Battersea Power Station

Sunday March 16th



I visited last Sunday, fantastic bright weather but exceptionally cold at only 1 above, I certainly seem to feel it more these days.
However, arriving at 6.00a.m with a perfect sunrise shortly after, helped with the cold as I set about locating the Peregrines.

I immediately found the Falcon, she was already on prey feeding aloft, as I watched feathers from plucking started to drift down. Retrieving some of these showed the prey to be a Woodcock, these have been recorded as prey before at the Power Station, all have been taken nocturnally.

As the morning moved on, the Peregrines became very active clearing the Crows that invaded the Power Station airspace.

It is still the same female, at 14 now unable to lay an egg and breed, it will only be a matter of time before she is displaced….

                                                           Large Gulls also got treatment

                                                            Tiercel clearing the Crows

2 male Grey Wagtails were sub-singing along the River Wall in preparation for breeding, checking earlier showed that the winter roost, which held 12-14 birds, has dispersed it seems. Also on the river was a Common Sandpiper, quite distant upriver and I was unable to get a photo of this.

Visually checked some of the nest boxes, not much activity with the cold weather but it will come, hopefully more uptake this year. However, Goldfinches are starting to make themselves known with a couple of pairs nest site prospecting in the trees in the Northern Park.

The Power Station hotspot and my now go to place for the Black Redstarts continues to be the East Side Gardens aloft. I found 2 immediately together at the southern end, however looking at the male, it was a 1st year bird with a wing bar and not the full adult male seen previously.

Good to see, obviously it means that we have had 3 birds minimum at the Power Station recently, it's no surprise that they like this particular area, it gets the sun first, has warm blowers and abounds with insects, this is shown by the number of Garden Spiders present when it gets warmer.

The feeders held at least 6 Goldfinch, but I also again heard the male Blackcap sub singing, try as I might I only got fleeting views of it, very elusive in all the trees and shrubbery.

I finished the morning on 29 species, hope to go better in the coming months as summer migrants arrive.