Tue 8th Jan - Scrubs again

More rain, more mud, more Gulls and more dipping!

Sun 6th Jan - Waxwings

After a dutiful, but fairly quiet visit to the Scrubs for 2 hours during which I tramped around the majority of the grasslands without any interesting discoveries, the prospect of Waxwings in nearby Ealing lured me away.  The Central Line took me quickly from East Acton to Ealing Broadway and after buying a coffee, the no 65 bus took me handilly right to the bus-stop outside South Ealing Tube station which was slap-bang next to the tree that the Waxwings were raiding. The resident Mistle Thrush was defending its corner, but was outnumbered by the Viking Invaders and was gradually losing the battle.

Sat 5th Jan - Hyde Park Plastic Barnacle Goose

Lunchtime visit to Margravine Cemetery in Hammersmith brought me a tick in the form of a Jay but little else. I scanned the surrounding tall buildings for Peregrines but found nowt!

On to Hyde Park to tick ducks and common waterfowl for the yearlist and enjoyed some close-up views of the 'Barnacle Goose of unknown origin'. It certainly didn't seem to be wary at all of the public and like the rest of the Geese and Gulls was happy to compete for bread or seed offered by members of the public.

Very nice to see some Red-crested Pochard and Common Pochard, but no Gadwall and I couldn't locate Mandarin Duck either.

I left it a bit late to find Nuthatch and Treecreeper and then completely failed to locate the Tawny Owls that had been showing well in the morning. Not the most successful of days!

Fri Jan 4th - First visit of 2013 to The Scrubs

I have to say that it was difficult, with the current weather conditions, to drag my lazy ass up in the morning in time for a quick visit to The Scrubs before work. The football pitches and the grassland area are both sodden with the surface layer very muddy and little firm ground. The dog walkers, new year joggers and the cyclists are all helping to turn the ground to mush. The council groundsmen have been taking steps to make the ground more walkable around the grasslands, but they are fighting a losing battle. Wellies are definately the most suitable form of footwear at the moment and it may be the time for me to invest in a pair of Hunters.

The wet football pitches do bring out the Gulls and there were significant numbers across the pitches but with much smaller than usual numbers of Carrion Crows in attendance. Scrubs Lane Woods was busy with lots of active small passerines, the best of which was this Goldcrest.

Meanwhile, over at the western end of the Scrubs, Blackbirds and Song Thrushes dominated the newly trimmed Embankment area. The remaining vegetation and the large pools of water however still made it difficult to walk and presumably Hammersmith Council will complete the tidying up operation when conditions are somewhat dryer.

Not much around in terms of birds other than small numbers of finches and tits plus lots of singing robins. No sign of Stonechat nor Reed Bunting which are hopefully still around somewhere.

Kicking off the new year in style

The new birding year got off to a pleasant if modest start with a 2 hour tramp around Hatton Park in the north of Wellingborough. Almost immediately I came upon a group of finches including at least 3 Bullfinches which have to be one of my favourite birds. There is just something about the bright red breast of the male which puts a big smile on my face.

Though I finished the day with just over 30 species, at least there were 3 raptors (Kestrel, Buzzard and a very welcome Red Kite) plus Coal Tit which rarely shows up near home. Blue Tits and Dunnocks were singing and Feral Pigeons were busy copulating.