The Return Of The Swift - Hilfield Park Reservoir, Aldenham CP, Totteridge Valley - 2nd May 20192/5/2019 A chilly, but muggy morning saw the 1st returning Swift over the garden along with 2 Swallow flying through heading North so upon finding that my mum was going to be driving past one of the local reservoirs I decided to take a chance and head up since I guessed there would be some decent Hirundine passage and the chance of a year tick or two. Upon arrival at Hilfield Park Reservoir I looked up to see a Red Kite circling above the car with 2 Swift close by. Moving on into the grassland I could now see that the sky was full of Common Buzzard, Swift, along with a Sparrowhawk and a few Swallow mixed in for good measure. There must have been close to 100 Swift already just feeding on the insects that were already starting to annoy me. Above: Common Buzzard Below: Common Buzzard and Lesser Black-backed Gull I headed through the field listening to singing Blackcap, Chiffchaff, and Whitethroat as I went. I then headed through the little gate and through a massive swarm of flies before finally arriving at the viewing platform looking over the main Reservoir. The 1st noticeable thing was the swarms of Swift feeding at varying heights over the reservoir. With some extremely low over the water, to those at extreme altitudes and barely a dot in the sky. It felt like the place was being over run with swifts but it was an amazing sight to see. A one point the lower birds grouped together screaming as a Red Kite fly low over the lake. There must have been some 2-300 Birds present it was utter madness. (The Video below gives an idea of how many swift there were, but they are merely specs shooting across the screen) Above: one of the many Swift Below: Screen grab from the video showing Swallow, House Martin and Swift To be honest I was quite surprised that there were no Hobby about, however the flock of Swifts did contain around 30+ Swallow, 6 House Martin and 4 Sand Martin so it wasn't bad going. The rest of the birdlife on the resi was actually quite quiet with Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Cormorant, Black-headed Gull, and Coot all present. 3 Grebe Species were seen including the incredible Black-necked Grebe. I have to admit that I love seeing them at this time of year with their little red tufts on the side of their heads. They are truly stunning. An Arctic Tern was fishing with a Common Tern showing a nice comparison in the two species, however after a while I noticed that the Arctic had vanished and so presumably it had only briefly stopped of on its journey North. Eventually after having a bite to eat I decided to head to Aldenham Country Park since it was starting to get unbearable with the shear amount of insects swarming the viewing platform. Above: Black-necked Grebe Below: Common Buzzard being mobbed by a Carrion Crow As I left the field and headed out onto Hogg Lane I could just make out the faint sound of singing Skylark coming from the general direction of the Elstree Airport, which is interesting considering how busy the airport is. Along the way to the Country Park Blackcap, Whitethroat, and Chiffchaff were singing, along with a few Goldfinch in the hedges of the country lane. There was one particular hair raising moment when a lorry was coming down towards me and just like last year resulted in me throwing myself into a hedge to avoid the wing mirrors. This year I was unlucky since I throw myself into a Black Thorn and lets just say it wasn't pretty. Anyways moving on I finally made it to the Country Park and headed towards the Reservoir. A Pair of Grey Wagtail fed under the first tree that I came to along with the usual Mallards and Canada Geese. 3 Greylag were my first for the sight and a pair of Mute Swan were good to see. Tufted Duck, Coot, and Great Crested Grebe were present along with an Aylesbury, an Indian Runner and a Muscovy duck which had all probably at some point in their life escaped from the local farm. A flock of around 20+ Swallow hawked insects above the lake, however even though hilfield is barely a few hundred metres away there were no Swifts, which was rather odd. One of the Great Crested Grebes was fishing close by or at least that's what I thought it was doing. It turns out that what it came up with in its beak looks like a dead bird. Either way it proceeded to swallow it whole. Finally to round things off over by the boat club I found a family of Canada Geese that had 4 newly emerged Goslings. Above: Great Crested Grebe Below: Mallard Above: Pied Wagtail Below: Coots Territorial Dispute Above: Canada Goose and Gosling After this I headed up to Elstree with a Red Kite circling the road and a few Swallow passing through. I decided that I would head up to Totteridge to see what was about. Although as luck would have it no sooner had I gotten of the bus the heavens opened and the first of the days hail storms passed through. I have to admit that I wasn't properly dressed for this sort of weather and it was obvious that this wasn't going to be the last. So rather than doing the full circuit I decided to head down to Folly Farm where 2 Male Pheasant were squaring up to each other in one of the Horse Fields. Now I am sure that if the Horse hadn't intervened then this battle could have ended differently. 8 Lapwing were still in the field so hopefully they will have another good breeding season this year. I decided to head back home via Oakfields however the Firecrest of recent weeks wasn't singing, however I don't blame it since the heavens had opened once again. 2 Muntjac were some compensation for the lack of birds, however after a complete soaking I was now ready to head for home. And so this rounded off another great day of London Birding. To be honest now that I am birding in 2 parts of the country I have to admit that I have missed being in and around London and so I am very much looking forward to the summer. With 164 Species on my year list now the target becomes ever closer. Below: Male Pheasants
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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 18. ArchivesCategories |