Norfolk January 18/19th

Having enjoyed our stay in November so much at Wells, we headed up again, working our way down the Norfolk Coast, Cromer etc after visiting friends.

The main aim was again to see the Pinkies, as ever they didn’t disappoint, and vast numbers were seen at dawn just outside Wells and then even more over at Cley.

North Point Marshes, although the Pinkies were sometimes a bit distant, getting there before dawn ready for them, produced 2 Woodcock flying off the fields as the light grew. Marsh Harrier, Red Kite and Common Buzzard showed early on, and Curlew numbered around 100 heading inland to feed over a 30-minute period. Hundreds, if not thousands of Pinkies lifted off the distant Salting’s and these were joined by at least 300 Dark Bellied Brents. The sight, spectacle and sound of them all coming over calling, is quite breathtaking and you find yourself standing there smiling.

                                                                            Pinkies

                                                               Dark Bellied Brents

                                                Brents in foreground, Pinkies behind

                                                                     Vast numbers

                                                      Gren Wing tagged Marsh Harrier

No sign of Pallid/Hen Harrier which was what I was hoping for but a great visit nonetheless, it’s enough to see the Pink Footed and Dark Bellied Brent numbers, quite a sight.

Wells itself, produced 3 Red Kites tangling with a Common Buzzard and a Marsh Harrier over above the Salting’s and on a rising tide, Red Breasted Merganser and Rock Pipit were the highlights.

January Boxes

 

It’s been a busy old January, on the Peregrine front you have the breeding and licence period fast approaching, and small/medium boxes need checking and cleaning out in January ready for spring.

On a local site which has 10 small Boxes, 8 of the boxes were occupied with nests, this is the site that also has a Little Owl Box and 2 Kestrel boxes. The small boxes were all cleaned out, we then moved onto the Little Owl Box, this produced 2 Owlets in 2023 so hopes are high again for this year.

As ever though, the bloody Squirrels have other ideas for the box, on checking it we found a Drey inside + a Grey Squirrel! This came out at a rate of knots and the Drey was dismantled, if you recall this is not the first time this has happened with Squirrels.

The only way I have found to alter their mindset is to consistently – pre breeding, turf them out until they give up as a bad idea, so far it has worked although it is time consuming.

Moving on from the Little Owl Box, we checked the first of the 2 Kestrel Boxes, this had obviously had something in it, not a Kestrel but a few pellets and guano, pointed towards a nocturnal rooster.

The 2nd Kestrel Box was very interesting, something was using it, again nocturnally as it had over a dozen pellets inside. Very chunky, they looked very good for Tawny’s rather than Barn, which I see fairly often.
A light bulb went off, so on Saturday morning February 3rd we changed Nest boxes.

I had a Tawny Box made, so we swapped them over, as above the Squirrels may be an issue but hoping that if the Tawny’s take a shine to it, they will keep them out. Watch this space!

                                                                   Blue/Great Tit

                                                                   Bloody Squirrel

                                         Kestrel Box down with Tawny Box in background

                                                                Hopefully irresistible!

Battersea Power Station

January 24th



A good visit on Wednesday, good numbers of birds with the warmer temperatures with some species showing the first signs of spring.
I even had a Blue Tit investigating a nest box, great to see, there are currently 23 nest boxes on site, more and more habitat is becoming available, more species will arrive and the uptake on the boxes will increase more.

At dawn the usual suspects were at roost on the river wall buddleia, namely 2 Pied and 3 Grey Wagtails, always good to see these little gems, pretty soon come March onwards they will look to breed again. With the removal of the ice rink, the Wagtails were straight on the exposed grass/earth removing insects/bugs etc.

The new Bird feeding Station is working well and to their liking, with no less than 11 Goldfinches, a Robin and 2 Blue Tits feeding on it at one time or another. Sunflower Hearts and Peanuts seem to be doing the trick.

The bird of the morning, however, went to a 1st year male Black Redstart, what was surprising also is that this started to sing, testament to the warmer temperatures I suspect and the sunshine, I don't usually hear them singing in earnest until late March/April.
Notoriously hard to get into a nest box, preferring nooks and crannies, there are a number of discreetly placed open boxes all over the Estate for him/her, he's being seen regularly by the Gardner’s, so very territorial and no doubt wintering, hopefully he can entice a mate in.

I even managed a couple of photos of him, a 1st year bird not into his full adult male plumage as yet.

It's fairly unique to see the Power Stations 2 Schedule 1 stars on show, I later caught up with the Peregrines, after drawing a blank early morning, there are few places in the city where both protected species are resident, territorial and breed alongside each other.

As above I did eventually see our pair, earlier I couldn't see them on the ledges aloft but could hear the Tiercel going off, suspected she had prey, and this proved correct when some feathers started to drift down on the wind.

Retrieving a couple showed it to be an unlucky Ring-Necked Parakeet.

Checking on her showed we still have the same Falcon, so breeding is not certain, we will just have to wait and see. There is always the possibility that a new female may take over late, drive the current female off and then breed.

                                                                 Spring is in the air

                                                        Ring Necked Parakeet feathers

                                                                       Investigated

                                                    Falcon next to her regular feeding ledge

                                                                        Tiercel

I finished the morning recording 26 species on the Estate, so not too bad for an inner London urban site at this time of year, 3 Redwing over and a Chiffchaff were the best of the rest, roll on spring!

A Good Start

 

Beckton Sewage Works –

January 1st



Happy New Year to everyone, I hope everyone had a good Christmas, good fortune for 2024.

After Chris and I visited Southend on New Years Eve, I was out at dawn on New Years Day to get the ball rolling again at the Sewage Works. I finished on 95 for the year in 2023, so the aim this year will be to make 3 figures, my usual target.

Starting at dawn, around 7.30a.m, I covered the site for 3 hours and finished the morning on a total of 53 species, top billing will go to a 1st winter Caspian Gull, a good result to get this one under the belt early. A couple down on last year’s start of 55 but still good, as per 2023, a few notable absentees but early days yet.

Highlights and the pick of the rest were 11 Fieldfare, 17 Black Tailed Godwit, Rock Pipit, 8 Grey Wagtails, the ever-reliable Kestrels/Common Buzzard and 3 Jackdaw (not common here).

Pretty sure I had Yellow Legged Gull as well, but views not good enough to clinch it.

Roll on better weather.

Happy Chrismas everyone, have a great day.

 

Peregrine Box

On Friday, I placed a new peregrine box on an alternative building as mitigation, the successful one they bred on in 22/23 is earmarked for demolition in the near future.

It’s of a similar design to their current one, basically sitting on a low scaffold platform with access to a roof exercise area, the idea being that, not only with the box visible to pique their interests, hopefully the similarities in the scaffold platform will do the same.

The plan then will be to dismantle the old box, the rest is up to the pair.

A big thanks to everyone involved in this in making it happen and there help on the day.