Bushy Park
The Common Buzzard came in from the south at 12.10pm.
The female Kingfisher gave me the cold shoulder, the male was a bit more obliging.
There were 5 male Reed Warblers singing around the pools in the Brew House Fields.
Two pairs of Reed Buntings are also in the Brew House field area. One juvenile was also skulking amongst the reeds.
A handful of Swifts were around, although this wet weather might cause them to fail breeding and result in their early return to Africa.
There were 4 male Meadow Pipits singing from the area of long grass in the SE section of the park. There was also a similar number of Skylarks making short song flights.
Family groups of Mistle Thrushes were feeding in the open patches in the Bracken areas.
Comments
Chiffchaff: 4 (singing males in areas 1, 13/14. 17, and 19).
Reed Warbler: 2 (1 singing male + presumed female in area 5).
Shelduck: 3 (pair, including pinioned duck, in areas 8 & 36 + duck flying out of area 35 waterfowl sanctuary at 05:50am).
Kestrel: 1f (dropping from her perch in a sawn-off ash tree to catch a mouse as easy as you like in the grass at SW corner of Cricket Pen, area 31 at 07:00am).
I thought you had left the country, having had enough of this rubbish weather.
Nice to be back on the beat after a month-long 'break' from migration-watch, during which I wrote some exams and then 'ran interference' through the heaving London crowds over the Diamond jubilee weekend for my Royalist parents, visiting from Canada. (When it comes to the London lifestyle I'm a devotee of Samuel Johnson, no matter the weather!)
I'll be sure to post here the details of any avian 'nature nuggets' I observe during my morning rambles through the Park - although I expect they'll be harder to find till autumn migration starts in late July.