Capital birding

With my challenge of birding 100 sites in Greater London this year getting off to a good start I decided to keep the pace up during the second week of January.

Site 11: Fryent Country Park, January 8th

With the weather forecast still looking a bit dodgy after yesterday's deluge, I decided to stay local and walked the mile or so up to Fryent CP.

All the ponds are now full again after recent rain

Pond on top of Barn Hill

View looking north towards Stanmore

I walked round the woods on the west side around Barn Hill then along the hedges bordering Kingsbury. Great Spotted Woodpeckers were particularly vocal today and I also heard Nuthatch.

Black-headed Gull on the prowl

A trio of Redwings

I exited by the schools in the NE corner where it was just a short walk to my next site.

Site 12: Roe Green Park, January 8th

One of my smaller local patches, it doesn't take long to walk around. There's always a chance of adding something new though.

Roe Green Park with a few loafing winter gulls

Black-headed Gull

Common Gull

Spot the odd one out

This was only my third visit here so I am still missing a few common species and I managed to add three more today. I elected to take the bus home rather than walk which ended up being a good choice as it chucked it down shortly after I boarded the 302.

On Monday I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and lack of train strikes to do another day at Rainham. I chose the long walk from Rainham station via the barges, over the top of the tip to Serin Mound, along Aveley Bay and then into the reserve. I ended up walking nine and half a miles but it was good to do a long walk for a change. The best bird of the day was a Little Gull on the Thames at Coldharbour Point, a long overdue patch tick.

An obliging Rook for a change

After another washout on Tuesday, I decided to spend the morning in Hampstead and took the bus to Childs Hill. I don't know how this place got its name but must look it up sometime. It was a short walk from the bus stop to my first site.

Site 13: Golders Hill Park & West Heath, January 11th

I've not been to Golders Hill Park before so it was good to explore another new site. It's a very unique place with zoo enclosures, an aviary, ponds and patches of woodland so you get a strange juxtaposition of wallabies and Ring-necked Parakeets! 

Pond in Golders Hill Park

A good collection of exotic pines

Mallards with a Moorhen at the back

The park is contiguous with West Heath and I think there's just a rough track that forms the boundary between them. I have been to West Heath once before, a long time ago after I had a phone call from Mark Hardwick one Sunday evening saying he was watching a Little Bittern!

West Heath

I wandered around the area for a little while checking out likely looking area for Firecrest but didn't find any. I thought about heading north to Hampstead Heath Extension but instead decided on a shorter walk and entered the heath proper at Jack Straws Castle.

Site 14: Hampstead Heath, January 11th

I've not entered the Heath from this side before so wasn't exactly sure which way to go but eventually got my bearings. It's not a site I visit very often as it's infested with canines. My last couple of visits were twitches for Red-backed Shrike and Alpine Swift.

Gorse

Viaduct Pond

Parliament Hill

Looking down towards Highgate Ponds

View over the city

I managed to find a little bit of peace and quiet over this side and even managed to see my first Treecreeper this year. When I ventured towards the centre the number of people and their dogs went up considerably.

Cormorants

Grey Heron

Nuthatch

I had a good walk around and increased my meagre Heath bird list by quite a few species. I still have a lot of common species to get so will aim to put in a few more visits.

On Friday I spent most of the day at Cheshunt GPs not seeing a Bittern. One showed before we got to the hide and after we left to go for a walk to Holyfield Farm. We returned to the hide for another go and did manage a two second glimpse from the top deck before it just vanished back into a tiny patch of reeds. It then showed really well after we left the hide!

There's a Bittern hiding in the right hand patch of reeds.

We did have a good day's birding and saw several Red Kites. The area doesn't count in my 100 site challenge as it's outside of Greater London.

Site 15: Quainton Street Open Space, January 14th

After not bothering to venture out in the morning due to constant rain, I needed some fresh air in the afternoon so took a stroll over to a new patch. It's practically on my doorstep but I'd never bothered with it before as it didn't look very inviting. It looks like a tiny patch of grass off Neasden Lane North and is sandwiched between the River Brent and the canal feeder. On eBird it's registered as River Brent in Neasden. 

The entrance opposite McDonalds

Duck pond with resident Mallard

River Brent

Canal feeder

Looking west towards Wembley Stadium

The path went much further than I expected and there was a bridge over the river which leads to another park at the south end of the old Chalkhill Estate. Both waterways go under the tube lines (Jubilee & Met) so there's no way out at the end other than into a housing estate. For such a small park it actually has a lot of birds and I logged 21 species in under an hour including Great Spotted Woodpecker, Coal Tit and Goldcrest.

Coal Tit

Greenfinch

Mallard

 So at the end of the second week of January I've now managed to visit 15 sites, just over one a day. I won't be able to keep up this rate  but it's nice to be ahead.