Hobby: one was chased east by a Kestrel at 11.50am
Little Owl: pair showing 6.15am.
Whinchat: one flew north at 9.55am.
Swallow: eight birds in one’s and two’s flew north.
Chifchaff: three males singing.
Reed Warbler: four males singing two in area 2.
Pair of high flying Peregrine Falcons at 9.50am, another male at 10.45am and then a male chased another bird low over the Wetland Pen at 11.50am.
Little Owl looking for and finding breakfast
House Martin numbers were slightly up, with 30 over the park
Reed Warbler (above)
Four Bar-headed Geese dropped in at 5.50am.
Hybrid drake Tufted x Pochard
Comments
I have been living overseas for a few years. Therefore, I'm a little out of touch so please forgive me if my questions ae a little basic.
I went to Regents Park this morning arriving about 0730. I enjoyed the hour and a bit waking around and spotted around 25 species. However I didn't really know where I was going so probably didn't make the most of things.
I was wondering if you would be able to advise me on specific sites where I could see things e.g.the Little Owl etc.
On another note, are you aware which of the wildfowl in the London Parks are captive and which are wild? There are a few I've seen lately particularly at St James Park that could be either.
Cheers
Kev
I glad to here that there is someone new birding in the park. It is in my opinion the best green space in Central London. If you look at the bird reports on my web site you can see that we get a wide variety of species. Though the numbers of birds is slowly getting lower, due to various man made causes.
Looking at the link to the map, north of area 20 is the best bet for seeing the owl, with early morning being better than evenings, though I do not tend to look in the evenings as I do not want to bring attention to which is the rarest breeding bird in Central London, being the only pair. If you do see it or them do please keep your distance and enjoy them.
With regards the waterfowl, the resident species that are wild are Mute Swan, Greylag, Egyptian and Canada Goose, Mallard, Tufted, Pochard and Ruddy Duck. There is a increasing flock of Mandarin Ducks in Regent's(not sure if they have reached the other Central Parks). There is also an increasing number or RC Pochards that if you count all the other feral speciea, in my opinion you can count these too, as they have formed a self sustaining population. We do have as you have seen most of the species of duck that would occur on inland waters. We do however from early August get Shoveler, Teal and Wigeon(rare). There is a small group of Pintail in London, but these are not self sustaining and are not increasing. I think they were birds who originated from captive birds in St James's Park.
I hope this helps
Tony