bits and pieces

Wednesday means it's supermarket day, and means checking on the House Sparrows out there. I was getting increasingly worried as I couldn't see/hear the nice little flock that was in the bushes by the car park. I couldn't either find them by their nesting site, yet the catkins they loved last year are almost ready. Today, I finally saw a male peer through those bushes and call. It then flew off and initially looked like it was flying to the houses on the other side of the roundabout when he suddenly made a sharp angle and descended in the 'wasteland' that's between the car park and the derelict warehouses. When I got closer I could indeed hear sparrows in there, but the vegetation was just too dense. However, looking for them, I found a pair of Foxes having a nap in the sunshine.



Its left eye appears to be crying, but it looked otherwise in good health. I miss the time when we used to see them in the back gardens (2004 & 2005 (when we had a litter of 4 cubs)).

The past few weeks, I have noted aMoorhen which must have been from a very late brood last year as the red mask is barely developed, though I admit it's not that obvious on the photos at this size. I would have thought that last year's birds would have fully developed to adulthood by now.





Lastly, I have plugged them before, but it is now even more important than before: if during the months of February to July you see Peregrine activity around tall buildings in your area, please contact the London Peregrine Partnership.

8 for effort, nil for result

I guess it's time I do a final update on the moorhens. My last post was on Wednesday 2nd September. I went to check on them on the following Friday morning, and, for the 30 minutes I was around, one of the parents was on the nest, and not moving. The following day, I detoured before doing my patch check, and, once again, one of the parents was on the nest. It was visibly agitated, and within 5 minutes of me being there got up and went to check on the side of the tyre where I think one chick had fallen down. As it was up, another chick started going down:



and ended up on the mud as it was low tide. It did venture in the bit of water on the left of the photo, but the parent did push it back onto relatively safer ground and cleaned it up.



I could see one dead chick and one egg still in the nest. I stayed watching for a while, and nothing much changed, but I had to go. I checked again the next 2 mornings, but could only ever found 1 of the parents. I glimpsed the other one once from a distance on the raft of rubbish on the other side of the boat, but could not see if it had any chick in tow. Then, on Wednesday, at high tide, I found both birds preening on their favourite spot below the back of the boat. I think it's fairly safe to assume that they've sadly failed again.

At least, not all birds have failed in that area, the pair of swans nesting on the floating platform among the boats had one cygnet.
From this on 10 June:






to this on 27th June:





to this on 30th August:





A mallard also managed to raise 9 young to adult size in the area, which I think is no mean feat.


Having a nap on 3rd August in the swans' nesting platform

Hatchlings in a tyre!!!!

I had some errands to run in Hammersmith and went to check on the Moorhens on my way back. The parent on the nest seemed a bit restless, calling occasionally, and I was pretty sure I could hear some light 'pips'. The moorhen moved and, Yes!, 2 chicks, one of which must have hatched fairly recently as it was still wet:







I probably won't be able to check on them tomorrow, but I shall try on Friday morning.

Nesting in a tyre [part 4 I think]

For those of you still following the moorhens nesting in a tyre saga.
I went to check on them this afternoon and one of them was on the nest. As you can see, they have build it up so much now that there is barely any room for the incubating bird. Exchanges must be interesting...


You can also see how worn out the feathers are, exhausting job this reproducing lark...

It looks like the mud/silt between the barge and the wall has also been building up. One of the birds has been leaving tracks like these, and they're light little things, I dread to think how deep we would sink ;)



By my reckoning, the eggs should be hatching at some point this week, if they do. I'll try and have a look if I find a minute.

Patch walk

On Saturday morning I went for a 2h15 walk around my patch as it would be almost low tide.
But, first, I'll give an update on the moorhens. Well, one of them was on the nest, but the nest is now so built up that there is barely any room left for the incubating bird. They were now on day 12 to 14, so there should be 7-10 days left.
It was a nice morning, if a bit chilly at first.
In Frank Banfield Park, which is one of the 'parks' in the borough that have received the Green Flag Award, for the second week in a row I heard a wagtail and found 1 adult Pied Wagtail with 4 juveniles:



I also hear a Great Spotted Woodpecker calling, the first time ever there. I guess all this is a sign that last year's redevelopment was not such a bad thing, but I would be a lot happier if I could see and hear more Sparrows there. I wonder if the new ones I have been finding lately on the Thames Path are migrants from that group.

By Hammersmith Bridge, once again, there were lots of Startlings, they were flying between the bridge and the shore, some were bathing, other were feeding. Further along, I stood for a while observing a little group 'playing turnstone' and picking up small shellfish (I initially thought these might be baby mussels, but after finding those clams by Putney Bridge, I am not so sure anymore). It was amazing how they were opening their beak in order to overturn the stones, so I thought I'd try and film them. Unfortunately, they took fright when they heard me. I managed however to take this photo of a group that had similarly been spooked by something (but not me, honest) by Crabtree Wharf. It is nice to see them in good numbers.


