Beckton - October 4th & 18th

Plenty of Teal now arriving for the winter, with a noticeable increase down the Creek and both Pied/Grey Wagtail and Chiffchaff numbers increasing.

At the Outfall, the usual suspects on an incoming tide, 2 Common Sandpipers, a Curlew and 2 Black Tailed Godwit, no Redshank yet but they should be arriving very soon.

A Grey Seal was present having just caught an Eel, and despite the frantic efforts of the Eel, it was eventually swallowed.

Sadly, the Crows have killed the single juvenile Common Buzzard, this was from the resident pair over on Thames Water. I was told this by a chap on site, he had seen it forced down earlier in the week by 30+Crows, and it was then set upon and killed. He tried to get there but by the time he got to it, it was already dead. Presume it is the juvenile as I have since seen the pair together.

I located it in due course, and it had been picked clean, an unfortunate end for its young life. The extraordinary number of Crows here, likely well over a 100, is due to local food sources, in this case McGraths Waste next to the Barrier and McDonalds. In the case of next doors McDonalds, even if you go there in the dark, there are usually a good number of Crows present.

Having watched the waders/gulls etc, the Crows now feed on the rocks and even the mudflats at the Outfall in numbers, being the intelligent birds they area, they have learnt.

A very unusual sight was seeing a Curlew going up and mobbing a female Sparrowhawk, not something I have seen before,

The year list stands at 94 for the year so just 6 to go to reach the annual target, just need a few more rare ones to come through.

                                                               Black Tailed Godwit

                                                                  Common Buzzard

                                                                          Grey Seal

                                                           Curlew and Sparrowhawk

Battersea - October 11th

Hi, another good visit on Saturday arriving a little later than usual, London traffic - Road Works seems to get worse every month. Getting from A to B these days in London, without hitting a detour over the weekend is not easy.

My usual start was on the Coaling Jetty, the regular species were encountered on arrival although no female Peregrine present, after checking all of the Northern Face of the Power Station, and additionally the local Cranes.
Eventually the Falcon arrived from the direction of Vauxhall, carrying small prey and commenced to feed on the northern façade. With the Tiercel disappearing and last seen in May, she is still hanging on despite her age.

Moving on, I then had a look round for the Kestrel, got lucky and found him up at the southern end of the Power Station, he was being given a hard time by both a Crow and a Magpie. Both we know will mob Kestrels and torment them to no end, it's not something they often do with Peregrines, simply too dangerous.
Good to see the little chap again, obviously now very territorial a good few months on, the next step will be for him to get a mate for the spring, hopefully in the meantime, we can get a nest box up for him to show off........

After checking most of the areas, I then headed to another location having arranged access. I spent a good amount of time here in this area, from the word go it was obvious that it was alive with birds.
The target species - Black Redstarts, a pair were very obviously present, the male a full adult and not a 1st year singing as well.

I have never heard one singing this late in the year, it will be interesting to see if they both stay and winter on site, normally they go and return in the Spring. It could be that with our milder winters, and a good number of green/sedum roofs will keep them here throughout the winter providing food sources.

Looking around showed many species, no less than 15 Goldfinch eating the Buddleia seeds, Blue and Great Tits, Robins, Wrens, Pied/Grey Wagtail and a Chiffchaff.

Black Redstarts however, stole the show, like the Peregrines also Schedule 1, were very present around the grounds and at times giving stunningly close views.

Got some shots, just a pity about the poor light but wasn't complaining given how close they were coming.

With 2 broods this year, it has been another good year for them.

 

Parliament

September 27th



It’s been a while since I updated on Parliament, been very busy so just catching up with various venues.

I hope everyone is keeping well.

The usual dawn arrival revealed both peregrines immediately over on the Abbey in the early morning murk, the Falcon already feeding on prey, the Tiercel was close by watching her every move.

As the morning advanced, he disappeared to hunt and after resting up, she eventually retired to Central Spire, shortly after a number of Crows started to appear. These are mostly unpaired juvenile/1st year birds, bully boys by nature, they gang up/mob a lot of birds including Birds of Prey. It’s usually Kestrel, Sparrowhawk and Common Buzzard, they will often go out of there way, to climb up to mob these particular species being the commoner Raptors in the UK.

They will occasionally mob Peregrines, especially when perched, where they have the advantage of being more agile and manoeuvrable, but I am yet to see a Crow go up and challenge a Peregrine aloft in open sky.Its simply too dangerous with the Peregrines built in aggression, size and power, especially when breeding.

This eventually happened when around a dozen flew to Parliament, with the Tiercel away, it’s usually his job to clear them if they get to close, she initially ignored them. However, as they got nearer to the Riverside Tower nest site, it was obviously too much, and she went for them and cleared them off Parliament. Try as I might I could not get a photo of all this, simply too fast, as you can imagine though, quite spectacular to watch.

As much as I love my D500/F5.6 200-500mm combination, there are times that call for my old F4 300mm lens, the auto focus and speed was far quicker.

                                                                   Crow - Sparrowhawk

                                                   Crows a gathering on nearby Crane

                                                                      Caching prey

                                                        Falcon clearing the Crows

The visit will also go down to the most birds I have recorded at any one time,(I think) over Parliament or in Victoria Gardens Park, 25 species were recorded.

Highlights were Goldcrest in Victoria Gardens, Grey Wagtail, 3 Meadow Pipits over, 2 sightings of a Sparrowhawk overhead,2 Greylag Geese over along with a Grey Heron flyby.


No Black Redstarts seen, would strongly suspect that they bred somewhere on Parliament given their presence throughout the summer.

A really good visit, they all are, but with good light and the pair active, it is so enjoyable just having the privilege of watching them, even after all these years – 25 on!

As we advance into the winter period, they will likely step up the nocturnal hunting, Woodcock will feature as they move over London amongst other species.