Birds in Regent's Park

Two more birds to report and two coincidences thrown in. On Monday while doing my usual walk to work through Regent's Park I spotted a goldcrest in a silver birch in a great birding spot kept by the excellent wildlife warden of Regent's Park, Tony Duckett. Later that day I read in his blog that 2 firecrests had been spotted. I immediately looked up the species on the off-chance I had actually spotted a firecrest but in fact, what I had seen was definitely a goldcrest. Still, one more bird for the list.

Then, that evening I got a call from my father crowing (if you'll excuse the bird term) over a lesser redpoll he's had on his niger seed in the garden. Three witnesses all with binoculars so it had to be true. I had never seen a redpoll up to that point but stunningly saw one the next day when I was again in Regent's Park almost at the same spot. This time a group of about 4 or 5 were pointed out to me by Tony himself who happened to be there. I even get a mention in his great blog on birding in Regent's Park. That brings me to 78 birds for the year and 86 for the UK All time List.

Buzzards and Gulls at Welsh Harp

Just popped down to the Welsh Harp Reservoir where I saw my first great black-backed gulls of the year and 2 common buzzards soaring above Wembley Stadium were pointed out to me by the other birders. The difference between the great and lesser black backed gulls other than the size is the leg colour. The great has pinky grey legs whereas the lesser has yellowy grey legs. The great black-backs are huge which you could see as they were sitting next to a cormorant and were bigger then him. Other than that there were 2 snipe and the usual suspects.

That takes my birds this year to 76. My total UK birds is now on 85 and my life list is on 382.

Box 2

Both boxes with a lot of action now.

Bird Boxes

In November of 2008 I put up a bird box designed and made by my father who must have made hundreds over the years. That spring I had great tits nesting in it and after the summer I inspected the bird box and found 2 eggs underneath a nest. I never saw the chicks leaving the nest but there were definitely chicks being fed as I could hear them and see the great tits coming in and out of the box. Sometimes it was really gratifying to see the great tit come out of the box, fly straight over to my fat feeder, get a mouthful of fat and then go straight back to the box. I really felt I was helping to rear the chicks.

Last November I put up another bird box about 20 feet along the wall at the same height. Both boxes have received quite a bit of attention mainly from great tits but also from blue tits. According to my father the size of the hole determines if either a blue tit or a great tit will use the box. I have noticed one great tit pecking at the hole as if to try to make it bigger. That time two great tits inspected the second box (box 2) and while one was inside a wren showed a lot of interest, seeming to jump up and down on the box while a great tit was in it as if to say, 'you're not moving in here!' So far I think I have had only a few viewings but no tenants as yet. Watch this space.

The photograph shows the original bird box (box 1).

My goldfinches are coming everyday now; usually 2 but sometimes 3 or 4. So avid are they that the niger seed is going down faster than the black sunflower seed.

Crows and Pigeons

This morning we rolled up the blind to look out into the garden and there were 2 goldfinches eating from the niger seed. They are coming everyday at the moment arriving at around 7:15. Judging by the speed at which the seed is going down I would guess they are coming back quite a few times during the day as well. Also this morning for the first time we had a carrion crow land in the garden. I often see crows flying over or on the roof tops but this is the first time I saw one coming into the garden. He was after a particularly mangy looking feral pigeon which then flew straight into our conservatory. The pigeon was stunned for a while and seemed to have hurt his wing but just about managed to make it into the next garden. The crow disappeared.

The crow takes the number of birds listed in the all time garden list to 19. We've only been here a year and a half so I'm pretty pleased with that. The exceptional birds are a chifchaff (my first ever) which I also managed to photograph, a blackcap and a great spotted woodpecker.

Welsh Harp Reservoir

I went over to the Welsh Harp Reservoir this morning which is about 15 minutes from where I live. Not too much to be seen at first over and above the regular set but then when I went over to the hide, I saw a greylag goose, 1 snipe in good view and some teal. A little stroll through the woods there and I saw a redwing, my first grey wagtail of the year and a fieldfare. I was quite happy to see the greylag goose as so far the ones on my list are from Regent's Park. In my book, if something is flying and could leave then it must be wild, however I don't always follow this rule. Although I am happy to count the greylag geese, I don't count the Egyptian geese even though they fly too. Also saw 2 great crested grebe's doing that mating dance. Great to see.

One of the other things I am trying to do at the moment is get my head around birdsong. I find it really hard to distinguish between them and keep finding myself listening intently to a song I've never seemingly heard before only to discover the bird is actually a great tit or something. I usually ask myself, 'is it a Robin', as these seem to be the most common bird I hear. Great tits and blue tits are next and I am starting to get to know the long-tailed tits and the dunnock. The thrush is pretty obvious simply because it is so startling in comparison with most other birds but then would I know the difference between that and a blackbird? Not sure.

I have read lots of books about birds and one of the things I cannot get to grips with is the way authors describe birdsong. This, to me, seems completely subjective. The way I describe a sound will sound different in someone else's imagination than in mine. It gets even odder if you throw in a new language. So the way that a German describes birdsong is different again depending on pronunciation in German. English, with so few rules on pronunciation, seems the worst language to try to describe birdsong in.

Goldcrests and Sparrowhawks

My parents live near Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common so have a great spot for garden birds. Despite that fact it is always surprising to me how different the birds can be. For instance, in my garden in Kilburn I have starlings on the table all the time which my parents rarely have and I also get goldfinches which are also rare for them. However, they are just starting to get ring-necked parakeets and for years now have been getting manadarin ducks coming every spring and staying until mid-summer. I was there recently with my binoculars looking out for the parakeets and also hoping for my first goldcrest of the year as they get one coming to their water fall in the back of the garden. Just as I was standing there, bins in hand, a sparrowhawk flew into the garden to harry the blue tits. They had told me of this happening before but I hadn't quite believed it, as something you want to disbelieve through pure jealousy. However, there it was in full view, my first one for the list.