Beckton Sewage Works

November 20th



With good weather and sunshine promised, albeit absolutely freezing at dawn, (-1) I headed straight down to the Barrier on arrival.

Checking out the mudflats showed the first wintering Redshank flock present, 18 birds, no doubt colder weather has pushed them upriver to the Barrier for the winter.
No Black Tailed Godwit present anywhere, but 2 Curlew were on the mudflats, Duck numbers have also increased no end with the cold stuff.

Elsewhere wintering Chiffchaff numbers are building with double figures present now, the sewage works as we know a major wintering ground for this species.

In regard to Raptors, Sparrowhawk, Common Buzzard and Kestrel were all seen, just a fleeting glance of Sparrowhawk which is usually the norm of this ambush hunter, unless aloft.
I managed to get a relatively close view of the Common Buzzard hunting from a bush, certainly one of the best views I have had at the Sewage Works, they are usually unapproachable.

The male Kestrel was hunting the Pied Wagtails also on the Sewage Works, however no sign of the female.

I finished the morning on 46 species, the year list stands at 95 so just 5 more needed to reach the annual target.

Battersea Power Station

 

November 15th




With the Jo Malone Ice Rink now up and running in the Northern Park, it has obviously taken up a large footprint in regard to available site bird habitat, it will be interesting to see comparisons in bird numbers.

My thinking was that it will likely bring numbers down, but on the other hand, with all the Sedum/Green roofs now available + the extra habitat of Phases 3/4, this would likely compensate.

First up at just after dawn, was the female Peregrine, still with us and now in her 15th+ year. I watched her off and on for much of the morning, she wasn't doing much, cleared the Crows and eventually fed on cached prey in her usual spot.
Still on her own, it may be that at her age she cannot attract a new male, even then if she does, age would then still make her incapable of breeding, time will tell.

Checking out the Coaling Jetty showed just a single Pied and Grey Wagtail but a Mute Swan moving upriver caught the attention. In flight the neck was bent unnaturally in flight, I would suspect through an old injury.

However, she was doing a good job flying, even though aerodynamically it likely hindered her.

Switch House East showed the pair of Black Redstarts, the usual full adult male instead of the 1st year male, I watched these for a while and noted them flying to the new blocks as well.No doubt the rooftop greenery on the various sedum roofs, is offering an additional food source also, interesting to note also that they operate as a pair still rather than singularly.

In most winters they leave and return around the start of April, with increased foraging it looks like they are now wintering.

Moving on I headed to Phase 3/4, as I suspected a good number of birds were in this area, including the pair of Black Redstarts which had followed me down.

Grey/Pied Wagtail, Robin, Wren, Dunnock, Blue and Great Tit were all present along with a few Starlings.

I finished the morning on 26 species, so not that far below the usual monthly number, see below.

September- 32
October - 25

Good to see both Schedule 1 species, Peregrine and Black Redstart again on the Power Station, the Peregrine is more or less nailed on, but with the Black Redstarts now apparently wintering, there are very few sites in London, where you can see both alongside each other.

The uptake on the nest boxes is increasing, one of the open fronted boxes, has again been used by a Wren this year and last, it shows the value of hiding them in cover. Out in the open they will just get ignored due to easy predation etc.

                                                              Female Black Redstart

                                                                Male Black Redstart

                                                             Mute Swan - kinked neck

                                                                         Wren nest

 

Parliament

October 27th

A Monday visit, getting a train up from Hornchurch, a nice bright morning to start off, but very cold up there with a very strong westerly wind.

Arriving at 6.50a.m, I scanned around checking all the usual hotspots, but it was 7.30a.m before I located the Tiercel firstly.

Right from the start it was obvious that he was hunting, eventually being joined by the Falcon.

More often than not on hunting, singularly, it's the usual fly to a high point and perch - i.e. a Crane or Tall Building and launch sorties from this. Central Spire is used more than Victoria Tower, as it offers better all-round viewing being smaller, basically you can spot more potential prey in any direction.

Another method is using and hanging in the wind, in this case it was pair hunting, I watched them both doing this over towards Vauxhall above a high rise possibly trying to flush Feral Pigeons.

The classic and very rarely seen, is too thermal up extremely high, and then stoop on unsuspecting prey below, I have seen it a couple of time, spectacular to say the least and unbelievable speed. Estimates go from 160 - 200mph, 242 mph has been claimed for one stoop, a Falconers bird as I understand it fitted with some sort of device.

Whatever is the correct speed, it is something to see, they actually have to slow themselves down on impact not surprisingly.



One hunt I also watched, he came in very low from the river, absolutely flat out passing Central Spire obviously on a distant something, staying low and then passing the Abbey. Got one photo over near the Abbey, got the impression he was using the buildings to screen his approach.

Stunning stuff and something to witness, even for me who has been watching them for 25 years, just a pity I cannot do them justice with the camera, trying to keep up with them on the auto focus is another matter.

Despite the windy conditions, other birds made themselves known, mostly the usual species, of note was 59 Chaffinch all going west made up of 5 flocks.

Lots of wintering birds now on the move coming in and passing through including nocturnal movers, especially Woodcock, I would suspect the peregrines will soon start hunting at night using the City's artificial light.

                                                                           Falcon

                                             Pair hunting in the wind over towards Vauxhall

                                                                             Tiercel

                                               Hard to portray the speed, a flat out Tiercel

                                               Peregrine favourites - Tiercel on distant Crane