Tuesday 27 April 2010

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch results 2010

The national results for the Big Garden Birdwatch showed that smaller-bodied birds are more susceptible to the cold and suffered from the length and depth of last winter.

The top 20 birds in Greater London gardens were:
Woodpigeon
Starling
House_Sparrow
Blue_Tit
Blackbird
Feral_pigeon
Robin
Great_Tit
Magpie
Collared_Dove
Goldfinch
Chaffinch
Carrion_crow
Dunnock
Ring_necked_parakeet
Long_tailed_tit
Greenfinch
Coal_Tit
Wren
Jay
On our birdwatch we didn't see any Collard Dove, Ring-necked Parakeet, Wren or Jay but we did spot a Common Gull, a Redwing and a pair of Mistle Thrushes.

For more on the BGBW results, click here.

Monday 5 April 2010

Mistle Thrush nesting again

Walked through the park on Easter Sunday morning on my way towards Crofton Park and an hour or so later returned from the direction of Ladywell.  It was cold and windy so, sensibly perhaps, not many birds about and not many people either, although I did spot the park keeper at a distance.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a pair of Mistle Thrush feeding beside the Cliffview Road path as I usually find them on the other side of the park.  There were no House Sparrows in the Cliffview hedge either, perhaps because part of it has been cut even lower than before.

Wandered over to see what progress had been made on the playground and hapily found a Mistle Thrush nesting in the very same fork of the tree as last year.  It's plainly a good spot for them even though it must be the busiest junction in the park.

Total haul?  Blackbird (1), Chaffinch (3), Feral Pigeon (2), Goldfinch (1), Mistle Thrush (3), Starling (3)

I also met one of our friendly dog-walkers who'd seen a woman picking daffodils in the park and a Glendale van leaving tyre tracks along the grass verge.

On the positive side, I was pleased to see the brambles that hung over the fence along Vicars Hill were cut right back just a couple of days after the last Friends of Hilly Fields meeting.  It's nice to know they make a difference!