Valentines day for the Ring-necked Parakeets at Cranford Park

Woke up to rain but soon the dark clouds cleared and that glorious yellow orb, called the sun, appeared with a few fluffy bits of cloud. Expecting the temperature to be like yesterday, I wrapped up warm, but within 15 minutes of being outside I was sweating so for the first time bird-watching this year, I didn't have my hat on today.

I hadn't been to Cranford Park for over a month and I wanted to see how the woodland birds were doing. I also hadn't seen my friend Mac (the parks Ranger) for some time, so off I trotted.

First thing I heard after entering the main part of the park, was the sound of chain saws. So much for a nice peaceful day then, I thought, and as I came around the corner of my favourite walk way I found Mac and his fellow workers cutting up this tree. It was one of the oldest beech trees in the ancient woodland and three of them in total had come down over night. It wasn't a stormy night but Cranford Park ancient woods are situated between an area of flat expanse and the M4/A312 junction so if a wind blows against from Heathrow towards the main roads, its Cranford Park that normally counts the cost. Only one of the trees was rotten at the base, the other two were healthy but their root span wasn't as large as some of the others. Had this tree fallen else where in the woods, Mac and his crew would have left it as nature intended. However this beast had cut right across part of the ha-ha boundary wall and the path next to it. It will be cut up into smaller manageable pieces and left in log piles around the park. The picture below doesn't give credit to how huge the tree was. This is the top of the tree branches.

The top of the tree

The massive trunk across the path and ha-ha. The top of the tree is to the left.

 

In the above photo you can make out a box near the centre bottom. This was one of the parks many bat-boxes, this particular one having been attached to the fallen beech tree. When Mac opened the box, he found a colony of bees so has called the local bee keeper to come and collect them so they can be re-homed.

 

The rest of the woodland was somewhat dominated by the Ring-necked Parakeets squawking. I've started calling these birds 'Marmites' because you either love them or you hate them. The group below had found one hole, and were squabbling over it.

 

 

 

 

 

This pair were celebrating Valentines day

 

The cheeky Marmite above had found last years Green Woodpeckers nest site. I was a little sad when I found this, as I'd read that Green Woodpeckers re-use the previous years nest site. I had some fantastic views of the Greenys at this nest last year, and managed to photograph two of the chicks fledging. On a better note, this lone Marmite didn't hang around for too long, so I'm hoping next months visit will show the Greenys back in residence.

 



 

This Song Thrush was also alone, but hopefully not for long, as I counted a whooping ten solo birds on site today. There was a lot of Greater Spotted Woodpecker activity too, lots of trios and duos chasing each other around the tops of the trees calling, and I heard two individuals drumming. Not one photo though. Got about hundred blurred pics but not one in focus.

 

The high-light of my day was right at the end, when I was really thinking was I going to see nothing more than squabbling Marmites. Sat down on one of favourite benches beneath the oldest oak on site, and happened to glance movement out of my eye. There shuffling up and down the oak, was this very photogenic Nuthatch.

 



 

This photo is not upside down

 

 For some reason Blogger is not being kind to me tonight and although I can add more photos of the Nuthatch, they are popping up where I don't want them, so after two glasses of wine and 90 minutes of trying to add more photos, Ive given up. There is a link below to my Flickr page should anyone want to see more of this lovely little bird.

There was also no sign of the Little Owls after last years success, nor did I spot any Kestrels, which I was very surprised at. Maybe next months visit will change that.

Cheers :)

 

My Flickr page

Weekly visit to Lake Farm



A very cold and overcast day today, but I had a craving to get to Lake Farm and see the Reed Buntings. As I came through the north entrance from Botwell Lane, I found Reedys flitting around the low hedge by the road. I've never seen them in this area of Lake Farm before, so it looks as if they're spreading out, hopefully to look for places to nest. The north entrance is one of the areas that would be affected if the proposed school was to be built, so am going to try to up my visits to twice a week from early March (when possible) and monitor the area for signs of nesting activity.

