Hand-feeding birds, finding the Scaup and Duncan's birthday at Kensington Gardens today

It was grey and drizzly as I left home this morning for the short train journey to Lancaster Gate tube station. Laden down with three bags of mealworms, monkey nuts and suet pellets plus my camera equipment and binoculars, I was hoping the weather wouldn't mean poor visibility. On my last visit I couldn't locate the long staying Scaup so finding that elusive rare duck was number one on my hit list.

 

It was also Duncan's birthday today and I met up with him and his lovely wife, Aleks, by the Italian Gardens. I was hoping some others were going to join us today but they didn't or couldn't for various reasons, so it was just us three and enough bird food to feed a small bird army.

 

First bird of note spotted today was a solo Redwing by the Leaf Litter area.....

 

 

The Coal Tits were as predictable as ever and were one of the first birds on the scene when we got the bird food out....

 

 

We hand fed a few of the little birds but it was quite chilly when the wind picked up so we decided to grab a coffee and look for the Scaup en route to the café. We didn't find him, but we did spot a Grey Squirrel guarding it's drey...

 

 

Outside the café hormones were raging amongst the Coots. They were abundant in numbers and often squabbling amongst themselves. Some of the fights looked quite nasty.....

 

 

 

But that's what Coots do at this time of year. They squabble over mates, they squabble over food and they squabble over territories.

 

The next three pictures are for my Mum, who thinks all gulls look the same.

These are all Black-headed Gulls. The first is an adult in full summer plumage, the second is an adult just coming into summer plumage and the third is a 1st-winter bird (ie; it was born last year and has just lived through it's first winter season)....

 

 

 

 

After warming up with hot drinks and searching again for the Scaup, but to no avail, we made our way back to the Leaf Litter yard to feed some more birds. There were good numbers of Jays around today, sometimes chasing each other away, but often happy to sit in loose groups of five or six. They would often perch staring at you until you put a monkey nut on the railings....

 

 

I tried tempting one down to my hand by holding a nut in my fingers, and to all of our surprises a Jay did swoop down and take it. No photos, so Duncan done the same and I managed to grab the photo below. It's not a great one, but it'll do as proof that Jays will take nuts from your hand....

 

 

The other birds were much more reliable....

 

 

 

 

 

In fact they were so reliable, that Duncan changed his 500mm camera lens for a macro lens and started snapping away at the birds that were landing on his hand for food. Even when we walked up to the Tawny Owl's tree several Great and Blue Tits came with us....

 

 

 

I know Duncan got some fantastic close up shots and I'm looking forward to seeing them soon.

 

The male Tawny Owl was in his usual 'armchair' at the top of his tree. I was hoping he'd be on his 'balcony' around the back, purely because it makes for a better photo, but he seemed quite happy sitting out in the blustery drizzle.....

 

 

No sign of the female or any owlets yet but I was chatting to a RSPB volunteer later in the day, who said the Buckingham Palace Tawny Owls have already got young owlets out and about.

 

At the bottom of the male Tawny's tree a Starling was perched on it's nest hole....

 

 

After another scan of the Serpentine in search of the Scaup, Duncan and Aleks said their goodbyes to go further in to London for Duncan's birthday lunch.

 

 Not long after that I was just about to give up my Scaup search when I saw it fly down from the Dell café area and land right in front of the reeds by the Diana Memorial. A short while later it emerged amongst a group of Tufted Ducks, which made for some great comparison shots.

The Scaup is slightly bigger than a male Tufted Duck, and now that its losing it's juvenile feathers you can see the beautiful intricate markings on its back....

 

 

 

 

 

He really is quite the stunner and will look even more gorgeous when he comes into full summer plumage. Twice today he looked to be getting quite friendly with a female Tufted Duck. It's not unknown for Scaups and Tuftys to mate, so maybe we'll get to see some interesting little ducklings later in the season.

 

So the day was not in ducking vain. I got my Scaup, Duncan the birthday boy got to hand feed a Jay and both Aleks and Duncan still made it to a boozy birthday lunch in central London.

