Hedge trimming continues

There's a noticable change to the park as you walk along the Cliffview Road side of the park because the trimming of the boundary hedge down to a metre or so is continuing.

This must make a huge difference to the amount of light those houses receive in the afternoon.

I'm also happy to report that we now have a new supply of birdfood. The feeder was filled sometime during the last week, for which the birds and I are grateful and Vicki (Nature Conservation Officer) supplied more feed yesterday.

The feed we've used to date was black sunflower seed, but the feeder in the quiet garden has been filled with a birdseed mixture, probably one of the no-mess mixtures. It'll be interesting to see if that attracts more birds than black sunflower seed alone.

"...there were 20 or so birds..."

In response to Hilly’s comment [see Brisk Walk, 1 Jan] about 20 mid-brown birds, larger than a sparrow and smaller than a thrush, pecking at the grass: my guess would be either Redwing or Fieldfare.

Both are common winter visitors, both flock, both eat worms, both are brown-ish.

The Redwing is midway between House Sparrow and Mistle Thrush in size, whereas the Fieldfare is nearer to the Mistle Thrush.


My money is on the Redwing [top pic] because its red underwing patch could be hard to see without binoculars, whereas the grey head and black tail of the Fieldfare would probably be more obvious.

Brisk Walk

Had a brisk walk in the park before lunch and saw:

Blackbird (2)
Blue Tit (3)
Carrion Crow (1)
Common Gull (2)
Feral Pigeon (4)
Goldfinch (2)
House Sparrow (6)
Robin [heard but not seen]
Starling (5)
Woodpigeon (1)

The wind was cold and reached every part of the park, so I didn't linger.

New Year

Well, there's another Christmas behind us. This was no less hectic than previous. Some would say it's my own fault for marrying into a regular cycle of Christmas, wedding anniversary, wife's birthday and New Year all one week but, to be honest, it is a great week.

Miraculously I did find some quality time in Hilly Fields too, on Boxing Day. Sadly, not many birds did, just the usual smattering of sparrows, crows, woodpigeon, blue tit and magpie plus several starlings, some of which were occupying nests near the tennis courts.

Please note that the next RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch will take place the last weekend of January and we will be in Hilly Fields on Saturday 30th January from 11am with activities for everyone

London House Sparrow Parks Project

Just received the Autumn 2009 edition of the RSPB's London House Sparrow Parks Project (LHSPP) newsletter, as promised, so here's a summary:

"London's parks and gardens used to be full of house sparrows. These once common birds have seen a terrible fall in numbers and are now hardly seen in the centre of London at all. One reason for this seems to be a poor supply of food - insects and seeds - for them to eat."

The LHSPP has set up a trial of grass and flower mixes in 20 parks across the city and are monitoring them for insects and seeds and to see whether birds use them.

I did ask if the RSPB had considered conducting any of their trials in Hilly Fields - or Lewisham, at least - but they said they wouldn't be working in our area.

The two trials closest to Hilly Fields are Burgess Park and Peckham Rye Park, both in Southwark. Other trials south of the river are in Beddington Park, Cheam Park, Perrets Field, Rose Hill Park east and St. Hellier Open Space, all in Sutton plus Tooting Bec Common in Wandsworth.

The types of plot they are testing are:

"Long grass: the original park grass left long to give insects somewhere to live over winter, and to provide birds with grass seed.

"Wildflower meadows: a mix of native grass and flowers planted to provide seeds, give insects somewhere to live, and also to provide more nectar for insects.

"'Wildlife Seed' plots: a mix of flowers and other plants often found around edges of fields, that should provide a lot of seed and should also be good for insects."

If you'd like more information, you could try the RSPB London Office: 020 7808 1240
For advice on gardening for wildlife, visit Homes for Wildlife

Busy, busy, bad weather, busy

I used to be able to get quality time in the park three or four times a week, but these last couple of months have been so very different. I have other interests which, just now, are taking up to three days a week. Hopefully, this will reduce soon, but every time this month when I've seen my way clear to visit the park it's either been raining, or very windy or the school's just out or it's dark: the four main conditions that are not good for birdspotting.

Now it's looking like I'll not get any time in the park this month at all, so all I can say is "better luck next month".

Meanwhile I can report that the RSPB has started a new project, the London House Sparrow Parks Project, this time working with eight Borough Councils, excluding Lewisham unfortunately, testing whether long grass, wildflower meadows, or a tailored 'wildlife seed mix' best provide foods that house sparrows need. This is a three year trial and they have agreed to keep me informed, so I'll occasionally be passing on snippets of news.

The RSPB hope the project will also raise awareness of the plight of the ‘Cockney sparra’, and that they can encourage people to consider sparrows in their own gardens too, beyond providing bird feeders, water or nestboxes. Leaving areas of longer grass and maintaining thick shrubby vegetation should help provide them with somewhere safe to feed, roost and nest.

London House Sparrow Project ends

I received the final newsletter of the London House Sparrow Project this weekend. Here are a few extracts from the text:

“After 5 years of counting your local sparrows, the project is now coming to an end. We are very grateful to all of you for your kind help over the years, whether you helped feed the sparrows, allowed us access to your gardens, or plied us with welcome cups of tea.

“So what have we found after five years of feeding sparrows? Feeding mealworms during the summer increased nesting success of sparrows in every year. However, we only saw an impact of feeding on adult numbers when we fed year-round seed as well as mealworms. [A graph then shows that] adult numbers increased on fed sites, only after seed feeding was introduced in 2007. This suggests sparrows lack sufficient insects to feed their young, and also seed to get them through the autumn and winter.

“With a focus on a few sites over the winter we've been able to work out the “survival rates” (percentage surviving from one year to the next) of our sparrows at the fed and "unfed" sites. Analysis suggests that about 51% of our colour-ringed birds are getting through the winter months, which is pretty much the figure that is cited in other studies as the percentage annual survival for house sparrows. So it doesn't appear that our sparrows are unduly suffering over the winter. It does sound like a lot of birds perishing each year - we have to remember that such small creatures are often rather short-lived, and that maintaining the population depends on a lot of young being produced to counter this.

“For our last fieldwork we looked at a few sites this summer to check on our survey methods for fledglings” [this included the Cliffview Road site; Bird Champ].

“Meanwhile, our exciting new project has begun. The RSPB House Sparrow Parks Project. Officer, Jacqui Weir, with the help of the Royals Parks, the London boroughs and SITA Trust, is trying out large scale experiments on London's green spaces, to find out what sort of park management is best for bugs and seeds, and therefore sparrows and other birds. This is an amazing project which will hopefully produce improvements to London's grassland biodiversity! Jacqui [jacqueline.weir@rspb.org.uk] is the primary contact for your enquiries about this work

“Once again thank you to everyone for your amazing support, we could not have done it without you. And please do visit http://www.rspb.org.uk/ for more details of how you can continue to support our work. In the meantime, please keep looking after your local sparrows!”

So that’s it. The end of the London House Sparrow Project. We’ll miss Chris Orsman’s regular visits here and thank him again for the generous donation of seed, feeder and nest boxes for Hilly Fields Park.