Firecrest (courtesy of Jankees Schwiebbe, www.birdphoto.nl)
Cormorant
The first bird for the month was a summer adult complete with white thigh patches on the 11th and the biggest count of the year, thus far, was 6 on the 13th.
Grey Heron
The first report for the year of this leggy waterbird was of a single that headed over Central Copse on the 28th.
Mute Swan
A pair headed over Martin Bell's Woods on the 18th.
Canada Goose
At least a couple were seen per visit during March and 15 on the 31st were the most seen this month.
Greylag
Our first record of the year was of 3 birds that flew over on the 13th followed by 3 seen distantly over Acton on the 19th. A pair was watched on the 30th heading east along the southern edge of park.
Mallard
It's forever a source of astonishment that despite our close proximity to water, we still have to wait 3 months to record our first Mallards!
A couple of drakes chasing a female on the 13th were our first signal that we are indeed close to a watercourse. It seems that the above mentioned triumvirate hungout in the general area as they were also spotted going for a walk in Chats Paddock on the 26th and loafing on the football pitches on the 31st.
Sparrowhawk
This much feared raptor was seen periodically during the month.
Kestrel
It seems as though a pair are patrolling the area, especially along Lester's Embankment and adjacent grassland. A female was sometimes discovered perched on a fence of the southern edge of the Lynford Christie Stadium.
Moorhen
Our 4th ever bird was discovered walking around near Scrubs Lane car park on the 15th. Perhaps it was inspecting our nearby fledgling reed bed in Martin Bell's Wood!
Snipe
A bird was flushed by a dog walker in the grassland on the 19th and 2 more were spooked on the 20th.
Black-headed Gull
After a peak count of around 250 on the 2nd and around 100 on the 11th, numbers dramatically fell away by the month's end as most birds had moved on to their breeding grounds. This is the usual seasonal pattern.
Common Gull
As per usual for this time of year, numbers dropped throughout the period and by the close of the month around 15 birds lingered, easily outnumbering the now largely absent Black-headed Gulls. The peak count was of around 30 on the 2nd.
Herring Gull
Numbers of this archetypal 'seagull' grew slightly during the month with an average of 7 birds seen daily. At least 10 were seen on the 27th.
Lesser Black-back
Around 15 were noticed on the 2nd which was rather more than the usual 8 or so that we normally notice.
Great Black-back
Our usual March visitation from this huge gull occurred on the 24th when a first winter bird headed over north west. We were then treated to an additional record on the 30th when an adult chose to stand in the middle of the football pitches on its own.
Stock Dove
The odd bird passed overhead during the month with 3 seen on the 14th being the maximum. This unobtrusive pigeon seems to be doing quite well at sites nearby like Kensal Green Cemetery and Kensington Gardens hopefully equating to their continued regularity at The Scrubs.
Woodpigeon
Around 50 birds were estimated to be around the park. There was a slight movement of birds were noted with at least 10 passing overhead on the 8th.
Short-eared Owl
A magnificent surprise and a great shock to the lucky observer who chanced upon one flushed from the grassland by a dog at 7.20am on the 30th. It gained height in a leisurely manner whilst being voraciously escorted off the premises by the resident crows.
This was our 5th record in 10 years and our first ever spring record. The likelihood is that this diurnal owl is a far more regular visitor that what records suggest, but due to the inevitable disturbance that comes with an inner city site, it seems very unlikely that any would stay after the first of the dog walkers arrived.
Rose-ringed Parakeet
The Central Copse roost appeared to be largely deserted during the early part of the month. Celebrations were short lived when we discovered that they had simply moved to the trees in Braybrook Wood - much to the annoyance of several Braybrook Street residents. Around 600 birds squawked noisily here on the evening of the 29th.
Green Woodpecker
A bird was heard 'yaffling' near Chats Paddock on the 19th and another was flushed from the same area on the 27th.
Great Spotted Woodpecker
The couple of pairs first noticed in February were very much at large this month.