 

Duncan also got a few snaps of me hand feeding the birds too and I'll put them on my next blog post.

 

 

Funny old day at Cranford Park

It's been a funny old day at Cranford Park.

 

 When I was wrapping myself up this morning, I took off my lucky jumper because I was too warm, and put on an old sweatshirt instead. Hence I was cold all day and discovered my sweatshirt is not as 'lucky' as my jumper !

 

 I saw loads of interesting things yet failed miserably in my attempts to photograph them. The weather was a bit hit and miss too. One moment it was dark grey and foreboding, the next it was glorious sunshine.

 

I was on a mission today to try and see if any of my found Weasel sighting spots were still active with Weasels. Fewy joined me later, with his participation being to watch one particular hot spot where I've had five sightings of Weasels over the last three years. We baited a hidden area with broken raw eggs, lumps of raw chicken and a pouch of whiffy turkey flavoured cat food and Fewy settled down to wait and watch. Meanwhile I went off to another hot spot where I had also discovered a well disguised hole, and left another cracked raw egg near to the entrance. I then visited the site of my very first Weasel sighting eight years ago, and left another cracked egg there.

 

Did we have any luck ? Did we duck ! Neither of my two eggs were touched. But Fewys little baited area proved to be popular with something else.....

Despite waiting and watching for two hours, Fewy had seen nothing except a male Kestrel, some Mallard ducks and several Robins, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits. So we decided to have a coffee break in the car park then a wander around some other possible locations.

As we were walking back to the original baited area later on this afternoon, I spotted a Fox slinking away from the site and knew straight away it had found our bait. And it had. All that was left was one raw egg. We had to laugh about it. It's not often you see a Fox in broad daylight in Cranford Park, and I've never got a photo of one there. So we put down some more eggs and waited to see if the Fox came back. Unfortunately the cold got the better of me and we decided to head off for another coffee. Sods law, just as we left we spotted the Fox emerging from a nearby copse. It spotted us too and shot back in to the shelter. So Fewy, being the honourable gent that he is, went off to make the coffee while I went back to the baited area to hide and hope the Fox would come back. Well it did, sort of. Instead of coming back for more eggs, it went straight past where I was hiding and disappeared in the woods behind me. Not one photo could I get.

So no Weasel sightings, let alone photos, and no Fox photos despite seeing it three times.

 

In Cranford Woods first thing this morning, for once the sound of singing birds drowned out the sound of the M4 traffic. Both Great Spotted and Green Woodpeckers could be heard, Blue and Great Tits were constantly calling and chasing each other around, Robins, Wrens and Blackbirds were starting to mark out their patches with lots of territorial singing. The woods were alive.

 

Last week the Long-tailed Tits were flying around in flocks, often with the odd Goldcrest or Treecreeper joining them. This week those flocks have started breaking up and birds are pairing up and bonding. I saw several pairs of Long-tailed feeding and calling to each other.....

 

 

and saw lots of Goldcrests in pairs. Though trying to photograph them is just as challenging and difficult as ever.....

 

 

Up by the orchard it is particularly muddy at the moment, but that makes it a good place to look for tracks. I know from talking to several early morning dog walkers that deer have been seen in the orchard, and after scanning the ground I was rewarded with a perfect Muntjac deer 'slot' or print.

 

In St Dunstans graveyard the snowdrops are really coming out en masse now. So here's an overload of my second favourite bulb....

 

There was even one peeping out under Tony Hancock's plaque.....

All over the woods I kept finding holes. They're too small for rabbits or foxes and too big for mice. They're also evidently well used as there are no cobwebs across the holes nor any old leaves blocking them....

 

I don't know yet if they are Weasels, or maybe just rats, but I'll be keeping an eye on them anyway.

 

Posh Boy and Fewy re-joined me at the Meadow Pipit area where the birds didn't disappoint We could see 15 at one stage, but the flock often separated and went in to the longer grasses or on the shrubby bushes in smaller groups....

 

We also had a Red Kite go over.....

