Winter Thrushes are not only for Winter sometimes

What I had been hoping for back in February has happened :

Mistle Thrush are breeding in Margravine Cemetery!

I barely saw them in between, which is amazing considering how noisy and bold they can be, so I was thinking that they might have tried outside of the cemetery as I would see them quite often fly North, towards the Tube line.
Then about a week ago I heard their distinctive rattle a few times while walking through. Unfortunately I was so incapacitated at the time that walking on the rough ground looking for them was out of the question but I promised myself that as soon as I could I'd go looking for them. So Saturday morning Operation Mistle Thrush was put into gear and within 5 minutes, with a bit of luck, I located the nest with one of the birds on it. Happy time! Then yesterday I saw one of the birds bring food to 2 chicks.

Other birds not quite so far advanced in the breeding process are our local Peregrines, they started incubating 3 eggs about a week ago. I have started another blog to follow their progress: FaBPeregrines.

They're at it for another year

Yes, the Canada Geese have started nesting again on the wharf by the supermarket in Fulham Sands End.  However, this year they have changed their spot. Nest is made up of coiled rope, worn out bag and a bicycle saddle, and some down...  4th year of trying at least, maybe it'll be the right one... Best of luck!

The geese are at it again...

At about the same time last year a pair of Canada Geese started nesting on the Wharf by the supermarket in Sands End (not far from Wandsworth Bridge). They had failed in the same spot the previous year, they failed last year. What will happen this year? We'll see...

The goose was helpfully off the eggs for me to take a photo, it was back on them soon after :)

Lonsdale Reservoir last Sunday

I have been so busy and/or tired this week that I am only just managing to get this out now. I went to Lonsdale Reservoir last Sunday and, at last, mission Little Grebe was successful with a pair by the reed bed at one end of the reservoir :) #39 for the year.


I had barely started going round that a jogger asked me if I'd seen the owl, then by the tree I met some people who'd come specially to see it, so it's become a local celebrity it seems :)



Nearby I heard a Chiffchaff, then another on the other side which I spotted briefly. #40. The male Kestrel was sitting in a tree, I didn't spot its mate. Jackdaws, Stock Doves, but no Egyptian Geese.
A crow was picking up nesting material on the path, and another one was making a strange noise I don't recall hearing before:

Crow

On the water, there were still a few Common and Black-headed Gulls, but not that many. I couldn't see any Shovelers, but there were still some Tufted Ducks, Teals and Pochards. There had been mention on the Londonbirders wiki of likely unclipped Mandarins so I has a good look for them. Finally found them, and they gave me the run-around initially, moving from one side to the other, hiding behind the vegetation, but I think I finally got photos showing full winged birds. #41






Last visit I had done, over a month ago, a pair of Grey Herons had started building a nest on one of the rafts. They were still there:




This time, from the other side, I noticed that there was a second one, much lower one, on another raft:



Back closer to the nest, I was busy photographing the Mandarins when I heard noise from the herons' nest: the other had arrived for an exchange, the end of which I managed to video:

Nesting Grey Herons

Now that I have a bike, it will hopefully be less than a month before my next visit, with not having to spend 1hr30 just to get there and back anymore...

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.

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).