 

I found one of the Mistle Thrushes in the hedges and shrubbery that separate the toddlers playground from the main Lake Farm site. Again this patch is within the proposed school area, so another bird to monitor for the future. 

 

 

The light was pretty dreadful today, very low laying cloud and bitterly cold, though the wind wasn't too bad. As usual when its like this, the Reed Buntings tend to favour the hedgerows along the west perimeter of Lake Farm. I found another ten in this area, so along with the six I'd seen at the northern entrance, made a nice count of 16 birds today.

 

As to be expected at this time of year, the Reedys have various different marked plumage's on their heads and bodies. 

male winter plumage - can just see the beginnings of his black summer 'bib'

male almost in summer plumage
 

male - almost full summer plumage - note the dark bib coming through and full dark head

female winter plumage - in summer her 'moustache' will become much whiter and the eye stripe much darker

male - almost summer plumage. His 'bib' is getting bigger and darker

female coming into summer plumage. Her 'moustache' is almost white

I'm becoming very fond of the Lake Farm Reed Buntings and I fully intend to monitor them through this year so have been swotting up on my knowledge of them. Nesting generally starts late March-early April. Nest sites are usually in shrubs or reed tussocks. There are no reeds at Lake Farm, so this will be my spring project (where do they nest). They can lay up to two clutches of eggs per season. The first clutch is generally laid late April-early May. Between 4-7 eggs are laid. Incubation takes two weeks. The young are fed on insects, though adult birds survive mainly on seeds. Chicks fledge after 12-14 days. They don't tend to go far unless food is in short supply. Reed Buntings are normally passerine birds, but are resident in southern England. They are old enough to breed after a year. The average life span of a Reed Bunting is three years, though a ringed bird was caught and found to be seven years old in 1978. They are listed as amber in the BTO Conservation Status.

Several of the Reedys appeared 'fat', that's because they were fluffed up against the cold. The female Blackbird below had also puffed herself up.

The Reedys kept me watching for over two hours so had to walk on or risk getting numb fingers from the cold. I haven't seen a Kestrel at Lake Farm for some time but today saw a male chasing another male across the site. The first male was 'calling' but I think it was more of a threat than a welcome, as the male it was chasing dived into cover in one of the copses to the east of the site.

No sign of any Stonechats today, and I'm not overly surprised. I do tend to see them more when the sun is out and there is no wind at all. Today just wasn't one of those days. I also had no luck with the Meadow Pipit that I'd seen on the last two visits. However on the east fields the gulls were preening and I counted 12 Common and 15 Black-headed. Like the Reedys, the Black-headed gulls are in various stages of head plumages. At the very back of these fields were three Redwing, very distant and I could only get blurred shots (partly due to the distance but also due to the fact my fingers were now numb). I also found another Mistle Thrush here, quite close to the fence, so managed to get a couple of shots before it scuttled away.

 

 

Up to the south end of Lake Farm I came across numerous Blue and Great Tits, a Wren and two Ring-necked Parakeets. A drake Mallard was on the flooded willow patch. At the very far end of the south point I thought I saw a Brambling. It didn't stay still long enough for me to focus my bins on, and flew off towards Stockley Park. I spent another hour trying to relocate it along the horse field at Stockleys entrance but to no avail though did spot a family group of two adults and a juvenile Pied Wagtail that were following the horses and another Mistle Thrush in the scrubs at the back.

 

All over the site there was a lot of Carrion Crow activity. Up to ten birds at once were calling (or 'cawing') and swooping down on each other. I don't study these birds enough, so this will have to be my 'homework'. There is a nest still visible that Peter Naylor pointed out to me last year, and on my last few visits Ive seen two crows sitting just above the nest, so maybe they'll re-use it this year.

