Battersea Power Station July 2026

July is always a bit of a quiet month with birds, migrants mostly start to move  August onwards, consequently I was not expecting a high species count, however good to see many juveniles around.

Setting myself up on the Coaling Jetty looking down river, virtually the first wildlife seen was a Grey Seal, very distant but the unmistakable head shape was a give-away, this is the 3rd Grey Seal I have seen at the Power Station over the years.

There used to be a big male around Chelsea Harbour a few years back, I suspect it's even possible the same beastie not being that far up river.

A good start to the morning as I then set about locating the Peregrines, the male(ABB) was very evident still at roost in the early hour, however the female was nowhere to be seen.

I left him in peace whilst I checked the Northern Park and Switch House East Gardens amongst others, good to note previously from the gardening team, that one of the nest boxes had a family of Blue Tits in it. I dare say this was the family seen up there later.

Looking down on Phase 3/4,I immediately located the pair of Black Redstarts on the Rock Pile, an elusive species as we know, they are very much at home on the Rocks with all its nooks and crannies.

Eventually the female Peregrine arrived with prey, which immediately stopped the male from actively hunting.

There then followed a number of chases after feeding, as she tried to cache the prey somewhere he would not locate it, eventually the pressure paying off as he claimed his share.

Still on 99 species for the life list - the 100th is out there somewhere.

                                                              Male after a Feral Pigeon

Pair of Black Redstarts

 

A Very Lucky Peregrine

Quite an eventful weekend covering several Peregrine Sites, I also witnessed some remarkable behaviour from a female juvenile.

Whilst watching on Sunday I heard the unmistakable sound of juvenile peregrines, on locating the source of the noise, no less than 3 juv Peregrines greeted me coming across the Thames, one with prey.
What alarmed me was the fact that an obvious female had the prey, she wouldn't give it up from the attention of the other 2, and in doing so, all were getting precariously near the water at times.

The inevitable happened and the female with the prey crashed into the water, my heart sank as I thought that's her lot. All the Gulls etc scattered, and I was thankful that no Great Black Backed Gulls were in the area, one or more would very likely kill her on the water.

However, all was not lost, floating now around 40 metres from rocks, she then started half flapping with her wings towards land, a semi swimming/flying action. As I willed her on, and despite quite obviously tiring with wet wings/body, she unbelievably made it to the Rocks!

Now just slightly just out of view in a position I couldn’t access, I kept an eye on this area, eventually a very wet juvenile emerged and flew out strongly over the river low and then gained height over my head.



I took photos as I always do and can confirm that it was no other than the female ADJ which I fostered on June 18th!

Ringed by Paul after the usual fantastic work by South Essex Wildlife Hospital to give her another chance, she is an incredibly lucky bird.

Absolutely fantastic to see her fully integrated into her new family, obviously not the ditching, hopefully she will learn her lesson from this, an exceptionally lucky Peregrine leading a charmed life it seems.

In June I picked up 2 drowned juveniles.

                                                    Being harassed by other juveniles

                                                                          Ditching

                                                                  A very wet ADJ

 

Local Raptors

Female Sparrowhawk and Male Marsh Harrier seen fairly recently locally, both hunting, watched the Male Marsh Harrier for quite a while as it went over, it ranges a long way from where I suspect its from.

As Autumn approaches, hoping for a Honey Buzzard to add to the List or even an Osprey.

Foster Update - Beckton Sewage Works

 

Foster Update


I purposely visited, not surprisingly given the heat, very early a.m recently to see how the foster female, colour ringed ADJ, was getting on adjusting to her new siblings/adults.

Absolutely no worries there, she's already mixing it up with the other siblings, chasing the adult female around with prey. All part of the learning process as we know but absolutely fantastic, seeing her with her new family and 100% accepted.

This if I recall correctly makes it the 5th foster over the years, Paul having recently fostered another at a different site that went well.

Both were colour ringed, hopefully both will show up in the future.

                                                         Fingers crossed for there future

Beckton Sewage Works

No less than 5 Kestrel chicks have fledged from the Sewage Works, all are flying well now which is great, another good brood for the pair. I had originally thought that there were 3 for this year, so a very nice surprise being proved wrong.

On further searching around, as you know the Sewage Works is massive, I then found another 2 fledged Kestrels at the northern section of the site. I haven't got a clue where these nested, but will hopefully soon get a nest box up for them.

I also caught up with my 1st brood of Shelducks for the year.

Hopefully these will all make it, judging by the Drakes behaviour they have a good chance, nothing got near them.

                                                          The 5 Kestrel youngsters

                                                               Harbour Seal at Beckton

                                                                         New Brood

 
                                                                  Shelduck Brood