 

 

but no sign of last weeks mixed flock of Lapwings and Golden Plovers.

 

Also seen in the woods today were Alison Shipley and Bob Barton, leading the 'Knights, Earls and Ghosts' History tour group with Bob looking very dapper in his costume (second from left).....

 

 

 There are lots of different events, guided walks and volunteering opportunities at the park. This is a link to the 2015 list

 

So it was a funny old day at Cranford Park. Lots was seen, but I either didn't get photos or my photos weren't good. Foxy was a bonus, the lack of Weasels were not.

I guess I should have worn my lucky jumper after all.

 

Anyway, to finish off todays blog here's a distant shot of the Fewy.......

 

 

and one of the Posh Boy.....

 

Both great company as always, and who are both probably dreading what I'm going to say about them on my blog post........

Great company and great birds at the London Wetland Centre today

It's been a long day but a ruddy good one.

 

It started with Sue and I meeting up with Nathalie, the Peregrines Godmother, at Charing Cross Hospital this morning.

 

 It's all been going on around the hospital roof top and ledges with several matings between Charlie and Tom, the resident Peregrines, over the last few days. To keep up to date with the recent comings and goings please visit the FaB Peregrines Facebook page.

 

I was really hoping we would be able to see these magnificent falcons mate, but despite hanging around, walking around and watching everything that flew over, only Charlie remained visible.

 

First of all she was hidden at the top of the chimney stack.....

 

but we later found her on the nest ledge eating something quite small, and that didn't require plucking....

 

 

Later on this evening after Nathalie viewed the CCTV images, it turns out Tom bought the mostly ready plucked meal to Charlie.

 

After she had her snack, she cleaned her beak, then sat back and surveyed her kingdom....

 

 

 

And that's how we left her. So far this year the mating dates are on a relevant par with last year, so hopefully the first egg will be laid in the second week of March. Best way to keep up to date with the new season of FaB Peregine egg, chick and fledge watch is to join the FaB Facebook group (link above).

 

The sky was fairly grey this morning, but with tantalising hints of blue sky showing the three of us made our way to the London Wetland Centre. We didn't really have any set birds to see at first, but that changed as the day went on and the weather turned milder.

 

First port of call was to find a Bittern for Sue's year list.

We got one from the first hide we went into, but it was very distant.....

 

 

In the second hide a very obliging couple had already spotted Burt the Bittern number 2, had their scope on it and were helpfully pointing the bird out to everyone that came in the hide. These were my kind of people. After pointing out the second Burt, they were kindly moving out of the way of the only good view point so myself and others could see. We then in turn got our views and photos and moved out of the way for the next group. This is what hide birding is all about. Sharing a view that some people may only ever see once in their life. So thank you to that couple.

 

Burt no 2 was showing much closer than Burt no 1, and was at times almost up to it's neck in water. It also felt comfortable and concealed enough to have a good preen.....

 

 

 

 

 

Nathalie, Sue and myself were by now hungry. We had had a great morning already with one Peregrine and two Bitterns under our belts, and after a very tasty lunch it didn't take us long to find the next bird of interest on a nearby roof.

 

The 'marmite' Parakeets may not be to every ones taste, but when they're in the bonding and mating season they are very watchable. So here's a taste of Parakeet Porn......

 

 

 

 

 



 

And to prove it wasn't just that couple that were having a late Valentine, another pair were in the courtyard sitting just above the clock looking very loved up.....

 

 

After yesterdays abundance of Snowdrops, today I was pleased to add Crocus to my 'first seen' list....

 

 

On the usually deserted Wader Scrape we had beautiful views of washing and preening Teal.

This is the female.....

 

 

 

 

and this is the male....

 

 

From the Peacock Tower we saw a solitary Redshank...

 

 

At least five Common Snipe, with the two below sitting together....

 

 

and on our way back we saw these two old ducks waddling along.

Both in full winter plumage with hats, scarves and man-bags.......