 

Back along the western perimeter I found the usual 'host' of House Sparrows being very vocal and flighty. Today I counted 15 but I reckon there could be double that amount. They spend a lot of time flying across from the hedgerow to the houses in Botwell Common Road. In the same stretch I spotted another pair of Blackbirds. Lake Farm is big enough to accommodate several pairs. Back at the corner where the hedgerow ends and the proposed school area begins, I again found a pair of Dunnock. They're constantly in and out of the brambles, so maybe they too are looking for a nesting site early.

 

Not a bad day, but it was so very cold out there. I always have a glass of wine when I upload and go through my photos. Today was no exception.......except I was very glad I had forgotten to put the wine in the fridge. Room temperature rose wine is just as nice as chilled, if not nicer :) Cheers. 

Blast from the past - Red Kites June 2012

I haven't been out and about the last few days due to work, and today I was so tired I just curled up on the sofa and organised all the albums on my hard drive and laptop.

 

I had been wanting to go through some old photos I took in June 2012 of the time my friend Tony Sutton and I visited Watlington Hill, in the Oxford, area to see the Red Kites that frequent there. And as we are coming up for Red Kite breeding season I thought I'd dig out my old photos. I have a great fondness for Red Kites, and when one is seen soaring over Lake Farm it lifts my spirits that these gentle birds of prey are moving further and further down south.

 

Tony had been down on a visit from his home town in Norfolk, and never gets to see Red Kites in the wild there. The weather was dry and the visibility was clear, which was important, as when you get to the top of Watlington Hill, you look down over the valley and can see the Red Kites flying at almost eye level.

 

Tony and I visited via the M40 motorway. Come off at junction 6 and follow the B4009. We did get lost and ended up in a little car park watching amazed as kite after kite after kite was swooping down to scavenge food from the car park floor. One local, amused at our open mouths and cameras, pointed us in the right direction for the National Trust car park. Another local even invited us to her house later that day to watch the kites feeding from her garden. Very friendly are those Watlington villagers. We were hard pressed to tear ourselves away from the car park as kites soared and called overhead, but luckily we did, as the views from the top of Watlington Hill were even better..........The car park was easy to find, then we followed a path through woodland until we came out on a large clearing on a hill, that over looked Watlington and the rest of the villages and towns. Would we see any Red Kites ? Errrrr yeah !!! Hundreds of them, and at almost eye level as they flew and soared in front of us..........

 

A bit out of focus as for such large birds, they can move quite fast, especially when they're in competition to see who can swoop down for food first.

 

 

My favourite photo taken that day

 

 

I was trying to give an indication of how many birds we could see, so imagine this ten times over. The sky was full of kites. And if they weren't in front of you, they were coming in from behind.

 

 

The valley below

 

 

The distinctive Red Kite outline

 

 

Quite a few were landing in front of us, possibly to pick up scraps, or to hunt for worms

 

 

Trying to get a photo of them actually grabbing food proved challenging, but this is a snap of one just before it snatched a morsel. Got to love those 'hairy trouser' legs

 

 

I think these kites were settling to either catch worms, or to clear up tiny bits of food left over

 

 

Soaring the sky

 

Tony and I spent hours on the hill, taking photos and just watching these beautiful birds. They are clever too. As soon as we opened our sandwiches, we had kites above us calling. Watlington Hill is generally a really lovely area. We didn't explore as much as we should have, and I really want to get back there for another visit soon. Even the walk from the car park to the top of the hill is lovely and goes through some ancient woodland. There are rumours there is a Roe deer population there as well, though we didn't see any. So to end today's blog post from moi, here are some Red Kite facts......

 

Red Kites belong to the family Accipitridae and the genus milvus. They are large graceful birds of prey with a wingspan of just over 5 ft. The most obvious recognisable sign are their forked tails, which they use as a rudder.

 

For food, they naturally scavenge but will also take mice, shrews, voles and worms. At Watlington Hill, Tony and I were as guilty as everyone else there that day and did give them some of our sandwiches. I have since read that these birds actually get their nutrients from fur, feathers and bones. They are able to process the nutrients from these, that other scavengers would not.

