Pergrines and SEOs - a visit to London today

I was off to meet Ali and Nathalie at Charing Cross Hospital this morning. Despite chatting to Ali via the FaB Peregrines Facebook page over the last couple of years, we've never met, so just like yesterday when I met up with Angie at Cranford Park, it really was nice to put a face to the name.

 

Sadly the Margravine Cemetery, often the best view point for the FaB peregrines, has recently had a horrific spate of vandalism. Several monuments of angels have had their heads 'chopped' off. And this isn't the work of unruly teenagers, according to CCTV footage this was the act of a lone man. Quiet terrifying really, and even more so when the cemetery has gates which are locked each evening.

 

 

Hope the culprit is caught very soon.

 

The peregrines themselves were quite elusive today. Ali caught a glimpse of Charlie the falcon about an hour before Nathalie and I arrived. As the three of us chatted, Tom the tiercel flew on to one of his favourite perches. Convinced Charlie would follow, we hung around watching good numbers of Blackbirds, feeding very approachable Grey Squirrels and listening to Goldcrests and Coal Tits calling. But after another half an hour Charlie still hadn't appeared. Nathalie made her way home and Ali and myself made our way to the London Wetland Centre leaving Tom preening on his perch near the hospital roof....

 

One of the first water birds we saw at LWC was two Little Grebes on the front lake.....

 

 

After a quick hot drink we made our way to the Dulverton hide. There was no where to sit so we soon left but not before a loudly singing Cettis Warbler briefly showed itself next to the hide. A dreadful photo, but as always the Cettis like to remain quite hidden.....

 

We were approaching the WWF hide when we came across a couple of other birdwatchers. One of them had spotted a Water Rail right on the edge of the reeds. It wasn't hard to see, and it was calling too which made us all wonder if there was a second hidden bird. I couldn't get good photos at first.....

 

 

but after shuffling down the path, the Rail then turned and I managed to get some lovely views....

 

Still a shame about the reeds in front of its beak and body, but this is my best view of a Water Rail this year.

 

All morning I had joked Charlie was missing from her usual hospital haunt because she was at the Wetlands Centre. When Ali and I were settled in the WWF hide and the gulls suddenly went up, I was utterly convinced it was because Charlie or Tom, or both, were around. Scanning the sky with my bins I spotted what had set the gulls up, but it wasn't one of the peregrines.....

 

 

It took me a few minutes to digest what we were seeing. It was a Short Eared Owl......

 

 

 

At first it was being mercilessly mobbed by various crows and gulls, then as it started to head high up over the hide, I ran outside to get some better views. Eventually it drifted off alone. What a great sighting though ! In all the years I've been going to the Wetlands Centre, I have never seen a SEO there. Thinking that would have been our last sighting of it, Ali and I made our way to the Peacock Tower. Within minutes of arriving and getting confirmations from other watchers who had also seen it, the owl then came back in to view....

 

 

Again it circled around before being mobbed and chased off, and again it eventually disappeared from view. Two sightings in one hour ? This was turning out to be a well chosen day out.

 

On our way back to the café for some lunch, we were chatting to some more birdwatchers when I happened to glance up and spotted the owl yet again. We pointed it out to some others who hadn't heard the commotion, and again the bird disappeared after soaring up quite high. It was becoming very obvious that the owl wanted to land, but with all the crows and gulls mobbing it at every opportunity, it was looking less and less likely that there would be a SEO on the deck at the Wetlands Centre.

 

Ali had to leave after we had lunch, so I was on my own and wondering whether to hit the Wildside, or go back to where the Water Rail had been seen, when word started filtering through that the Short Eared Owl had not only reappeared, but that it had finally landed somewhere in the marshes. From the Wildside hide myself and several others scanned all of the area, but to no avail. I was heading back to the Water Rail site when a couple of birdwatchers advised me the owl could be seen from the Peacock Tower.

 

Moments later I was seated in that hide and scanning the marshes in front of me. I found a pair of Stonechats, but could see no sign of the owl......

 

 

Spot the Stonechat......

 It wasn't until someone managed to find the owl through their scope, therefore putting everyone else on to it, that I actually believed the SEO had landed. It was not only very well camouflaged, it had also hunkered down so low that only it's head was visible. I could just see it through my bins, but getting a photo of it with my 150-300mm zoom lens was a different matter......

Can you see it ??????

Can you see it now ?????

For the next 90 minutes I was glued to that hide window, hoping the owl would either move out from the long grass or take off again. But then the clouds moved over, rain began to fall, and it was almost a certainty the owl wasn't going anywhere.

 

A stunning male Pintail was viewable in the distance though......

 

 

and there were plenty of Shovelers around to keep me interested......

 

Eventually I gave up my hide seat, and wandered down back to the Dulverton hide hoping to see one of the two reported Bitterns on site. I didn't, but others I had spoken to today had seen one from that hide, so it looks like I will be visiting again within the next few weeks.

 

All in all, it was a really good day. I found more fungi at the cemetery and the Wetlands Centre......

 

 

It was really nice to catch up with Nathalie, the peregrines Godmother, and meet Ali for the first time. I bumped into Sue Barry briefly, and had some nice chats with the coach load of birdwatchers from Gravesend, and some more birders from the Richmond and Twickenham RSPB Group, including the incredibly talented Les McCallum. Please click here for the link to Les McCallums excellent website.

 

And my day was completed by meeting David Lindo and getting my book autographed by him....