North London Highlights

After a week away in Spain watching Iberian Lynx it was back to the UK for the end of January and start of February. For the new week I decided to concentrate on North London.

Site 21: Bentley Priory, January 30th

This is near the northern terminus of the Jubilee Line at Stanmore although I elected to take a local bus (142) which stops a little close at the Broadway. From there it's a ten minute walk to the Local Nature Reserve of Bentley Priory. I remember my first visit here back in 1985 when I found a pair of Tree Sparrows at Boot Pond which is next to the entrance. Tree Sparrows are not just gone from here but throughout the entire London Area.

I roughly followed the circular route, going past the private deer park then cutting down the hill from the northern part of the path to the lake. The lake only had a small number of ducks but can be reliable for Goosander and sure enough, there was a single drake on the water. It decided to be awkward and perched on the far bank just under the trees so became almost invisible apart from its bright feet. After a while it was joined by a Kingfisher that flew in and landed nearby.

Kingfisher

Redwing

Egyptian Goose

Coot

It's a nice reserve to explore as there's a lot of woodland and open areas of grassland and scrub and I recorded 38 species. Quite a few of these were new ones for me at this site because I haven't been here recently, like Egyptian Goose and even Ring-necked Parakeet.

Rather than complete the loop, I headed back past the lake as I wanted to exit at the western end. Once back at the road I crossed over it to my next site.

Site 22: Harrow Weald Common, January 30th

I've not been year before and didn't even know it existed until I noticed it in the A-Z when looking for somewhere else to visit. It's a narrow patch of woodland that is right of the northern boundary of Greater London. The London Loop footpath goes through this site.

I was quite intrigued by the pub as there used to be one in Willesden with the same name and I always thought it was an odd name for a pub. It appears there are several others in the country, particularly in NW London. I couldn't work out the relevance of the name to the picture of the battle either. The name seems to come from a 17th Century play by Ben Johnson but I can't find out why it became used on pubs. My military history adviser (thanks John!) tells me that the painting depicts a British regiment from the Napoleonic era (early 19th century) although it's unclear what they are actually doing.

Nuthatch

At the western end there are a few ponds and the exit leads to a footpath that heads across a golf course but doesn't got anywhere useful. I walked back past the pub to a car park and a viewpoint looking back down on London. It was a pleasant spot for a picnic and while eating my lunch a Buzzard came out of the common and circled over the hillside.

Sufficiently rested I carried along the road and picked up a bus heading towards Harrow Wealdstone where I knew I could connect to the 182 bus that would take me home.

With yet another series of train strikes this week, I was bit limited on where I could go but decided that I could take the tube to explore a few sites.

Site 23: Grovelands Park, February 1st

This is a ten minute walk from Southgate station on the Piccadilly Line and is somewhere I used to pop into to get my annual fix of Mandarins but I've not been here for a number of years.

The island at the south end of the lake is the best spot for Mandarins

I did an anticlockwise loop of the lake, with a break to explore the woodland and scrub at the northern end. A Water Rail had been found at the NE end of the lake a couple of days earlier but I didn't see it. When I reached the island at the southern end of the lake at the completion of my loop I was in the right place for the Mandarins, although it was looking into the low sunlight.

Mandarins

I walked back up the hill to Southgate station then travelled south a few stops and alighted at Manor House station. Another ten minute walk and I was at my next site.

Site 24: Woodberry Wetlands, February 1st

The only other time I'd been here was to look for a Golden Oriole (which I didn't see) when the site was known by its former name of Stoke Newington Reservoirs. There was no access to either reservoir but you could view the east reservoir from the riverside path. Since then it has been opened up and turned into a local nature reserve. It has a boardwalk running through the reedbed to a popular cafe with outdoor seating overlooking the reservoir. You can then walk around the southern end and return via the old riverside path.

The boardwalk through the reeds

As I walked along the boardwalk a Cetti's Warbler sang from deep in the reeds. I sat down at the cafe and scanned the reservoir. I chatted to a couple of residents about the birds that were here and helped one attach a lanyard to her new pair of bins. A feeder by the cafe attracted Robin, Blue Tit and Dunnock. I then set off to complete a loop of the site which didn't take very long.

Cormorants

Pair of Gadwall

Starling

Once back at the start I cut through the new housing estate although I could have followed a path along the edge of the west reservoir. I crossed over Green Lanes to my third site of the day.

Site 25: Finsbury Park, February 1st

This was my first visit to this park which is a typical Victorian London park. It has a few stands of mature trees and a lake. It's a very popular place but there are quieter areas, particularly at the northern end. 

Looking south towards central London

I had lunch overlooking the lake which had a good number of wildfowl on it including a couple of fully-winged Red-crested Pochards and a very dodgy looking duck.

Canada Goose

Answers on a postcard...

Male Common Pochard

Red-crested Pochard

Male Tufted Duck

I walked down the hill and out of the park to Finsbury Park station which was just a minute away.

On Friday I walked over to Fryent Country Park for a few hours as I fancied a local stroll. There were Song Thrushes singing all over the place and I wonder if some of these are migrants as I've not recorded that many breeding here. I found a trio of Lesser Redpolls feeding in a Silver Birch at the northern end, the first ones I've seen in London this year.

