Regent’s Park
A fairly quiet day in the park, until someone decided to bird Primrose Hill. A lot of birds are missed due to the fact that this area isn’t birded that often. Well done Rose.
Lesser Whitethroat: one on the north slope of the reservoir, area 48.
Northern Wheatear: 2 birds were also in area 48.
The owlet was at the top of a Lime tree in area 32
Bushy Park
A good day with a few migrants and 5 bird of prey species.
The female above put me on to a high flying Peregrine, she was one of 13 birds present today.
Comments
Lesser Whitethroat 1: (Cricket Pen, area 31, at 08.40; seen again at 14.15).
A lifer, first spotted shortly after the rain ended, feeding frantically in the elm thicket at the W end of the Cricket Pen. At first I could only see it from behind and its sandy-brown back with what looked like cream edgings to the greater coverts, producing faint single wingbars, gave it the jizz of an oversized goldcrest. However, when it finally turned around, I saw the grey cap, with a barely darker mask, and white throat. (Of the Old World warbler species I've seen so far - not many! - this one most reminds me of New World warblers, with their non-stop feeding behaviour like Old World warblers on amphetamines!) I saw it again at 14.15 when it conveniently popped up from the large, central bramble bush at the opposite (E) end of the Cricket Pen, into a silver birch. In the fifteen minutes I watched, it spent half its time acting according to type, skulking in a bramble bush, but the other half was spent in the open, gleaning leaf insects high in the silver birches like a Willow Warbler. On second viewing in brighter, afternoon conditions, its back looked a darker brown and without wingbars, so what I saw this morning could have been a trick of the light. At no time did I notice the white outer tail feathers, but then I didn't have my bird guide with me due to the rain so I didn't look for them.
'Greenland' Wheatear 2f: Cricket Squares, area 37 at 08.55 - I'm from Canada and it blows my mind that conceivably they could be laying eggs on Ellesmere Island not far from the North Pole soon!
Willow Warbler 6: two each in areas 2, 18 and 19.
NB: Dave had the first Reed Warbler of the year, singing from reed bed in Wetland Pen / area 32 in the early morning rain.
All in all, a classic day for migrant-watching (with earlier, favourable migration conditions brought to a screeching halt by heavy overnight rain) but it could have been even better had the rain stopped by dawn, three hours earlier - I can't help thinking I left a few 'goodies' out there today.