Regent’s Park
Sparrowhawk: two males flew high westwards.
Grey Wagtail: one flew SW.
Meadow Pipit: eight birds flew through in one’s and two’s.
Pied Flycatcher: one was in the sallows in area 41.
Spotted Flycatcher: one in and around the site of the old Golf & Tennis School, area 39.
Chiffchaff: fourteen birds seen.
Willow Warbler: one in area 39.
Blackcap: ten present in areas 31, 39 and 41.
Common Crossbill: two flew SW at 7.50am.
Siskin: the first birds of the autumn flew SW at 7.45am.
One of the 3 Mute Swans that flew around the park passes the BT Tower. It looks so different without the dishes that were removed this year due to I think Health and Safety reasons.
2 male Sparrowhawks
If you bump into the Long-tailed Tit flock check through thoroughly as you never know what might be with them.
There was a flock of 26 plus Goldfinches on the feeders and using the drinking hole in area 41. As I took this photo I saw something else land on the perch but in the shade. Looking up I was stunned as a Pied Fly sat looking at me, as I brought the camera up it departed into the nearby Sallows. I was unable to relocate the bird apart from a brief view of the bird as it flew towards the nearby Lime trees.
An area of the Wetland Scrape has recently been cut and is viewable from the gate at the NE end of the lake. Also the Rail Ditch has been cleared with hope of attracting Water Rails again this year.
Comments
My visit on lovely calm, crisp morning was necessarily brief so I didn't visit Primrose Hill as I normally do. Judging from my results and Tony's, the Leaf Yard Wood (area 41) was especially productive so I wish I could have stayed longer.
Lesser Whitethroat 1 imm (in Leaf Yard Wood brambles obscuring water hole, area 41 at 08:45).
This is the third LW I've seen in the same bush this migration season. When the morning sun lights up its pristine-white underparts it's almost unmistakeable; an attractive bird that even the best bird-artists can't do justice to.
Common Whitethroat 1 (same location & time as for LW above).
Blackcap 5.
Chiffchaff 10.
Meadow Pipit 1 (heard and seen in dipping flight heading SSW near The Hub at 08:00).
Boy, am I glad to finally add this jinx bird to my life list! The call was a thin, wistful, lisping but musical "tseep, tseep" - the latter note slightly lower-pitched like the two-note call of a Chaffinch).
Kestrel 2f (Wetland Pen, area 32 at 07:45).
This is the first time I've seen the adult female and her progeny together since the latter fledged - in late June or early July, I think. The youngster, calling vociferously, landed near the next box and was promptly set upon by three magpies and a crow, prompting mom to reverse direction and come to the rescue.)
House Martin 12+ (flock seen over main Lake from Wetland Pen gate at 07:45).
(Woodpigeons (100+), Jays (flock of 12) and Mistle Thrushes (flock of 9) are becoming ever more visible.)
Cloudy, 15C but chill SW breeze at dawn making insectivores hard to find, at least initially. I made a day of it in the Park to conduct a personal, 'benchmark' census. Ever wonder what the species totals for free-flying waterfowl (including the exotics) on the Boating Lake might be? Read on...
Nuthatch 1 (seen calling in NW corner of St John's Lodge garden, area 29 at 14:05).
I was walking by on the other side of the garden's boundary hedgerow when up popped the bird to the top of a small tree to remonstrate with me before flying back into the garden.
Hobby 1 (flying SE over Holme Green, area 9 at 11:45).
When the flock of gulls roosting on the lake fenceposts took flight, instinctively I looked up to discover the source of the commotion sailing straight on unconcernedly.
Spotted Flycatcher 1 (Leaf Yard Wood near water hole, area 41 at 11:05).
Grey Wagtail 1 (flying from sanctuary beach over Long Bridge at 11:35).
Willow Warbler 2 (with a large tit flock by the Inner Circle, area 18 at 13:45).
Chiffchaff 21.
Since late August, when migrants of this species of warbler replaced the Willow as the Park's most numerous on passage, I've had less trouble separating the two by plumage. I assume this is because they've all now moulted into more contrasting, *non*-breeding plumage, in which most Chiffchaffs are olive-brown above with slight streaking below, whereas Willow Warblers are generally more yellowish overall with a distinct supercilium.
Blackcap 2.
Swallow 4 (SW over Primrose Hill at 09:30).
House Martin 23.
Woodpigeon 325 (most were feeding in the playing fields at first light).
And now the Boating Lake census (conservative species' estimates):
Mute Swan 6
Bewick's Swan 4
White-fronted Goose 1
Greylag Goose 47
Canada Goose 220+
Barnacle Goose 6
Bar-headed Goose 4
Egyptian Goose 63
Mandarin Duck 15
Gadwall 1
Mallard 87
Shoveler 6
Red-crested Pochard 19
Pochard 19
Tufted Duck 61
Little Grebe 11 (incl. six young)
Great Crested Grebe 4 (family of four)
Cormorant 7
Grey Heron 17
Moorhen 21
Coot 150+ (incl. two newly-hatched chicks!)
Black-headed Gull 155
Lesser Black-backed Gull 7
Herring Gull 30
(Pale-purple flowers of autumn crocuses blooming beside ornamental juniper in Winter Gardens, area 42.)
Cheers Tony