The weekend start with a brief trip into the Totteridge Valley on a very soggy Wednesday afternoon which brought about 60 Canada Geese, 8 Mandarin Duck, 7 Teal at Darlands Lake, a Cormorant, 146 Common Gull, 37 Rook, 3 Goldcrest to name a few of the interesting ones. However the most interesting sightings were the sheer amount of thrushes that were around with at least 269 Fieldfare, 111 Starling, 99 Redwing. It was crazy and my counting of the flocks was made harder by a Fox which flushed them all mid count. The majority of the birds were scattered into the hedges, however there was a large flock of Redwing feeding at Frith Riding Stables and a large mixed flock of Starling and Fieldfare feeding in Cow field. The only other thing of note on this visit, other than the flooding, was a group of 8 Bullfinch in the Owl field which is a valley record count and not the only valley record that I was going to break this week. A good but unexpected start to the birding weekend was apparently only going to get better...! Above: Fieldfare and Starling Below: Bullfinch On Friday afternoon I decided to head into the Totteridge Valley again! Once I reached Frith Lane a flock of Goldfinch flew over and at the same time I picked up a Cormorant which was my third different individual to fly over this month. I then proceeded onto Partingdale Lane and then onto Burtonhole Lane. Here I had my first Redwings of the visit as well as a Jay, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long-tailed Tits, and also a Robin which sat up in the trees singing its heart out. Above: Cormorant Below: Redwing Below: Robin I then headed down to a gap in the fence to where I could peep into Frith Riding Stables and I was somewhat surprised when my first scan of the Black-headed and Common Gulls brought about a Little Egret. A flock of Starlings was also present here and so too was a Pied Wagtail. Below: Little Egret with Black-headed Gulls It was now starting to head towards dusk as I reached old Grasshopper Warbler field and here I watched as Fieldfare and Redwing started to arrive to roost and so did 3 Bullfinch. All of a sudden there was a commotion as 2 Rook descended on the Field below and off went all the gulls to roost. A total of 180 Common Gull and 91 Black-headed Gull went off to roost. I then followed the Folly Brook a little way along towards John's Field. I decided to check the pond in the entrance of the field due to the historical records that it holds. To my surprise there were 3 Teal happily feeding there. I have never ever seen anything in this pond before and that is partially because it rarely has water on it so to see 3 Teal was quite something. I then carried on along the Folly Brook towards Darlands however I didn't see anything of note. Once I was at Darlands a quick scan revealed 2 Mallard and a Teal. One thing I did notice was that the flood waters had dramatically receded from Wednesday's heights and I was now able to do a lap of the lake without drowning myself. A flock of 20 Canada Geese flew over whilst I was around the back of the lake looking at Goldcrests, however not a single one of them landed on the lake. Just before I headed off to Owl field I decided to have one last scan of the lake. This brought up 3 Moorhen lurking in an amongst the trees. What happened next has not only shocked me, but also the rest of the birders that frequent the valley. I was just about to give up hope of anything else being on the lake when out of the corner of my eye I saw something fly from the right hand side of the lake. I got an amazing view of it as it zipped low across the water with its long beak and fat, hefty body. It was a Woodcock. As soon as I had seen it was gone down stream. Next I went into Owl Field. As I arrived 2 Bullfinch rocketed out of the nearest bush calling angrily. A flock of Meadow Pipit was also circling the Southern end of the field. I watched this flock for a good 20 minutes as it built up from just 13 birds to a shocking 58 birds. A recent time valley record count for this species if not the biggest count ever and just like that they descended down into the long grass and it was as if they were not there. Whilst I had been watching the Meadow Pipits I hadn't noticed that a Fox had snuck up on me and it was literally standing next to me also mesmerised by the display. It looked as me as I looked at it and eventually I won the staring contest and it plodded of into the bushes next to me. (Pictured Below) I then proceed to Cow field to the sound of chuck chuck chucking Fieldfare heading to their roost sites. When I arrived in cow field there was nothing, literally nothing. It looked as though I had got there a bit too late. Fortunately as ever I was wrong and a passage of Rook started as they appeared and headed to their roost sites along with some Jackdaw and Crow as well. It was all rather bland so I decided to head up the path to long pond and speed up my journey home. I hadn't made it very far when I stopped to look at another small passage of Jackdaw. Or at least that was what the first 2 birds were... To my surprise the next 2 birds didn't follow the Jackdaws and started to circle me. They were both Woodcock and I was only just able to pick them out in the last strands of light that were available to me and so I headed on up to Long Pond were I got on to the bus much happier than I was before as this was yet another record count with only the odd one or two Woodcock seen a year in the valley let alone three on one night. The next morning dawn a decent one and so I decided to do my Big Garden Bird Watch hour at 8am. The session started off slow as always. It wasn't long though before the first Stock Dove were in the garden alongside a recent record count of 3 Jays. I spotted something flicking about in the Christmas tree at the back of the garden and to my surprise it was a Male Siskin. After a while all the regulars turned up including the Male Blackcap which is spending the winter with us and also the Greenfinch and