Beckton Sewage Works

As far as I can tell the Kestrels have had just the single juvenile this year, it was hard to monitor them due to lock down but all I could see was the single chick in the box.

I also couldn’t locate the female Kestrel after a few watches, only seeing the male coming in, possibly may tie in with their only being one chick. If one bird is only feeding and away for long periods hunting, it’s possible that predation/starvation may have been an issue.

The Common Buzzards are breeding somewhere, just keep seeing the single bird, the Sparrowhawks are again present as well, keep seeing the male slipping in and have narrowed it down to around half a dozen trees. Before long expect to hear the giveaway call, hopefully get some photos soon now back up and running.

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Also been recording Dragons and Butterflies over there, new camera on the horizon, the long awaited D500 will soon be replacing the D7100.

Battersea Power Station Update

As we know from past juveniles on the site, there will always be dramas, it goes hand in hand with fledging, I think newly named Smokey however is trying to take top spot.

It all started on Wednesday June 10th 7.23a.m, checking the camera I could not locate him, backtracking on the CCTV, showed him unfortunately slipping off the south ledge after overdoing the exercise flaps. From the cameras we could see him heading towards the Power Station flying well.

Getting it wrong unfortunately

With everyone looking for him, the site was well covered by MACE personel; however despite this he still could not be located.

He was eventually located in the Waste Transfer Station next door early evening, from photos his position was very low so a massive thanks to Mick Kirwan and his team next door, there is little doubt that he would have been Fox prey during the night. I picked him up at 8.30pm that evening and he spent the night in our front room, Christine has got used to this over the years.

Very low and would have likely been found by Foxes

On Thursday morning I took him to the South Essex Wildlife Hospital, as you know they do an incredible job. Given the all clear, I picked him back up on Friday and we released him back onto the roof of the northern accommodation. It was a good release with the Falcon spotting him straight away and reacting well.

With single siblings I never like to leave it too long, there is a risk the longer you leave it, the bond becomes weaker and weaker without other siblings around, after too long, they could possibly see them as intruders and attack them.

A good release, I thought that would be it but unfortunately not, by the evening he had grounded again, I couldn't get back so Mick kindly returned, caught him and put him back on the roof again. A big thanks to Mick/ Security/Clipfine and MACE personel and all those involved in making sure he stayed safe, the site recovery plan worked well, a box placed over him and kept in eyesight all the time.

I checked him on Saturday morning, still on the roof; I know the Falcon fed him on there as well.

On Sunday morning I found him on top of the Thames Tideway Crane, the Falcon took prey and deliberately did not feed him; if he wanted to feed he had to fly to the Nest Box.

A big thanks also go to the Thames Tideway site people for listening to me and keeping an eye on him.

Thames Tideway Crane

Glad to say that he made touchdown and regained the nest box at 10.07a.m on Sunday 14th, hopefully that will be it, he has spent all of the Sunday on the nest box, no doubt relieved to be back, quite an adventure.

Battersea Power Station Latest

If you recall the pair laid 4 eggs and all was looking pretty normal fare with the 1st egg hatching on May 1st, after this I eagerly watched the remaining 3 on the CCTV.There usually pretty close thereafter, 1 or 2 days or so but sadly that was it, the remaining 3 were no doubt infertile.

She brooded them for a further 3 weeks but it could be that age may be catching up with her, she arrived in the winter of 2012 as an adult so definitely 9 or 10 or possibly older, getting on a bit in peregrine terms.

The chick is thriving, as of today one month old, now standing up on her legs, notice I said her; she seems to have the characteristics of a female. ‘She’ is more reserved in what she does, its took her ages to build confidence to leave the box, she seems less confident. Males on the other hand always seemingly go at everything, including fledging first, full of attitude usually and in your face, certainly seems so when I pick up “grounders”.

I’m probably wrong, won’t be the first time but interesting to see.

From the start of the year I have been recording prey coming into the box, the Tiercel is doing the Lions share at the moment, he is no doubt the local Ring Necked Parakeet nemesis, to date he has taken 28 of them. Many of the Tiercels hunts take him over Battersea Park; I suspect it is here that he is intercepting the Parakeets. 

This year on the CCTV alone, I have noticed that they are switching more to ‘wild birds’ rather than the normal Feral Pigeon mainstay of prey taken. For 20 years, more or less every hunt at dawn has always been to intercept the Feral Pigeons heading south, from either the chimneys or the Cranes.

There is no doubt this year that Feral Pigeon numbers are reducing, due to construction as the Power Station closes up and they cannot get access to roost and nest.

The highly adaptable Peregrines have adjusted and are just taking more ‘wild’ species, hence the number of Parakeets taken this year, far more than I see annually on the CCTV.

I had my first grounded bird on May 22nd unbelievably, for this juvenile to have fledged this early meant that she must have laid in the 1st week of March working it back, it was very likely the most advanced family in the UK.

Couldn’t get the little chap back up high, so took him to the South Essex Wildlife Hospital where he was fed, cared for and checked over before I released him back on May 27th.