 

Kites mate for life, but if a pair are unsuccessful in rearing young,  they will pair off with a new partner. They start selecting a nest site in March, and its during this month that the best aerial displays are seen. Large cup like nests are made in the tallest trees in woodland. The female lays between 1-4 eggs and both birds will incubate for around 32 days. The chicks are fed by both parents until they are around 4 weeks old, then the parents leave the food on the nest for the chicks to feed themselves. After about 7 weeks the chicks fledge, usually early July, but will continue to go back to the nest site to receive food from the parents. Kites are sociable and will roost in their hundreds, so family packs are not uncommon.

 

Red Kites are listed as Schedule 1 under the Wildlife and Country Act 1981 and have full legal protection.

 

Red Kites in the Chilterns

 

Watlington Hill Nature Reserve



 

Cheers :)

Reflecting on a great experience a year ago.....Burt the Bittern

I have nothing to report today, but only because I'm sulking ! I was at work and didnt take my camera. The work yard birds obviously knew this as a large female Sparrowhawk settled in the conifers for 20 minutes this morning and I had a pair of Kestrel displaying overhead in the afternoon. Typical !

However after getting home and adjusting the sizes on my banner photo for this blog, I realised it was almost a year ago that I had one of the best wildlife experiences of my life, and one of my photos taken that day consequently won me a prize in the Countryfile magazine monthly photograph competition.

On the 20th February 2012, it was a cold and bitter day. The London Wetland Centre was my favourite place to go at the time, and at least three Bitterns had been sighted and were showing well. The Headley hide had become well known for seeing Bitterns, so armed with a hot coffee and a couple of cheese rolls, I made myself comfortable in a corner of the hide that gave good views all round. After scanning the reeds to the left of the hide, I spotted a Bittern tucked about a metre back from the waters edge but just 7-8 metres away from the hide. It was stationary and not showing much signs in moving, but armed with coffee and food and wrapped in numerous layers against the cold, I was quite happy to sit back and wait........

and wait.....

and wait.....

and wait.....

four very cold hours later, these are the images I captured when the Bittern decided it was time to move..........


As this Little Grebe went past (completley oblivious to the Bittern behind it), Burt the Bittern started to make its way up the reeds. The camouflage of Burt was incredible. If a Little Grebe couldnt see it even though it had now got nearer to the reedbed edge, then how was anyone else going to see it !

Several times when people came into the hide I was quietly telling them where the Bittern was. I can honestly say about 3/4 of them could not see it.

The few that could see Burt, stayed in the hide and over the next half hour we all watched silently as Burt crept up the reeds and showed so well we almost applauded !

Over four hours of a frozen rear end and two very cramped legs was worth every minute of the photos I got that day.

 

 

 

The photo below was the one that won me the Countryfile monthly competition back in spring of last year. It was a pure 'point and shoot' lucky photo. Everyone in the hide knew it was going to take off at some point, I was just so lucky my camera was on and focused when it did. 

 

 

 

The Headley hide at the London Wetland Centre has since been refurbished, and new windows have been put in. The reedbeds that were on the left hand side were cut back for rejuvenation late last year, and until I get back down there or hear from my Barnes mates, I dont know if they are substantial enough yet to support a Bittern as much as they were a year a go.

 

But keep following London Birders and the WWT London sightings list, as this February there have already been sightings of SIX Bitterns and two of them were 'booming' !! 

 

Confirmed Skylarks, Stonechat and more at Lake Farm today.

Spent a lovely 4 hours at Lake Farm this morning. The wind had ceased, so although it was cold, it was defintley bearable. I saw one Skylark flutter high then swoop low into the grasses, way too fast for me to grab a photo, but it was nice to confirm to myself that the Skylarks were defintley back at Lake Farm. The low sun made for some good photo opportunities and the birds were very obliging. This female House Sparrow was more than happy to let me fire off a few shots.

 

This Dunnock also posed for a few photos. Two of them were flitting around a bramble bush in the 'school' zone, so will be keeping an eye out for any nesting activity in the next few weeks.

 

The light made this Starling look a jewel.

