the UK 's previous records, of which there have only been 15 in London in the last 100 years, those being for single birds.

Habitat management across the nine centres is paying off, with Slimbridge notching up the first Gloucestershire record and only the third UK spring sighting of a Dusky Warbler, a rare visitor from Asia .  Caerlaverock, in Scotland , was chosen as a staging post by a Whimbrel on its journey from South Africa to its summer breeding grounds in the Arctic and Martin Mere, Lancashire was visited by a flock of 20 Turnstones, a rare occurrence so far inland.

London Wetland Centre Reserve Manager, John Arbon, said it had been a great week for visitors to WWT Centres: �To be able to see such rare birds, especially in the middle of London, shows the immense value of what has been created at the London Wetland Centre and WWT centres across the country, for both the wildlife and Londoners who come to enjoy such sights. Who'd have thought you'd once again be able to hear Nightingales singing in Barnes, the closest they've got to Berkeley Square in years!�

May 12, 2004