Feisty male but now back with the adults and siblings.

Since then in May, there has been 2 other grounders, seems to get earlier and earlier every year. 

Parliament

May 9th



I was able to visit on the above date under essential work for the first time since lock down; if memory serves my last visit was March 7th. The visit was to check whether breeding or not and additionally, any potential safety issues that could possibly arise through netting (if any works had taken place).

Arriving at 5.00a.m, the Park was still closed so I walked Abingdon Street, Westminster Bridge and the Abbey looking for signs of them.

Empty Abingdon Street

Located the Tiercel at roost on the base of Middle Tower before he went up hunting, eventually the park opened around 6 and I was able to keep an eye on the nest box.

The Park

Over the next 3 hours I watched it pretty intently, the hoped for nest relief did not materialise but based on the actions of the Tiercel over this period it looks very good. The fact is that over the morning I did not see the Falcon, so she was either covering eggs or likely chicks at this stage or she was not present at all.

However his actions, he took no prey during my visit, but on 2 occasions he did flybys of the box calling and I could see his head turned looking towards it. Tiercels love to incubate as we know; I would presume he was trying to get her to exit so he could take over.

This didn’t work, so on a 3rd flyby he went directly to the box, for around 2 minutes he stared inside before leaving.

Roost Position

The obvious scenario is that she would not lift and switch over, possibly likely knowing he had not taken prey, its more or less prey first and then you can incubate as Falcon’s are very dominant, especially early morning.

This happens a lot at Battersea, with the Tiercel trying it on many times arriving prey less and then being sent on his way.

The other scenario is that he was going to the box to look for cached prey, however signs point towards breeding hopefully, the only other thing to consider is that she was off elsewhere hunting for herself or not present at all.

Tiercel - leg ring doesn't look like the standard BTO issue

I will confirm this week now that I am allowed out.

Foxy

Some more of the Fox, getting regular now, came and joined me out in the Car Park whilst having my Coffee the other morning, partial to a cocktail sausage.

Fox

Some photos taken from the Flat during lock down. The Fox is getting pretty tame with no people around and at times is looking exceptionally relaxed.

Dark and worrying times but nature is always there to look at,stay safe everyone.

Battersea Power Station Prey

Jan 1st – April 1st



Since the start of the year with the aid of the CCTV, I have been recording prey which has been taken into range of the cameras.

It marks a 3 month period, most of which I can identify but obviously some not, some of the unidentified were also taken at night.

Obviously due to the cameras I am aware of just how much they are hunting nocturnally, I am very lucky to be able to record and monitor this, on playback you miss absolutely nothing.

A massive thanks go to Battersea Power Station Development Company Ltd for allowing me to do this; it offers an incredible insight into their behaviour, especially nocturnally.

Below is what I have recorded so far.


Feral Pigeon – 35 – (21 Diurnal/14 Nocturnal)

Ring Necked Parakeet – 10 Diurnal

Starling – 4 Diurnal

Goldfinch – 2 Diurnal

Woodcock – 2 Nocturnal

Fieldfare – 1 Nocturnal

Moorhen – 2 Nocturnal

Little Grebe – 2 Nocturnal

Redwing – 1 Nocturnal

Chaffinch – 2 Diurnal

Unidentified – 6 (4 nocturnal – 2 diurnal)



You will notice that a good percentage of the prey taken is nocturnal, in the case of Feral Pigeons the Falcon was very active from the hours of 2.30a.m, this was exceptionally regular.

Of the prey I recorded - 67 species it equates to 41 Diurnal and 26 Nocturnal, so it works out 38% of prey was nocturnally taken during this time period.

Although the Tiercel joins in the nocturnal hunts from the Tower, the main hunter was always the Falcon pre egg laying. Having checked the Refuse Centre next door nocturnally, it is very open and accessible, it is also illuminated inside and the Feral Pigeons access it at all hours as a food source.

The nocturnal Feral Pigeon prey is being taken, whilst the pigeons are leaving/flying back to the Power Station from roost, accessing the Refuse Centre at all hours. It ties in with the start of the hunt on camera, when she takes a Feral and then how long she is away from the camera, they are only short flights.

I also believe that over the course of time they are taking Feral Pigeons at roost, having seen where they roost in darkness, there is little doubt that birds roosting also provide a prey source.

Having watched other pairs nocturnally, I know they and many other pairs are using London’s artificial light, I think the Power Station pair, have exploited the Power Station Feral Pigeon population and took it a stage further. This is substantiated by the amount of night time prey taken, they are exploiting an available food source, additionally they are also supplementing this with wild birds moving along the river or overhead.

The ghostly image is the Falcon returning with a Moorhen

Tiercel hunting

Just taken prey

It could be that many pairs may well be hunting like this more extensively, I have just been lucky enough to record it on camera more.

Of course the number of prey species, which I have seen on the cameras, is no doubt just a percentage of what was really taken, the fact of the matter is that they won’t bring all prey back to the cameras.

There are a number of other positions/caching points which they use regularly, so the total is likely far higher for prey recorded for the 3 months.