Sculptures and Blue Tit nest

Driving to the Dawn Chorus walk at 5 o'clock this morning I noticed the new sculptures in the park, so I resolved to take a closer look before catching up with my sleep.

There's one in Hilly Fields Crescent and another at the lower end of Montague Avenue and I took a couple of photos for the blog.

What surprised me as I returned from Montague Avenue was the number of Glendale vehicles in the park.  At one point I could see nine of them, and that was just on one side of the hill!  Then it dawned on me (excuse the pun), this morning there was to be a Green Flag inspection so the park was being cleaned and tidied, paths swept, grass cut, seats repaired, sandpit raked etc.  I do hope it's successful.

On passing the tree on the corner of the playground beside the tennis courts, I spotted a Blue Tit's nest,  a parent was frequently to and fro, probably with food for young.

Another Waterlink Way Dawn Chorus

We're lucky Chris McGaw was pursuaded to repeat his dawn chorus walk of Waterlink Way today.  On the plus side it was 8 to 10 degrees warmer this morning than three weeks ago, on the other hand we started half-an-hour earlier!

Nine of us managed the 5am start, three had been on one of Chris' other dawn chorus walks whereas six were new to the experience. 
Birds we heard (but I didn’t see):

• Blackcap *
• Blue Tit
• Cetti's Warbler *
• Chaffinch
• Chiffchaff *
• Great Tit
• Greenfinch
• House Sparrow
• Lesser Whitethroat *
• Reed Warbler *
• Robin
• Song Thrush *
• Stock Dove *
• Swift
• Whitethroat *
• Wren *

Birds I saw and heard

• Blackbird
• Carrion Crow
• Dunnock
• Goldfinch
• Great Spotted Woodpecker
• Greenfinch
• Magpie
• Moorhen *
• Ring-necked Parakeet
• Starling
• Woodpigeon

Birds I saw (but didn’t hear)

• Collared Dove *
• Feral Pigeon
• Grey Wagtail *
• Jay
• Kestrel
• Long-tailed Tit
• Mallard *

* Birds never seen (by me) in Hilly Fields

Being warmer than last time I was able to take a few notes about some of the birdsong, I just hope I can remember them for future reference:

• Cetti's Warbler: an explosive metallic song;
• Blackcap: like a speeded-up blackbird;
• Chaffinch: a bowler running up to the crease with a final flourish;
• Wren: piercing with a trill near the end;
• Dunnock: an even sounding warble like a wren but with no trill;
• Greenfinch: a wheezing sound;
• Robin: song is sad, alarm is a tick-tick;
• Whitethroat: a non-musical scratchy warble;
• Woodpigeon: 5 notes with stress on the 2nd;
• Collared Dove: 3 notes with stress on the 2nd;
• Stock Dove: a cyclical series of notes.

I didn't stay for the cup of tea and chat at the end as there was to be a Green Flag inspection of Hilly Fields park later and I wanted to be there if I could.

Waterlink Way Dawn Chorus

I'm a night owl, not an early bird, so to ensure that I got to Sainsbury’s in Bell Green by 05:30 I had to stay up all night.  That's how, yesterday morning at 5degC and in a northerly wind, I met Chris McGaw and seven others for his Dawn Chorus Walk along Waterlink Way. Chris runs the Rivers and People Project for Lewisham Council and his birdsong identification skills are amazing.

Our first stop was the Pool River immediately behind the store. Within just a few minutes the number of birds whose song Chris had identified was into double figures. If you ever get the chance to join one of his dawn chorus walks, don’t hesitate.

Most of the birdsong was heard on the first half of the walk, by the time we arrived at the confluence with the Ravensbourne River the sun was up and many of the birds had quietened down. We finished at the environment centre, whose name I forget but it used to be the southbound waiting room of Ladywell station, for a very welcome hot drink, biscuits and fruit. I returned by 75 and 181 buses to pick up my car. At 05:15 it took 10 minutes to drive there, at 08:20 it took 40 minutes to drive home!

Birds we heard (but didn’t see):

• Cetti's Warbler *
• Chaffinch
• Chiffchaff *
• Collard Dove *
• Dunnock
• Greenfinch
• House Sparrow
• Lesser Whitethroat *
• Reed Warbler *
• Song Thrush *
• Woodpigeon
• Wren

 Birds we saw and heard

• Blackbird
• Blackcap *
• Blue Tit
• Carrion Crow
• Great Tit
• Long-tailed Tit
• Magpie
• Mallard *
• Moorhen *
• Ring-necked Parakeet
• Robin
• Starling
• Whitethroat *

Birds we saw (but didn’t hear)

• Feral Pigeon
• Grey Heron *
• Herring Gull *
• Jay

* Birds never seen (by me) in Hilly Fields

Forgive me for posting info unrelated to Hilly Fields, but it IS a local birdy blog!

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.

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!

Last of the Redwing?

I was pleasantly surprised to fine a pair of Redwing in the East Field yesterday.  It's the furthest east I've seen them in Hilly Fields as they're usually in the West Field or the Meadow.  As winter visitors they'll be off to Iceland or Scandinavia by the end of this month, so let's enjoy them while we can.  Hopefully they'll return to Hilly Fields this October.

Another rare visitor to the East Field was a Mistle Thrush, usually seen around the school or south-west of it.  Along with Chaffinches, Blackbirds, Blue Tits, House Sparrows, Black-headed Gulls and a Common Gull it was pretty busy along the eastern perimeter of the park.

Rather poor photos snatched with my pocket camera show the Redwing foraging in the grass and Mistle Thrush in a tree

Why there are so many Redwing this year

Here's a link to an interesting article on why there are so many Redwing wintering in the UK this year.