 

 

Actually they're more like a pair of cackling drakes, but it was good to see Rick 'Posh Boy' and John 'Fewy' today, along with a brief appearance from the lovely Rosie.

 

As to be expected at the LWC the Lapwings were in great numbers.....

 

 

and often the first to be spooked into the air by a passing Sparrowhawk...

 

 

On our way round to the Headley Hide we bumped into the lovely Paul and Sheila, a couple who I haven't seen in far too long.

 

At the comfortable Headley we had good views of Cormorant....

 

 

the very understated beautifully marked Gadwalls....

 

 

and our third Bittern.

It was so deliciously close, probably less than 15 metres away, but hidden the whole time just beyond the reeds.....

 

 

as we waited hopefully, patiently and silently, Burt number 3 slipped away further in to the reed bed and we didn't see it again.

 

But I consoled myself with a photogenic Great Crested Grebe....

 

 

At the Wildside Hide we didn't really see too much of interest so I popped outside for a sneaky smoke. I hadn't even taken two puffs before Nathalie came out with news of a Great Black-backed Gull on the gravel island with a freshly caught eel. It's a good job I carry a tin ash tray, as my smoke was chucked in it with in seconds and I was back in the hide.

 

Seeing a Great Black-back at close quarters is something I don't often see. They are huge. The one that had caught and grounded the eel was the male, his mate stood by him the whole time he decimated the prey.

 

 

As we sat and watched, a pair of Lesser Black-backed landed on the island too along with a very chancing Carrion Crow. So now we could see three size differences. My photo doesn't really do any of the birds justice, but just look at the differences in the sizes between the two gull species and then compare that to the crow....

 

 

The opportunist crow took a couple of stabs at the dead eel but soon flew off, and the two Lesser Black-backed gulls didn't even chance their luck that far before they gave up and flew off too.

We left the two GBBs to their belated Valentine dinner and went off in search of the Pintail ducks that had eluded us all day.

 

We didn't get very far when we were distracted by the sight of Laurence kneeling down low in the grass by one of the bridges. Laurence is one of the WWT volunteers and is also an expert in amphibians, so when we saw him on the ground we knew he had seen something.

 

It was the first Common Lizards of the season emerging from hibernation......

 

 

Three were showing nicely basking on the sun baked warmth at the bottom of the bridge.

Laurence's expertise meant he could pick one up and let it absorb the heat from his hand before sharing his find with an inquisitive young girl and her father....

 

 

 

This is what teaching the next generation is all about.

 

This young girl didn't scream and run away, nor walk past not 'seeing', she and her father saw what Laurence had been doing and expressed a genuine interest. Laurence, in turn, was honest and thoughtful and made sure she knew what to expect before holding the recently woken lizard.

I bet not many young girls went home this evening and told their Mum they had held one of the first Common Lizards of the year.

 

Priceless.

 

 

After nearly accidentally decapitating one of the lizards (Sue !! Lol !!), we made our way back to the Observatory to hopefully find the Pintails. Nathalie had a theory that they would re-emerge later in the day, and with Eagle-eyed Sue on the case that was soon proven.

Sue spotted a pair heading towards one of the hides, so as you do, we made quick haste to the said hide to get views of a handsome pair of ducks to finish off our great day out.

 

and we did....

 

 

female and male Pintail....

 

 

Despite a gloomy start to the day with no sign of Tom the male Peregrine, nor seeing him and Charlie mating and with grey clouds and very little sunshine, our day turned into something quite special. The sun came out, the clouds dispersed, we saw three Burt Bitterns, at least six Common Snipe dotted around, a Redshank, many Teal, Wigeon and Shoveler, a Little Egret (that I couldn't photograph), Sparrowhawk, Lapwings galore, a GBB gull eating an eel, a pair of Pintails, Little and Great Crested Grebes, and much much more.

Great company helped. It was lovely to see Fewy, Posh Boy and Rosie.

And the icing on the cake for Sue and I was the wonderful genorosity of Paul and Sheila for them driving us all the way home, rather than see us get two trains back.

 

Excellent day. Excellent company.