Battersea Power Station

 

Some photos from earlier in August of some of the juveniles and the adult Falcon, most were against the sun so not sharp and backlit.

The 3 juveniles are coming and going, close to going permanently I would say, spells are getting longer between CCTV viewings, a week at one point and not showing up when the adults take prey on the cameras.

It no doubt means they are taking their own prey at this stage not surprisingly, reaching this point obviously means total independence and I expect they will depart the territory soon.

                                                                Adult arriving with prey

                                                                         Juveniles

                                    Hunting over the River, didn't see me until the last minute

                                                                      Adult Falcon

                                                        Always get great sunrises here.

On the adult’s part, the Falcon has again started to hunt at night recently taking another Black Tailed Godwit nocturnally amongst others in the early a.m hours.

Cooling Marshes

First visit since March, great to be back again after the Winter surveys finished in March, as ever it never disappoints, from the start as I drove out, a family of 5 Ravens were cronking making their way West.

I had a few migrant birds that I had in my head that I was hoping to see, Wheatear/Whinchat being top of the list followed by Hobby, it’s usually always good out here for them.

I ended up seeing 1 out the 3 with no less than 9 Wheatears seen, always great to see one, I usually struggle to get one at the Valley or Beckton. It’s all about putting the hours in, I’m sure they go through but you can’t be there all the time.

It turned out a good morning, it was a rising tide, Curlew were everywhere and 7 Bar Tailed Godwits were good and I recorded at least 650 Avocets, by far the highest count I have had there in a long time.

As follows

Yellow Wagtail – 8

Corn Bunting – 2

Green Sandpiper – 1

Black Tailed Godwit – rather a surprise with only 2 present

Egyptian Goose – pair with 6 goslings

Southern Migrant Hawker – 2



Raptors – despite not getting Hobby plenty of others were present including 2 Marsh Harriers, 4 Common Buzzards, a nice Sparrowhawk and at least 6 Kestrels dotted around with some juveniles present.

All in all a very good visit, on the way out near Cooling Towers I also saw a good flock of Mistle Thrush numbering around 14 birds, always good to see as they are declining, flocks like this are getting hard to find.

Hobby

 

Caught up with this Hobby over the Ingrebourne Valley hunting over the Lake, initially chasing Martin’s and then switching to Dragonflies which is what they are known for.

Very successful, it took quite a few before it left, it totally ignored the Black Headed Gull which was giving it a hard time.

Photos are not great and a bit distant