Skylark
The only birds of the period were singletons on the 27th, 29th and a briefly obliging bird that landed at close range and in full view on the path that runs parallel with Lester's Embankment on the 30th.
Meadow Pipit
Numbers continued to build on last month's count with around 12 birds usually present and up to 4 males displaying. We estimate that there may be as many as 5 territories in the grassland.
Our main concern, as with every year, is convincing some of the local dog walkers to keep themselves and their dogs from roving through the grassland. We are desperate to preserve our tiny population as we have the likely distinction being host to the closest breeding pipit population to central London. This is a remarkable feat given the potential for disturbance at our urban site. A cut in disturbance would at least put them in good stead to have more time to deal with the hungry crows, foxes and marauding Sparrowhawks.
There was a definite movement of passage birds late on in the month with over 30 birds overhead going north on the 27th and around 20 on the 29th.
Pied Wagtail
The pair that frequented the tarmac on picnic area adjacent to Old Oak Common Lane remained until11th. Other birds were noticed flying over from time to time and one was present by the Lynford Christie Stadium on several occasions.
Wren
At least 15 of these little mites with big voices were seen during the month.
Dunnock
This polygamous species were very obvious this month with at least 15 birds seen, with the majority watched shuffling their wings on Lester's Embankment.
Robin
No real counts were made throughout March, but it was thought that at least 15 birds were present.
Northern Wheatear
This beautiful chat must rank as the most 'waited for' spring migrant at The Scrubs. Grown men have been seen crying when faced with the prospect of going through the whole of spring without catching sight of one.
Three pristine males graced the mown field between Central Copse and Chats Paddock on the 29th. Last year our first bird turned up on April 9th, whilst in 2006 the first of our unprecedented run of birds appeared on March 26th. In the grand scheme of things these birds were fairly early as most of our previous spring records have concerned birds discovered in mid to late April.
Stonechat
Between 2 and 3 birds (usually 2 males and a female) remained to be seen in the grassland during March. On the 11th at least 10 birds were in a loose flock near the bramble patch adjacent to Lester's Embankment. It was our biggest ever flock and contained a gorgeous, fully summer plumaged male. Up to 8 birds were also reported the 9th. Our regular wintering threesome was last seen on the 24th.
Spring is coming...
What must the local dog walkers make of the birders they encountered during March stalking the Scrubs in the biting winds, blinding snowstorms and lashing rain? What must they have thought when they approached these binocular wearing pained individuals standing like sentinels as they faced the bitter south winds dolefully pointing skyward, glassy eyed and murmuring 'The Wheatears are coming, the Wheatears are coming....'?
This is a question that we continually ask ourselves as we start to feel the early onset frostbite. The Northern Wheatear, a small beautifully marked member of the chat family, is indeed our spring barometer. We know that the minute they turn up here we have truly entered into a new season.
Compared to last year's abysmal showing of spring migrants, March 2008 was actually worse! Only Chiffchaffs and Northern Wheatears bothered to show up (although last year we didn't record any March Wheatears). Having said that, we have witnessed our first ever Firecrest seen by Scrubs newbie Mathew Bournat. He is now officially blooded! We also added another Short-eared Owl to the record books. These birds are always an extreme pleasure to see.
Nearby at Kensal Green Cemetery, another vigilant new watcher, Dave Renham, clocked up Firecrest, a hooting Tawny Owl, singing Coal Tits and over 30 Linnets in the adjoining St Mary's Cemetery on the 14th.
If you add in the increasing number of casual birders visiting the area, The Scrubs and environs may soon have more observers than ever, scouring the landscape to provide valuable information on the populations of our local birds - as well as discovering some cracking scarce ones.
Contributors: Mathew Bournat, Philip Cadle, Kim Dixon, David Jeffreys, David Lindo, Roy Nuttall, Dave Renham et al.
If you have details of any sightings or observations of unusual behaviour please sent them on no matter how trivial they may seem to: david@theurbanbirder.com
Blackbird
At least 20 birds were around most days. A count of around 45 was made on the 13th.
Song Thrush
An average count of 10 birds was made during the month, though this was probably an underestimate.
