Regent's Park Bird News March
2nd: 2 Lesser Redpolls,
3 Cetti's Warbler males singing
3rd: 50 Goldfinches in and around the Cricket Pen, area 31.
6 Lesser Redpolls, 5 Siskins in Silver Birches by the Cricket Pen.
5th & 6th: 1f Stonechat in Triangle Pen.
1f Kingfisher Still present favouring area 3 and 34.
1 Water Rail showing in the Rail Ditch area 2.
9th: Third batch of Heron chicks visible on Heron Island, area 8.
The first 2 Chiffchaffs of the year were singing from areas 7 and 12.
15th: 1 Reed Bunting male singing from areas 2, 5 and 32.
8 Blackcap males singing around the park.
2 Water Rails, male and female still present in Rail Ditch.
16th: 3 Jackdaws headed high SW.
17th: 50 Redwings scattered in small flocks around the park.
19th: Waterfowl numbers have dropped with only 12 Shovelers left on the lake.
21st: Common Snipe, 1 flew towards the Wetland Pen and was flushed later in the day.
2 Common Buzzards(singles) headed SW mid morning.
22nd: 1f Reed Bunting was flushed from Triangle Pen by Greenfinches at 8.30am.
18 Meadow Pipits headed NW in small groups.
25th: 2 Red Kite's headed SW around mid day.
4 Lesser Redpolls were in the Wetland Pen.
Reed Bunting male still present in areas 2 and 5.
29th: A pair of Wheatears were present on area 37 from 8.00am until early afternoon.
3 Sand Martins flew NW.
1 Water Pipit NW 11.25
70 Meadow Pipits NW in small groups
1 Yellow Wagtail 11.05, earliest park record
1m White Wagtail flew NW 11.20
3 Grey Wagtails
3 Willow Warblers
7 Chiffchaffs
4 Linnets.
Collarded Dove pr in garden 3.00pm.
Bird images
At least 50 Goldfinches were feeding in the Silver Birch trees in or close to the Cricket Pen throughout the month. There numbers increased to around 70 mid month. This is an unprecedented number for this time of the year. Their presence attracted a handful of Lesser Redpolls and Siskins. The latter sometimes used the seed feeders in area 31.
The female Kingfisher was present throughout the month. Fortunately I managed to photograph or video her several times.
This female Stonechat was present for 2 days at the start of the month
Grey Herons looked for food anywhere they could, this bird caught amphibians in a now defunct waterfowl rearing pen that has some marginal plants growing in it.
The male Water Rail was seen catching newts, while the female was seen several times feeding on the bird table. The female has a shorter tail,
Stock Dove's have a bath while another watches 2 Starlings having a fight.
Unfortunately I just missed the pair of Kestrels mating in area 32.
The song of the Willow Warbler is another sign we look forward to, meaning spring is on its way. Numbers passing through are much fewer than they were in the 70's and 80's, then having days with 30+ birds present in the park was fairly common.
This Blackcap female was attracted to a male that was singing nearby, unusually from a reed bed.
The male Reed Bunting was present for over a week, hopefully he will return. If had been a bit more operatic when the female was quite close by she may have stayed.
The odd Red Kite and Common Buzzard were seen towards the end of the month. The numbers seen have been increasing, however the weather has not been that favourable.
We saw this female around 8.00 am on what was a fairly quiet morning in the park. She was spooked by the air ambulance and flew to tree's in the Zoo. I then got a call an hour later to say that a male had joined her.
A pair of Collared Dove's turned up in my garden on the 26th, they didn't join the Stock Dove's but are seen almost daily. The female may be incubating as she is seen less than the male, he can be heard singing/calling. This is a sound that certainly isn't heard very often in Central London.
The Kingfishers last day??
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