The unusually warm weather has led to an outbreak of unseasonal activity at WWT London Wetland Centre.
Temperatures of up to 16°C proved too much for a couple of Peregrines which were seen paddling, up to their breasts, off a shingle island in the main lake, looking for all the world like a couple cooling down on a beach holiday.
Another unseasonal occurrence was the very early emergence of a spring favourite – daffodils.
The dazed daffodil shoots sprang up within the grounds of the wetland centre, fooled into thinking that spring has arrived before winter has even started.
Richard Bullock, ecologist at London Wetland Centre, says he has heard grasshoppers, crickets and marsh frogs in October and early November.
He says: “This sound is really more associated with when the frogs breed, when they are territorial. They are normally most vocal in May and June.”
But don’t be fooled into thinking winter is on hold: All the regular winter visitors have started to arrive, including Bittern, Teal, Wigeon and Shoveler.
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Bitterns have started arriving for winter at the London Wetland Centre
