Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Firecrest, Crossbills & Sandpiper, a great week of birding!

September 18th: I wasn't feeling great so I didn't go out early as planned. There wasn't anything on the hill so I headed down to the ponds to try and find the "interesting" teal I'd seen a few nights before. Within seconds of me wandering down to the concrete drainage thing I use to view the pond, a tiny shape shot out past me! I barely registered the clockwork like flapping wings and the blurred white wing bars as I frantically tried to get a conclusive ID. It dashed towards the wooden "raft" in the middle of the pond and for a blissful second I thought it was going to land. Instead the it kept on flying out of sight into the shadowy corner of the pond. I stood there puzzling over it, the only thing it could rationally be was a Common Sandpiper but I just wasn't satisfied with my views of of it. Then suddenly the whistling call of a Common Sandpiper stopped me in my thoughts and I looked up to see it rocketing over the rooves of the houses and then across the pond before disappearing! I've wanted to see a Common Sandpiper on the the Heath all summer so it was a relief to finally find one! What an awesome bird!

September 22nd: I hadn't planned to go out but having received a message from another birder that there were a fair few birds moving over Parliament hill, I got up and ran over to the heath. There were already plenty of people out enjoying the weather, dog walkers, joggers and a few people heading off to work. I arrived on Parliament hill at 7:30 and was greeted by plenty of meadow pipits shooting over the hill as well as two of the other local birders, Pete & Reuben. We stood and watched for a while as birds continued to fly over: a red kite drifting north, a yellow wagtail also heading north, siskins and a constant stream of meadow pipits. After a fifteen minutes, I noticed a wide group of meadow pipits rocketing south towards us. I called the others to them and as they got closer we all suddenly realized! A brief flash of the bright red males shooting across the path was all we needed to see, accompanied by the oddly quiet "chip-chip" call; they were crossbill! I lowered my binoculars to make a quick count and came to 12 before they disappeared. They had flown just above the ground, straight across the path, surrounded by people! Completely unexpected! 

A few more birds passed over in the next half hour but nothing amazing. Then suddenly, there it was again! "Chip-Chip-Chip!" I looked up and saw two more crossbill shooting over us calling loudly and happily. I wonder where they are now and where they came from. They could still be hiding in some quiet corner of London or they could have flown non-stop across the channel and found themselves in the Alps by now. It really is amazing the things you see here.

I continued on towards Kenwood where I was pleased to see my second Stonechat of Autumn perching on the wire fence around the Sphagnum bog. Always a brilliant bird to see! I also glimpsed my first Lesser Redpoll of Autumn shooting over the trees in Cohen's field. Not a bad morning before school (online school🙄)

23 September: I headed up Parliament hill for a bit in the morning but there wasn't much to see although it was cool to see a Spotted Flycatcher migrating over the hill and land briefly. I had a look around other parts of the heath but there wasn't much to see. Later in the day I was at home doing some chemistry work when I glanced at my phone to see Pete had found a Firecrest on Parliament hill! I quickly ate my lunch and dashed out. On first inspection there was nothing there, nor on the second or third inspection. But eventually I found a big mixed flock of tits and warblers. I spent a while searching through them without much luck. Then somehow, I lost track of the whole flock! Now it was really starting to rain too. I Spent a while wandering around searching without luck, even checking much further up the hill. After a damp and slightly annoying half hour, I decide to give in and head back. Then as I was wandering back I heard the sounds of the flock and looked up to see them in a oak tree. I decided to have a half hearted look. after a while a spotted a "crest" species hopping about in the Oak. I still wasn't particularly hopeful so it was a shock when it turned around revealed it's white eye stripe and stunning orange crest! I stood there in shock for a second as it disappeared before I jumped around and celebrated a bit. I was surprised when I looked up again to see it still flitting about and showing off. Of course now the rain started to bucket down on me but I still managed to get some good views of the little gem for a few minutes. It really is a perfect bird, one of my absolute favorites! What a brilliant day

  

Tuesday, September 1, 2020

August Birding on Hampstead Heath

 August birding Hampstead Heath 2020


August has been an absolutely brilliant month! I wasn't around for all of it so I missed out a little but I still found four new birds for my Hampstead Heath list! I'll go over a few highlights from month day by day.

The first week of August was pretty quiet as expected but I did see my first Willow Warblers of the Autumn. I also picked up a few other warblers like Garden Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat. On the 7th three Yellow Wagtails flew over Parliament Hill. After that I headed off to Norfolk for a bit.

On the 20th of August I headed over to Kenwood to have a look for flycatchers. At first glance there was nothing to be seen so I decided to spend some time photographing the Willow Warbler that were piling in from out of the woods. Then just at the moment I'd forgotten about seeing a flycatcher, a stunning Pied Flycatcher hopped out in front of me! It gave a few good views before I rushed off to get my GCSE results. 

Pied Flycatcher

On the 22nd I found my first Spotted Flycatcher of the year in Kenwood

On the 23rd I went out to search for a tree pipit as they were arriving all over London. But after several hours the only one I saw was a distant view shooting over the playground that I wasn't 100% sure on. Later in the afternoon on a casual walk with my family, we flushed a pair in the Kenwood bog which then perched nicely for a few photos! 

Tree Pipit

The 24th was also a very exciting day! After a relatively boring walk up to Kenwood, I immediately found a warbler flock just up from the pond. As I was looking through it, a male Common Redstart hopped into a dead tree nearby! It gave me a few brief views before disappearing back into the bushes. Next I found another Pied Flycatcher with the same flock as it moved closer to the bog. Another mystery flycatcher sp added some excitement as well as my first shoveller of the Autumn

Common Redstart

On the 27th of August I saw two Spotted Flycatcher and a Crossbill flew NW over Cohen's field. I also had one possible Wood Warbler on Parliament hill: "Initially picked up with some willow warblers, the bird seemed to have a brighter yellow throat relative to the rest of it's body. It also had a fairly uniform white underside. However it looked slightly small compared to what I'd expected and did not have the shiny, almost metallic look I've seen in photos. Before I got a photo, it flitted away and didn't show again". (My description, could have been an odd willow warbler of course!)

The 28th was certainly the busiest day of the month. Migrant birds included Wheatear, 2 Spotted Flycatcher, Whinchat, 2 Hobby, Little Egret (very rare to land), Peregrine, a probable Garden Warbler, Common Buzzard, Flycatcher sp and my first Grass Snake on the Heath for two years was a nice bonus

Northern Wheatear

Whinchat

Little Egret

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On the 29th August I flushed the first Teal of the year (a scarce bird here). Other nice birds around included two Wheatear, Siskin, Peregrine, Yellow Wagtail (Fly-over) and a spotted Flycatcher

Eurasian Teal

On the 30th of August a Siskin landed on Parliament hill.

In all it was a very exciting month and there looks to be a good autumn ahead! The Pied Flycatchers (and others found by other birders) were the first records I know of for seven years! What a great few weeks of birding! It was a shame not to find any sandpipers however.