 

I walked several times up and down the hedgerow on the eastern side, and incredibly counted 24 Reed Buntings at one time. They were very active today, doing acrobatics on the cow parsley then chasing each other in and out of the hedge. This is a great increase in the number I thought were at Lake Farm, and they are a mixture of mature males and females, and a few first winter birds.

 

 

 

 

 

As I started my second circuit I bumped into my friend Sue and her dog Jasper. Sue confirmed she had seen two Skylarks here on the 1st February, so its official, the Skylarks are defintley back. After chatting I was moaning I hadnt seen a Stonechat all morning and Sue said she'd just passed one, so we walked back to where Sue had been. Jasper is the ideal bird-watching companion, he doesnt run through the long grasses nor bark at anything that moves. However he soon lets you know if its time to walk on. Between us we found this beautiful lone female Stonechat topping at regular intervals.

 

 

 

After watching and photographing Mrs Stonechat, I walked back to where I'd previously seen the Mistle Thrushes, Redwing and Meadow Pipit. Still no sign of the Mistles, and no sign of the Redwing either, but I flushed the Mipit in almost exactly the same place as last time. It took to a tree and stayed there for a while before flying off across the site. I'll approach that area with more care next time and I really hope it sticks around. This photo is again, another bad angle like the last one I took on Tuesday, as you cant see the Mipits beak very well, but it was the only photo I managed to grab that was in focus.





 

So another enjoyable day for myself. I'm becoming very addicted to the antics of the Reed Buntings. It was nice to see Sue (and Jasper) again and compare notes. I was also approached twice on the site this morning by dog walkers, both asking if I was 'Wendy', nice to know my name precedes me hahahaha. One of them knew of me through Erin, the other apparently via some supporters of John McDonnell, the local MP.

 

I also received an email this morning from Erica, the lady I'd met whilst walking on Lake Farm with Erin on Tuesday. Erica works for Denny Ecology, and they've been sub-contracted by SES (Southern Ecological Solutions) to do a monthly bird survey of Lake Farm. Erica had previously met up with Peter Naylor on site, and it was sad to break the news that Peter had passed away. However I'm sure Peter is looking down and very pleased that Lake Farm is being well and truely looked after in his memory. 

It wasnt a Skylark after all.......but something better for me at least...

 

The Skylark that I thought I had photographed yesterday at Lake Farm, is in fact a Meadow Pipit. Thanks Sandra Palme :) ........ again lol.

 

Below are the photos I didnt publish (for obvious reasons) but looking at them now, and comparing them in my Collins 'bible', I agree. The beak is sharper and pointier, and the breast markings are un-mistakeable. My previous photo (posted yesterday) showed an angle where you couldnt determine the shape or size of the bill.

 

 

 

 

This is a first for me at Lake Farm, so am very pleased, and will be adding this to my February sightings list for the LNHS.

 

I have never claimed to be an expert in bird identification, usually I slip up by 'calling' the wrong bird before my brain has engaged. Recently I mis-identified a Mistle Thrush, by calling it a Song Thrush, but my brain knew it was a Mistle so I was shocked at my own error. I done a similar thing in Norfolk last year, I 'called' a Pochard when it was a Wigeon. I knew what I wanted to say but my mouth spat out something completley wrong. My most famous 'error' was when I was with a good friend in a hide at the London Wetland Centre, and I 'called' Wheateater !!!!! Of course it was a Wheatear, and I'll probably never live that one down !! Luckily its a private joke and he's never held it against me !!

 

So apologies to everyone who thought I'd got my first Skylark of the year, I instead got my first Meadow Pipit at Lake Farm ever.................

My first Skylark of the year and a very obliging Redwing

I arranged to meet a lady called Erin today, a fellow Hayes Town resident who is also a member of Save Lake Farm. We had met at the Save Lake Farm peaceful demostration back in early January. I have never once been able to attend any council or public meetings due to my work shifts, but Erin has been to them all, and has managed to obtain a map of where the proposed school could be built. So after a lovely coffee in the local library, and asking the staff to photocopy a couple of maps for us, we set off to Lake Farm to see exactly where the proposed school building would be.