Coal Tit flocks. A Goldcrest was also a garden bird watch first for me and was also a surprise addition to the garden year list. Rather surprisingly there was no visit from either the local Wrens or the Long-tailed Tits which was a bit worrying, however thankfully from a diversity point of view there was also no visit from the Sparrowhawk! Above: Blackcap Below: Siskin Above: Greenfinch Below: Blackcap So now to Sunday. Frustratingly I was forced last minute to abort a trip to Staines that I had been planning the night before. Instead I headed straight onto the Hampstead Heath to help out with the Big Garden Bird Watch. My target was to clock up as many species as possible. When I arrived I checked both the Model Boating Pond and also the Bird Sanctuary Pond, however apart from Tufted Duck, Coot, Moorhen, Mallards, and Cormorants there wasn't really anything about. Ring-necked Parakeets exploded out of almost every tree I walked past and a pair of Stock Dove were also caught up in the commotion that they caused. I then walked round to the back of the Boating Pond where I found a pair of Egyptian Geese. The bird that I presume was the Male wasn't too happy about my presence and so I decided to keep my distance from them. Above: Coot Below: Egyptian Geese Above: Cormorant Below: Coot Above: Tufted Duck Below: Egyptian Geese Above: Black-headed Gull Below: 1st Winter Black-headed Gull It wasn't long before I realised why the Parakeets were so noisy. The majority of them had already paired up and were starting to excavate holes in the trees so that they could get their nests ready. This may sound early for Parakeets, but they can breed in almost any month of the year and I have had them successfully rear young by the 14th of January before. The majority of the nesting attempts do come in the spring, but if conditions are mild enough some birds will just try their luck. (Pictured Below) I next had a look onto the Men's Bathing Pond. Here there was a large raft of mainly Black-headed Gulls, however there were a few Herring and Common Gulls mixed in. A quick search along the tree line brought about both Moorhen and Coot, as well as a Grey Heron and eventually my first Great Crested Grebe of the year. Above: Great Crested Grebe Below: Grey Heron I then moved onto the Model Boating Pond and was faced with the usual raft of Tufted Ducks, some coot, a few moorhen, mallards and the friendly Mute Swan. With the Mallards there was also a pair of Indian Runner Ducks that must have escaped from somewhere nearby, although I recall seeing them here before, so whowever the owner is doesn't seem to want them back. Feral Pigeons sat on the trees next to me and another large raft of gulls had the same species as the last one. Surprisingly there were no Shoveler, however there was a pair of Gadwall which I haven't seen on the heath for a while. Above: Mute Swan Below: Tufted Ducks Above: Mute Swan Below: Tufted Ducks, Coot, and Black-headed Gull Above: Black-headed Gulls Below: Herring Gulls, Moorhen, and Cormorant Above: Feral Pigeons Below: Mallards and a Coot Above: Mute Swan Below: Great Crested Grebe Below: Gadwall and Black-headed Gulls I next went up to Parliament Hill to enjoy the scenery. A pair of Mistle Thrush and also a flock of 11 Stock Dove were a bonus. I then went into the volunteering hub to start our shift on the heath. We set out for the Bird Sanctuary Pond and the feeders there. As soon as we arrived Coal Tits, Great Tits, and Blue Tits were busily going to and from the feeders. A flock of 4 Siskin were also up in the trees and so too were the Ring-necked Parakeets. The main highlights of the bird watch were the pair of Nuthatch that graced us for much of the time we were there and also the Great Spotted Woodpecker. The main point of us being there was to raise awareness of the RSPB's Birdwatch to those out and about on the heath and also to try and get some people interested in the birds that we were seeing. In the end we managed to speak to around 150 - 200 people of which almost all were really enthusiastic. Some also mentioned the fact that they didn't know about the event as they hadn't seen it advertised and some said that they had already done it or planned to do it when they went home. We had a mixture of age groups that visited us from the youngest people to the oldest people and it was really great to be a part of it again. The 2 Highlights happened as we were packing up. The first was a Treecreeper which climbed up on of the trees in front of us and gave us 5 minutes worth of very good views and the second was the best bird of the day. A Hawfinch. It flew from down towards the Model Boating Pond and then up and around towards Parliament Hill. Above: Goldfinch Below: Nuthatch Above: Grey Squirrel Below: Great Spotted Woodpecker Above: Ring-necked Parakeet Below: Treecreeper Once we had got back and debriefed. I decided that I would head to the Model Boating Pond and Bird Sanctuary Pond to see what would come into roost. A few more Tufted Ducks and Mallards appeared at Dusk, but it wasn't until it was almost pitch black that I got what I was after. A flock of 6 Mandarins came into roost and I could just about pick out when they splashed down on to the pond. Because of how late it was when the Mandarins finally arrived they allowed me to get another bonus and something that I think is quite rare on Hampstead Heath. A Little Owl started to call from one of the trees at the far end of the Bird Sanctuary Pond near where the feeders are.
With this I look back on what was actually quite a productive weekend of birding and I look forward to my next birding trips in a few weeks time!
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AuthorI have been a birder since i was 8 however only really started to be able to go out to places by myself in Summer 2016 (Blame the parents) My blogs will be from all over the place, but mainly from RSPB Rainham Marshes and Totteridge Valley! Photography done by Samuel Levy aged 17. ArchivesCategories |