The Urban Birder

Sightings

Cormorant

Rather more birds than usual were recorded this month with a daily minimum of 4 birds. Around 8 birds were seen on the 5th including a flock of 6 high flying birds performing what seemed like a joyful airborne group undulation over the Channel Tunnel Depot.

Grey Heron

Only one bird was reported on the 7th.

Mute Swan

The only record this month was of 3 birds that headed east along the railway line on the 26th.

Greylag

A lone bird flew over the western edge of the site heading north on the 7th.

Canada Goose

With birds busily involved in rearing goslings fewer birds were seen flying over this month.

Mallard

The usual groups of 2 – 3 birds were occasionally seen, although 5 were seen on the 5th. On the 15th a group of 6 very high flying drakes headed east in v-formation.

Sparrowhawk

A female was watched coasting along Lester's Embankment on the 8th being escorted by around 15 Greenfinches.

Kestrel

A pair that have settled down near the Sparrowhawks in nearby Kensal Green Cemetery may be the birds that we see over the grassland, however, it's also suspected that another pair may have taken up residence on Hammersmith Hospital.

Interesting Kestrel sightings included a male hunting what appeared to be large grasshoppers in the grassland on the 8th. Sadly, on the 5th we were alarmed to see model aircraft ‘enthusiasts’ actively dive-bomb a pair that were hunting over the grassland.

Red-legged Partridge

Remarkably, on the 13th a bird was flushed from off the bare Lizard Patch in Chats Paddock. It drifted over the tops of the trees lining the Back Passage (please excuse the potential connotations) before dropping down to land somewhere between the Back Passage and the railway track. It could not be located thereafter.

Rumours and alleged sightings of partridges on The Scrubs have persisted for years, but no Scrubber (the collective for Scrubs Birders) had ever seen one. It's not quite the same story for the Pheasants that have been occasionally sighted by dog walkers. Despite only one bird actually being seen by a Scrubber, Pheasants are still deemed as an avian spectre, a phantom that is akin to sighting a Yeti.

Lapwing

We had the pleasure of seeing 2 individuals of this delightful wader flying high overhead on the 26th.

Black-headed Gull

With most adults on their breeding grounds, most of which are miles outside London, only the odd bird was observed winging its way over our patch during April. All of these birds were non-breeding sub-adults.

Herring Gull

After the last couple of month's large congregations, April settled down to the more usual 20 or so birds daily. The maximum count was 52 on the 14th.

Lesser Black-back

A maximum of 15 birds were counted during the month.

Stock Dove

The occasional bird was noted flying over during the month and notably 3 were seen on the 26th and a single bird was found feeding on the ploughed margin opposite Central Copse on the 10th.

Wood Pigeon

A few nests were found around the park during the month and at least 40 were noticed on most days.

Collared Dove

Our first birds of the year were a pair that flew north over Scrubs Lane Wood on the 1st. A further 4 were seen during the month.

Short-eared Owl

Our 6th ever record flew over Lester's Embankment from the west at a height of around 100 feet on the 6th. It drifted the entire length of the northern edge of The Scrubs before heading south beyond Central Copse and eventually disappearing south-west. It was watched for a total of nearly 5 minutes.

Swift

A pair swilling high over Braybrook Street on the 26th was a welcome sight for this much awaited summer migrant. These first birds arrived within the historically expected dates — between April 25th and 27th.

Kingfisher

Perhaps the unlikeliest find of the year was the bird that flashed through low on the south side of Central Copse on the 13th. Although being thought of as being tied to water, Kingfishers have been known to occur away from their usual riparian homes, although this is extremely rarely witnessed. Why this bird wasn't following the course of the relatively nearby Grand Union Canal we will never know.

Rose-ringed Parakeet

Hundreds were still pouring out of their nightly roost on Braybrook Street.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

With our birds probably incubating, sightings of this common woodpecker were sparser during the month.

Skylark

The month started promisingly enough with the male being seen in low song flight on the 1st. The demise of our breeding pair started on the 5th when a bird flew vertically up from the grassland — as if to start its song flight — but instead, gained height and flew steadily south over the prison. There was a lot of disturbance on the grassland that day including people walking directly through the nesting area (with and without dogs) plus ultra-low flying model aircraft.

Although the male was heard singing on a few occasions, things were definitely very wrong. The birds just didn't seem settled and indeed were only seen as a pair on the 19th. This was the last time the birds were seen.

To be fair, we were lucky that they stayed the length of time they did. But the important lesson to be learned from all this was that we have habitat that is good enough to attract Skylarks, but we need to get people to understand the importance of habitat protection and urge them to use the established paths.

Perhaps we can attract these amazing birds back next spring.

Swallow

Our first returning migrant flew steadily west across the grassland on the 4th, 3 days earlier than last year but way later than in 2007 when birds were rolling in from the March 19th. By the month's end at least 21 birds were noted whilst we were out looking.

Meadow Pipit

There could still be around 5 pairs settled in our grassland. Not all of the pipits have chosen to nest in the recognised ‘pipit heath' as at least one male was watched in display flight very near to the bramble patch by Lester's Embankment.

Pied Wagtail

The occasional bird was seen and heard during the month.

Wren

Quite a few birds were in song during April from practically every patch of suitable habitat. At least 6 birds were sighted on the 5th.

Dunnock

Around 12 birds were noticed on the 5th and the first fledglings were seen on the 14th with 6 on Lester's Embankment.