 

Erin admitted herself, she wasnt a bird watcher, but as we walked around the site, and I pointed out the birds tucked in the hedgerow and flying in front of us, she started to see more and more herself. We saw a good number of Reed Buntings today, again doing what they have been doing for the last few weeks, tucking themselves into the perimeter hedgerows for a bit of protection from the biting cold wind. Erins interest in saving Lake Farm is for the pollution risks. She's asthmatic. Lake Farm to Erin is a place where there is little pollution and a lot of peace. It's true that when you are in the middle of Lake Farm, you can barely hear the traffic.

 

The map Erin has given me has enabled me to see exactly where the school could be, and I'm even more unhappy about it than I was before, as the site takes in where I often see the Reed Buntings before they take up shelter in the hedgerows. It's also the same area where I often see Stonechats, Song Thrushes and Long-tailed Tits. The area includes a long mature hedgerow of mixed trees and bushes, so I will be monitoring these over the next couple of months, to see what birds are using this site for nesting.

 

During our walk around we spotted another lady with binoculars and a clipboard. She introduced herself as Erica, and she was doing a bird survey for an ecology company. I'm waiting for a few more details from her by e-mail, and then I can put up the full story here.........and hoping its good news for Lake Farm.

 

After both Erin and Erica had left, I went about my normal Lake Farm walk-a-bout. The House Sparrows were in fine form, very active, and a lot of chirping. At my favourite bench (based in front of a tangle of brambles and shrubs) I flushed a bird that settled nearby. My first thought was it was a female Reed Bunting, but it was larger and the bill was longer, and then I realised it was a Skylark....my first sighting this year....

 

 

After another stretch of the legs, I saw another two Skylarks in the air, then flying down deep into the grasses. For all I know, they may well over winter at Lake Farm, but I can honestly say I have never seen them between December and March before today.

 

I also saw this male Reed Bunting (in the usual sheltered hedgerow). His summer plumage is just starting to come in now. All that dark speckly grey will become a lovely all black mask with white moustache and neck collar soon......

 



 

I wandered over to where I had seen the Mistle Thrushes last, but still no sign of them. But look what I did find.....a beautiful solo Redwing. At times it was less than a metre away from me, which concerned me. I really thought there might be something wrong with it. It was feeding fine, it took five worms while I watched it, but after 40 minutes of it staying on the ground, I decided to see if I could approach it. I wanted to see if it could fly, because if it couldnt I was intending to catch it and get it the nearest rescue centre. A grounded bird in this weather is not good news. Thankfully as soon as I approached, it flew into the nearest tree and scolded me ! Very good news. I found a suitable sitting place and waited for it to come back down......and it did. I've never had such great close ups views of this beautiful winter visitor, and instead of it being wary of me, it seemed to be showing off. It got very close at times, and although Im still a bit concerned there may be something wrong with it, with the way it was feeding, Im hoping it was just hungry. As school closing time approached and the site got busier (Lake Farm is often used by school kids walking home), the Redwing decided there were far too many humans for its liking and flew off into a nearby tree. Sadly I wont be able to get down to Lake Farm tomorrow, but will try to get down there again on Thursday to see if the obliging little thrush is still around..............here are a few of my favourite photos from that magical two hours......

 

 

 

 

 

Briefly, going back to the proposed school building on Lake Farm, below are maps that Ive photographed from the board at the northern entrance to the site (which is ironically part of the area the council wants to build on). The first map shows the whole of Lake Farm. The second photo, which I have cropped, shows the site the intended school may be built on. 

 

 

 

It may only look like a quarter of the site, but thats not the point. Any building on Lake Farm could potentially risk the resident birds nesting. That northern section is well established with mature hedges and trees, and the grasses and cow parsley attract various butterflies and insects too. Erin and I have a few ideas about what to do next, so keep watching this space..............cheers.