I counted over 200 Black Headed Gulls, 52 Mallards, 43 Canada Geese (including one of the regular ones, white UVY), 1 Egyptian Goose, 16 Cormorants, 1 Grey Heron, Crows, Ring Necked Parakeets.
I also had the first Teals of the summer, with 3 females, a sure sign it is coming to an and, and 1 lonely female Tufted Duck.


Big gull wise, I saw 1 Great Black Backed fly over, a few Herring Gulls, at least 4 adults and 1 sub adult, and Lesser Black Backed, again at least 4 adults, 1 first summer and one juvenile. That juvenile was begging from one of its parents


and begging again, and again, and again...


Lots of young gulls of various ages, but I am still rather baffled by them so I won't venture too categorically, Still, I think this is a second summer Lesser Black Backed, which I somehow find quite attractive:



Finally, I found House Sparrows in 2 spots, both groups with a few youngsters. It is unfortunately difficult to count them precisely, but there were at least a dozen in the second group. I was trying to take photos of them which was easier said than done as they were hiding in a bush:


when I noticed this gorgeous long haired cat. Either they know it and know they have nothing to fear, or they hadn't seen it, since none were alarm calling, not even the robin also in the same bush.

Nesting in a tyre...[part 3]

Since my last update on the moorhens nesting in a tyre, I have continued to keep an eye on them whenever I could. Before going to Normandy, I increased my visits as I thought they were due since incubation is meant to be about 3 weeks but, up to the 28th, they were still sitting on their nest. I witnessed a nest exchange and am pretty sure I saw 5 eggs.
I went to check on them almost after coming back and, finally, there was no one on the nest, but there were 2 eggs, and I could only see 1 adult around. On a further visit, I could still only find 1 adult and there was now 1 egg in the nest. Last Sunday morning, I finally saw both adults and no young, so they had definitely failed. There was 1 egg in the nest.
I passed by today at lunchtime and, guess what? They're back at it! Attempt #3 (at least), we'll see how this one goes...

Relay, Moorhen style

Today, I had to run an errand and thought I'd make a detour to check on the Moorhens in their tyre. I'd checked on them on Saturday morning and they were still there, patiently incubating their eggs. Tide was very high, the highest I've seen for a while, but the tyre was still above water, indicating that, in this respect at least, their choice is not as loony as it may seems. One was on the nest and the other one was busy collecting extra nesting material. When I arrived, it was blades of grass, but you can see that they can get creative with man-made material:










This was hard work! :)

There was a lot of such man-made material on the river, some of it collecting in the usual spot by Hammersmith Bridge. There, making the most of the flotsam, were a Pied Wagtail with 3 young, and very briefly a Grey Wagtail with one young. Further, by Crabtree Wharf, I could hear the sparrows from quite a distance. I'd only ever seen a max of 3 there, but, this time, there were at least 5 young as well, which was good to see, though it would be better and easier if they were not hiding so much.

On the falcons front, it's been quiet today as far as I have been able to observe. A peregrine present early in the morning and a kestrel later. In fact, there was more activity from the crows and the pigeons...

Nesting in a tyre (part 2)

I had checked on the moorhens last Saturday morning and one of them was on the nest in the tyre and there were plenty of feet marks in the mud underneath indicating a lot of ins and outs.
But this is the view that greeted me yesterday:

An empty nest where the original one was, and a moorhen in another tyre further along the side of the barge:

I can only imagine that something happened with the first nest/clutch, and they're having to start all over again...

We'll see how it goes :)

On a different front, our local Jays have successfully fledged at least 1, maybe 2 young, probably this morning. It was quite funny watching them trying to negotiate the TV aerials ;) While drinking my morning coffee on the sofa I could see Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jay & Blackbird vying for space on an aerial (where did they go before TV?!). Good way to start the day!

Nesting in a tyre...

On the subject of interesting nests, a pair of moorhens in Hammersmith are doing a nice piece of double recycling. If you click on any of the photos below, you should be directed to the picasa album with a location map which might give you a better idea of where they are. There is a small green called Furnival Gardens not far from Hammersmith Bridge. Opposite, you have a group of boats/barges moored. And, inside a tyre tied to the side of one of the barges, a pair of moorhens are nesting:



And closer:


I have to admit that I may have missed them if I had not seen one jumping off during a nest exchange... Hopefully, they'll do better than the trolley coots slightly down river. I have yet to find where the moorhens on my patch near Crabtree Wharf are nesting (and they must have done last year as they had a juvenile with them for a while).