14th April

A steady stream of showers crossed over the capital during the afternoon.
A first summer Herring Gull with very worn secondaries. I wonder where he was ringed?


Peregrine Falcon: A bird was over the park and surrounding area from 12.45pm until 1.00pm before moving off to the west.
Sparrowhawk: Six birds were seen in the skies over the park at lunchtime.
Swallow: Four flew north.
Willow Warbler: Three birds were heard singing.
Blackcap: No increase in the number of males singing.
Chiffchaff: Just one singing bird.
Linnet: Two flew east.
Reed Bunting: The male was present again in area 2.

Comments

Neil said…
hi Tony

Bad news about the tawny. We had one turn up on the dge of the road in my local park, no doubt hit by a council lorry.

Im also messaging to ask about a walk round the park next week at some point between tues and fri? Is that possible?
Hi Neil
At the moment that sounds okay for me. I would have to be finnished by mid day, but an hour at some time one morning should be fine.
The only problem being, If we have three days of settled weather, I will be off to Devon to look for Cirl Buntings.
Neil said…
ok sounds good. Ill leave a message on here when I know more what im doing
TedP said…
Hello Tony. I don't suppose you remember me but I came on one of your walks about 2 years ago.
Last Saturday we had a Black Kite over the north dunes here at Winterton. We would like to think it was a genuine vagrant but what can you tell us about escapes from the zoo?
Hi Ted.

There is not much that I can tell you except that four Black Kites escaped from the Snowden aviary over the period of a week or so. These birds are not used for any displays. They were never in contact with the keepers, so are not aproachable. They have a been ringed but only with a small metal ring. I personally think that nobody can be sure one way or the other if the Black Kite that they see is wild or not. But they do look good in the air. Sorry I cant say any thing else. They were all females so they have no reason to stay together. Three were of the race migrans and I think the other was lineatus.