1 March 2009

I had my suspicions last year but I never managed to get him in the act. This time I was in the cemetery with my camera when I heard what sounded like a mixture between woodpecker drumming and door creaking. I followed the noise and found the male great spotted woodpecker drumming on a mobile phone aerial on the council estate building next to the cemetery. I then only managed a very distant photo before it flew away. A little while later I had found the female 'singing' in a tree next to their old nest when I hear him again, so I rushed back and managed some better photos and a few movies (which I have yet to process). At one point it got chased away by a crow who thought that this was the ideal place to eat its monkey nut, and went to another one and started again. All the while, the female was continuing her calls and getting closer.

Near to the female I also saw a pair of greenfinches mating. Spring is definitely in the air. Colours are appearing everywhere: yellow of daffodils, crocus, and the "tits' tree" (box), purple and white of the crocus, pink and purple of prunus. Even one hyacinth was flowering, albeit a well sheltered one, but still it was flowering. There is still no pink on the magnolia, which is much later than the previous 2 years, but the buds are definitely getting bigger. The snowdrops are however on their way out now.

I spotted my first ladybird of the year. Not a 'classic' one, but a 16-Spot orange ladybird (Halyzia sedecimguttata), and not where I have seen them in previous years, which would be difficult at this time since it is on the underneath of the pink chestnut tree leaves. It was on a pine tree, and as I was taking a few photos, I heard a high pitch note, looked up and found a goldcrest happily feeding up in the tree. I tried taking a few photos but it was definitely not as cooperative as the ladybird :)
I spotted my first ladybird of the year. Not a 'classic' one, but a 16-Spot orange ladybird (Halyzia sedecimguttata), and not where I have seen them in previous years, which would be difficult at this time since it is on the underneath of the pink chestnut tree leaves. It was on a pine tree, and as I was taking a few photos, I heard a high pitch note, looked up and found a goldcrest happily feeding up in the tree. I tried taking a few photos but it was definitely not as cooperative as the ladybird :)

28 February 2009

I was expecting delivery of my first mealworm order this year this morning so I decided to go and check my patch early. I left home at about 6:30, before a lot of the birds woke up it seems as it was pretty quiet to start with... Apart from a singing dunnock at the corner of Margravine Cemetery by the West Lodge. The sparrows on Winslow Road were silent on my first pass, but very much aloud on my way back. I was trying to count them when something spooked them, and they all scattered, but 5 on the same roof is the most I have had there at once for a while. The first 2 I saw were mating, spring is definitely in the air! I also saw and heard a few sparrows on Distillery Road and by Crabtree Wharf.

Tide was going down when I got to Hammersmith Bridge, and there did not seem to be many birds. Still, I saw:

• grey wagtail
  
• black-headed gull: 38 at HB, 51+ at the River Cafe. Definitely a feeling that there are less of them than 2 weeks ago. Also a lot more black heads to be seen.
  
• mallard: 19
  
• teal: 68
  
• gadwall: 28
  
• common gull: 1
  
• lesser black-backed gull:: 4 adults with various degrees of streakiness
  
• greater black-backed gull: the usual pair on the pontoon
  
• coot: 3, amazing considering I only saw 1 the whole of last year...
  
• moorhen: 2
  
• pied wagtail
  
• cormorant: 1 fishing, and 9 on the pontoon
  
• starlings
  
• crows
  
• parakeets
  

And as I was leaving the path, 4 mute swans were flying over coming from central London.
No tufted ducks.

I was home in time to receive the mealworms thankfully.

26 February 2009

I haven't had much opportunity to go out so far this week, except for shopping, and this is on one of those shopping trip that I have seen yet another colour-ringed house sparrow, in the same spot by Sainsbury's. I also saw today the female I first noticed 2 weeks ago.

I haven't yet spotted any other ringed sparrow in the other 2 colonies I check on my patch.

The long tailed tits are still building their nest just outside the cemetery. I watched them picking up lichen/moss from a tree nearby, it looked such a small quantity, no wonder it takes them so long. I think they may be picking up material from what I am offering as I can occasionally hear their chirping at the back of the house, but if the blue tits are here they chase them away from their balcony! The blue tits are still visiting the window feeders for seeds and mealworms regularly, a great tit has started also coming for mealworm.
I have heard or seen wren and dunnock visiting the back gardens, which is a sign that they're improving I hope.

