All Change at Amwell

17th October 2026

It is mid-October now which marks the transition from summer to winter at Amwell. All the summer visitors have returned to warmer climes and the winter visitors are just starting to arrive. The most famous winter visitor here is the Bittern and in the past when winters were a lot colder with frozen waterways, up to four birds could over-winter at Amwell and could frequently be seen particularly around the Bittern Pool. However, in recent years just one Bittern has over-wintered, arriving much earlier in July, this year the 31st July, but is much more elusive spending time in all four corners of the site.

Here is a photo I took on the 21st of September.

But probably most noticeable winter arrivals at the moment are the gulls. Twenty years ago gulls were only seen at Amwell during the winter months and the only sea birds to breed on site were the Common Terns. But in about 2005 Black-headed Gulls bred for the first time at Brent Reservoir, aka The Welsh Harp, and thereafter spread rapidly up the Lea Valley and took over the tern rafts to such an extent that very few Common Terns, if any, breed in the valley these days.

Today there were about 30 gulls present in front of the view-point including Black-headed, Common (not shown), Herring and Lesser Black-backed, and it is likely that more will fly in at dusk for the roost. Great Black-backed will normally arrive a little later in the year.

And the other true winter visitors on view today were some Snipe, with five birds present in front of the view-point and probably more in front of the White Hide.

Luckily some were close enough for some better shots.

And time to take a break from feeding to look after those most important feathers.

Well, it's all started and I wonder how many Goldeneye and Smew we will get this year?