I finished the week off at Rainham Marshes. It was an overcast day and was fairly quiet on the marshes but I did see my first Oystercatcher of the year.

Nov 19th-30th: Bittern hunt

The second half of November this year marked the transition from autumn to winter as visible migration petered out except for winter thrushes. Even those are more likely to be seen on hedgerows gobbling Hawthorn berries rather than just flying over. At Brent Reservoir, I virtually stopped my vismig mornings on the Dump as there was nothing flying over. A few Siskins and Redpolls can be found feeding on the alders and Silver Birches around the reservoir.

Lesser Redpoll

One morning I heard a Blackcap in sub-song along the path to the hides at Brent. We usually have a few over-wintering individuals but they’re hard to track down as they’re usually silent. Duck numbers have been going up and it feels like cold weather will be arriving soon although there’s not even been a frost yet.

On the 22nd I wandered up to Fryent CP for a change of view, one of the other large green spaces I can easily walk to. I don’t tend to visit it a lot during the winter months as it is often quiet and the paths are atrociously muddy. It was a nice walk around this morning, helped by it being bright and sunny. Redwings and Fieldfares were in the hedges and a Red Kite circled around over me looking for food although I’m not sure what it was expecting to find.

Fieldfare

Red Kite

The following day I met up with Frank down at the Wetland Centre. Despite coming from opposite sides of London and using public transport we both arrived at the same time. After coffee and cake we headed straight to Dulverton hide to look for Bittern. On our last visit we spent over an hour here and didn’t see one, this time it took just ten minutes before one crawled through the reeds and stopped on the edge for several minutes before slinking back out of view. Over the course of the next half an hour we saw it two more times, including once when it flew along the reeds to another spot.

Bittern

We carried on to the Peacock hide where we were the only birders for a while. I found a second Bittern on the edge of the reeds along Reservoir Lagoon. This one was bolt upright in its sky-pointing stance and from a distance looked like a wooden post. A couple of other birders joined us and found two Stonchats along with a Dartford Warbler on the wader scrape which at least had a bit of water in it. When these birds first turned up a month ago the scrape was bone dry. A second Dartford Warbler had subsequently arrived and after a lot of scanning we managed to see both of them. Water Pipit and Goldeneye have both been seen recently but we couldn’t track down either today.

Bittern

On the 25th I met up with my regular Friday birding friends and at Liverpool Street station and we went up to Cheshunt for another Bittern hunt. Unfortunately we weren’t successful as both Bitterns had been flushed by a working party and had flown to the far side of the lake. We also couldn’t locate the redhead Smew that is back for another winter. It was another sunny day which encouraged the local raptors and we saw at least three Red Kites and four Common Buzzards.

Red Kite

We also explored around Holyfield Hall Farm and Hall Marsh Scrape but didn’t turn up too much else. It was a bit tricky at the latter site as someone’s nicked the benches from the hide and the slats are too low if you stand up!

I popped down to Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens on 28th but didn’t spend a lot of time there as it actually felt cold and there weren’t many birds around apart from Egyptian Geese which seen to have taken over the area near the Round Pond.

I finished the month at Crossness, meeting John & Janet at London Bridge earlier than planned. This was fortuitous as the Barn Owl was showing as we walked past but had gone in to sleep shortly afterwards as a local birder who we met later by the outflow didn’t see it. There weren’t as many waders as on our last visit and all the Wigeon had disappeared but it was still heaving with birds. Two Little Egrets fished from either side of the outflow and the usual Common Sand was there along with a few Redshank plus several Grey and Pied Wagtails.

Little Egret

Redshank

Grey Wagtail

As we walked back beside the area where the Great Reed Warbler was a few years ago we stopped to watch a large flock of Goldfinches bathe in the puddles on the path. Another finch was with them which, at the distance we were at, appeared smaller and darker. As it bathed it flashed a yellow rump but then flew off before we could get close enough to identify it. We waited for a while but the finches had finished their ablutions and some of them were resting in the trees; unfortunately there was no sign of this particular bird so we’ll never know what it was despite our suspicions.

We crossed over to the Southern Marsh which certainly lived up to its name as the path was really wet and there was a large pool at the end of one stretch of boardwalk which we had to wade through. Large numbers of Redwing with a few Fieldfare were again feeding in the hedgerows but there wasn’t much else there until we got to Thamesmere and found a large assortment of wildfowl.

With eleven months of the year now gone, my London Year List has stalled somewhat on 182 species. It’s going to have to be a really amazing December to even reach 190.

August 15th-21st: waders and flycatchers

 I popped up to Brent Res on Monday morning to look for waders from the hide but couldn’t find yesterday’s Wood Sand. All the others waders were equally matched with three each of Lapwing, Snipe, Common and Green Sands. My tentative plan for today was to go to Regent’s Park for the Pied Fly if it was still there and when I was in the hide I checked my messages and there was positive news so I didn’t explore the rest of the area, instead taking the bus down to Kilburn station.

