Mrs King and Mr Kes at Cranford Park

On Wednesday I was at the park for a short visit with a good friend of mine, Nathalie (the godmother of the Fulham and Barnes peregrines, Tom and Flame ). We walked up and down the river, and I was really hoping two of the birds I've been watching recently, would be in their usual predictable perches. 

The female Kestrel was in her usual perch on one of the taller trees on the river bank, and as we watched she suddenly swooped down in front of us into the undergrowth on the bank we were standing on. Seconds later she came out with prey, which she proceeded to tear apart on the path just ahead of us. I didn't have my camera but Nathalie did, and this is one of the photos she took....

photo by Nathalie Mahieu 

We saw the Kingfisher several times, always along the same stretch of the river between the M4 viaduct and the Iron Bridge. As I've said before, one of the Kingfishers preferred perch is the grate at the M4 viaduct, and she didn't disappoint on Wednesday. In fact she positively posed ! And again I silently kicked myself for not having my camera. Below is one of Nathalie's pics...

photo by Nathalie Mahieu

This morning I was back at the park to hopefully capture Mrs Kingfisher in the same place but this is the sight that greeted me....

This is the grate by the M4 viaduct. The water level is very very high after all of this rain, and the banks had burst in several places. So I didn't get to see Mrs King in her favoured perch......but I did manage to see her later on...….

Also on Wednesday, Nathalie found this pellet on one of the twigs of the oak tree where the Fly Agaric fruited a few weeks ago. 

We were both fairly confident this is a Kestrel pellet. When I gently broke it apart there were hardly any bone fragments, just lots of short hairs and fur. However I wanted confirmation so I posted the photo on the UK Bird Identifcation Facebook page and the jury is out. Half the group think it is Kestrel and the other half think it is Little Owl. In Little Owl pellets I would expect to find insect casings and small bone fragments, but as a few people on the facebook group pointed out, the Little Owl may have decided to have a rodent snack instead that day.

Today I arrived at the park as it was raining but luckily for me, the clouds soon cleared and I had a lovely wander around Cranford Woods. The photo below shows just a fraction of all the mistletoe that's dotted around the woods. It is pretty amazing to think that every clump was accidentally placed there by a bird. 

Either love them or hate them, Ring-necked Parakeets certainly look handsome when the light is right...

Back at the river I checked Mrs Kestrels favourite perch and found Mr Kestrel instead. I have had to considerably lighten the photo as he was sitting quite far back against the sun....

I watched as he took off and flew above my head and landed in a much better place for me. It's almost as if he read my mind.....handsome chap isn't he ? 

I didn't get to see Mrs Kestrel at all today.

The Kingfisher, who Nathalie and I confirmed was a female, was whizzing up and down the river the whole time I was there. As the 'grate perch' was out of action, she tended today to stay mid way between the two bridges and I watched her successfully catch at least three fish.

Sometimes she was hard to get my camera to focus on with all the twiggy branches around, but I managed a few...

A dog walker was also fascinated by her almost 'bold' behaviour and we watched her for over ten minutes perched in the same place in the open.....

Also seen today but not photographed was a Sparrowhawk, probably a female given the huge size of her, a Red Kite, a large mixed flock of Long-tailed Tits, Blue Tits, Goldcrests and Great Tits, and a distant view of the Little Egret by Frogs Ditch. 

This will be my last blog before Christmas, so here is a seasonal Robin to end my blog post with....

Merry Christmas to all of you, and I hope you all have a great one with family, friends, food and drink.