Fifteen of us enjoyed a dry, mild, slightly overcast excursion to the WWT London Wetland Centre where we encountered large numbers (probably forty-five upwards) of Redwing taking advantage of the bumper crop of red berries.  As ever, Parakeets were very much in evidence.  However, the reported Bitterns, Snipe and Water Pipit failed to appear for most of us.  The hides provided excellent views of good numbers of waterbirds including Teal, Wigeon, Shoveler, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Cormorant, Grey Heron, and Canada, Greylag and Egyptian Geese.  A pair of Great Crested Grebes performed a mating dance which perhaps was rather unusual for mid-November?  Numerous Gulls loafed and preened on the lagoons, accompanied by a few Lapwings, Starlings, Crows and Jackdaws.  Keen-eyed observers added lots more sightings to our list, including Peregrine, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Siskin, Redpoll, Reed Bunting, Long-tailed Tit, Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff-even a Kingfisher!  A certain keen photographer in the group returned to one of the hides and proved that there was a Bittern present all along by getting a series of marvellous shots of it.  Our final total for the day was 55 species.