It didn’t take long to get to Regent’s Park, arriving just before 9.00. I knew roughly where the bird was hanging out and walked up the west edge of the park, not stopping to look for any water birds on the lake. As I approached the area I heard the flycatcher calling. It reminds me of the opening note of a Goldfinch call and is often repeated for a while, making it easier to track down. I soon found the Pied Fly perched up high in a tree but it stopped calling when it saw me and promptly disappeared. I looped around the Chat Enclosure but there was nothing there. As I walked back it started calling again and I quickly found it but it did the same thing again and vanished.

I was really pleased to catch up with Pied Fly as I probably had a non-calling one at Brent yesterday but it also vanished quickly – too quickly as I wasn’t able to confirm it. It was another new one for my year list and not one that I was confident about getting. Unlike Spotted Flycatcher which I still haven’t seen yet but they are usually a bit later in August.

I decided not to explore the rest of the park as it was getting hot so just left by the nearest gate and roughly headed west where I thought there was a bus route. I emerged through the side streets at St John’s Wood station but carried on and took the bus home.

With various transport strikes going on during the week, that was my only real venture away from Brent apart from an evening visit south of the river to co-lead a bat walk around Southwark Park. The heatwave had finished and there had been some rain earlier in the day but luckily it was dry when we walked around. Common Pipistrelles were out before we even set off and everyone managed to see a few during the course of the evening. We also had Soprano Pipistrelles and probably a Brown Long-eared Bat in the same place we saw one last year but there was no sign of either of the two larger species that we should have got. Maybe they were full up after gorging on insects the previous evening.

Back at Brent, the Wood Sand reappeared on Tuesday and then remained all week, allowing quite a few people to come along and see this elegant wader. It spent most days in East Marsh so was really only viewable from the main hide but on Sunday it was briefly present in North Marsh. The same day I also heard a Greenshank calling as it flew past unseen behind some trees to add to this month’s wader list.

Wood Sandpiper on a raft after the water level rose

Passerine migration is now in full flow and the number of Willow Warblers fluctuated every day, peaking at a dozen. One of the favoured areas at Brent is the Dump and one morning I found a Common Redstart in one of the Elder bushes. The heat wave has caused the insect population to plummet with very few butterflies around and we still haven’t had a second generation Common Blue yet or even any Brown Argus or Small Copper all year. There’s also very few dragonflies around as well with just the occasional Migrant Hawker on the wing.

The only other thing of note was an exceptionally large specimen of Dryad’s Saddle that I found on a willow on the south side, measuring just over half a metre across.

Dryad's Saddle

I did manage a walk around Fryent Country Park on one day for a change. I was mainly looking for migrants on the hedges but it wasn’t a particularly good day with just a few Chiffs and Blackcaps seen. Most of the grass fields have been cut now and it’s looking very dry. The blackberry crop this year is looking pretty woeful but surprisingly the Blackthorns have produced a good crop of sloes.

Hedges looking good for migrants

Sloes

I did see a trio of Yellow Wagtails go over which is a good local record and found a perched Hobby.

Hobby

June 21st-30th: half the year gone

This blog marks the halfway point of 2022 during which I’m attempting a big London Year List. It hasn’t felt much like that during June with only one addition (Barn Owl) but it does tend to be the quietest month of the year. There were a couple of other birds I could have tried for but didn’t: a Quail at Canon’s Farm/Tadworth (scuppered by train strikes) and Wood Sandpiper at Rainham which only stayed a day. Hopefully I’ll get another chance at the latter, probably at the same site but Quail will most likely elude me all year.

For the last third of June I spent most days at Brent Reservoir where the autumn wader passage was just getting going with variable numbers of Green Sands and Lapwings each day and the odd Common Sand and Little Ringed Plover. It also gave me a chance to look for roosting moths and have regular hacks at the invasive Himalayan Balsam which is rampant in East Marsh. The official method of getting rid of it is to uproot each stem but when faced with thousands of plants it’s not realistic so I usually resort to decapitating them just before they flower. Usually they don’t have time to regrow and disperse their seeds so it’s pretty effective. And a lot more fun! In the sunnier periods there were plenty of dragonflies and butterflies to look for with Gatekeeper new on the wing.

Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet 

Marbled White

Comma, showing how it got its name

Black-tailed Skimmer

I ventured over to Fryent CP one day, showing a couple of friends around. It’s only a short walk from Wembley Park, albeit uphill so it’s easily done by public transport. At the end I left them by the bus stop to get back to the station although I didn’t realise they’d stopped running due to an event in the area. We had a pleasant walk around, admiring the views across the Thames basin and northwards towards Stanmore. The best bird was a Red Kite that flew over a couple of times and some Marbled Whites.

On the penultimate day of the month I visited another local green space for the first time: Roe Green. I’d been past it on the bus before and thought it looked worth checking out. I walked there from the top end of Brent Reservoir. Although there is a lot of open grass with sports pitches, there are pockets of woodland. It wasn’t the best time of year to explore it but it has potential. I just about managed a circuit of the park before a cloudburst and had to run for cover.