Still no sign of pink on the magnolia, but some of the daffodils are just about to bloom. The squirrels haven't managed to eat all the crocuses, so, at least at a distance, they're making a lovely blue carpet...

21 February 2009

What a glorious day!
I decided to concentrate on the Margravine Cemetery and Abbey Gardens parts of my patch instead of the Thames this morning.
Just as I was getting to the hospital I saw the female peregrine arrive from the North face and land on one of her favourite perches. She probably had been eating on the North face, and given the feathers laying around it was likely to be a pigeon. On the fence of the car park a robin was singing, occasionally replied to by another one on the other side of the road. I stood for a while listening to them. I then set off towards Abbey Gardens, spotted a wren and robin in the children playground on the way. First birds I saw at AG were the starlings, then the sparrows. Some of them were by the feeders, I counted 7 at once in a tree. There were also 2 magpies and a few blackbirds. I then went to the green patch next to it, and first thing I stumbled upon was a pair of long tailed tits building a nest, and they were quite comfortable with me being quite close, which was nice. They were not too happy with the sparrows getting close to their bush, and there were a lot of sparrows, also busy building their nests, under the roof tiles. Impossible for me to count how many of them there were, between them being so mobile, and hiding in the bushes, but I had at least 7 in a shrub, and 9 on a roof at once.
As I was leaving the green patch, a low flying grey heron passed by towards central London. A crow noticed it and flew after it.
Margravine Cemetery was echoing to the sound of tits, magpies and blackbirds. I stood for a while listening and recording a blackbird that might be the one we called Nokia last year. I didn't quite get its signature mobile phone ring but it got close. I heard a great spotted woodpecker but did not manage to locate it. I located the female a little while later on my way back from the shops, feeding near the chapel. I haven't seen the male for a while now, but then last year I could never see the female. The parakeets were at their hole, another one trying to get in into one of the nestboxes put on a nearby tree, the entrance hole of it having been enlarged. As I was looking at them, I heard a rattle and saw a mistle thrush arrive from a North direction and land in a tree. I couldn't find it in that tree (damn sun in my eyes) but heard another rattle and was going in that direction when I heard a peregrine cry. Trees were obscuring my view of the hospital so I ran to a position where I saw the male, who had been eating on the North face, land, and the female all 'excited'. More rattle, and 3 mistle thrushes flew by...

This afternoon, I was stroking the cat at the window when I noticed a bird in a tree on the other side of the street. I thought at first it was a tit (as they commonly use that tree) but its behaviour was odd (flying into the ivy) so I picked up my binoculars and saw it was a chiffchaff. Possibly the same one I have seen in the area twice already. I quickly grabbed my camera but it was faster than me :(

I went back into Margravine Cemetery again before sunset. The female peregrine was standing on top of the hospital, possibly waiting for the male to bring dinner. He came for 2 minutes and left again. I stood there for a while watching the finches going to roost in the evergreen oak and laurel, mostly goldfinches but also at least 2 chaffinches and 1 greenfinch.

Happy Birthday to me!

My favourite flowers on my birthday, what more could I ask for? ;)

16 February 2009

I think that, unfortunately, the great spotted woodpeckers have lost the battle with the parakeets.
I was in the cemetery early this morning to have a good look at the male peregrine, and I thought I'd pass by the woodpeckers' tree to check: a parakeet was sitting on a branch in front of the hest hole, and another one was at the first hole in the nearby tree. It didn't bode well... Later, in the afternoon, I had another look and immediately spotted the parakeet on the same branch. But, this time, I could also see via my binoculars that there was another one in the nesthole as its tail was poking up. Definitely bad news for the woodpeckers. Now I'll have to find where they relocate.

15 February 2009

At some point today I heard a familiar chirp but not where I'd heard it before: a long-tailed tit was exploring the chicken wire surrounding the balcony. either it was looking for insects on the passiflora clinging to it, or it was interested in the nesting material. I'll never know as a blue tit quickly arrived on the scene and started chasing it around, the long tailed tit ending up on the balcony floor. After a few minutes of the blue tit harassing it on the other side, the long tailed tit flew off towards some neighbours' bush.
Later, as I was making tea, I spotted a big sparrowhawk on the roof of the 'big house' at the back, which would explain why pigeons were all over the place a few minutes before, since both peregrines were at the time nicely settled on their perches.