Redwing
Small numbers persisted during the month with at least 2 seen on most dates. Incredibly, over 1,000 birds flew over heading east on the 18th in a huge shimmering flock. It was our largest count ever of this small Scandinavian thrush and the biggest count in London that day.
Fieldfare
Small numbers were reported during the month. Around 7 birds stuck around the fields near Lynford Christie Stadium for several days from the 14th and this group rose to 12 birds by the 20th. The largest count for the entire area was of at least 20 birds on the 27th.
Mistle Thrush
Normally scarce in the spring, we recorded a few more than usual for a typical March with singletons on the 2nd, 5th, 14th and 29th.
Chiffchaff
Our first bird of the spring was a singing male in Martin Bell's Wood on the 8th, 3 days later than our earliest ever returning migrant that was seen in 2007. By the month's end there were up to 7 singers.
Goldcrest
We had an unprecedented run of records during the month relating to at least one female with the majority of sightings emanating from Scrubs Lane Wood. This or another female was also seen in the 'Back Passage' on the 8th in the illustrious company of a totally stunning Firecrest.
Ordinarily, Goldcrests are scarce winter visitors to The Scrubs and are most probably overlooked.
Firecrest
This winter, there have been an unprecedented number of these gorgeous little birds in the UK with up to 8 birds reported in the capital mostly in the east London.
The discovery of a bird with a female Goldcrest and some Long-tailed Tits in Scrubs Lane Wood on a drizzly afternoon on the 8th was nothing short of unexpected. Unfortunately, despite subsequent searches it was never seen again, however, it or another was found a few days later in Kensal Green Cemetery, a far likelier place to find this scarce 'crest.
This bronze and emerald gem is a fairly rare breeder in Britain with the majority of its tiny breeding population in East Anglia. During the winter some of these birds move out of the country, whilst we often get influxes of continental birds.
We did not predict that Firecrests would be found at our wonderful little site because we felt that that perhaps there wasn't enough woodland to hold a bird like this. We quickly had to remind ourselves of our urban birding maxim: anything can turn up anywhere at anytime.
Great Tit
There seemed to be as many of these beautiful and vociferous birds around as their smaller cousin during the month.
Blue Tit
At least 15 birds were seen on a daily basis though there were definitely more as these birds are notoriously difficult to count. There was much displaying going on with males seen courting and chasing females sometimes employing a curious gliding flight display.
Long-tailed Tit
At least 3 pairs were discovered nesting in traditional areas around The Scrubs in March.
Jay
A few sightings of this colourful crow during the month gave credence to the notion that they may be attempting to breed on site.
Magpie
There seemed to be a general increase noted through the course of the month with at least 25 counted on the 29th. There were probably far more abounding the area though and when you think that on one date last March we counted over 45 birds with Martin Bell's Wood boasting at least 17 in one tree!
Jackdaw
A small breeding population somewhere in the vicinity has been suspected for the past few years due to the regularity of the sightings we get here. Most of the birds were flyovers but a singleton consorting with at least 60 Carrion Crows in the western end gathered on the tarmac that was once 'Tent City' mid month and 6 flew over on the 25th.
Carrion Crow
The usual murderous gatherings dominated the area with upwards of 150 birds present. Only a handful of birds actually breed on The Scrubs, the majority must nest in the vicinity.
Incidentally, the word 'murderous' is quoted here in its correct context. On the 14th a group of 8 crows lead by one particularly pugnacious individual, killed a Black-headed Gull on the pitches. The attack started as a general assault by around 5 birds on the hapless gull. They toyed with it as it tried in vain to escape. Finally, the dominant crow pushed the others out of the way, jumped on the gull's back and with a couple swift blows to the head, killed the gull in under 10 seconds. It then got off the gull's back and strolled off leaving the carcass with several crows standing around with their backs to it behaving as if nothing had occurred.
Crows have been observed attacking other birds previously and on the very morning of the gull killing, one was observed trying to take a displaying Meadow Pipit.Starling
On the evening of the 16th over 500 birds were present and at least 200 were seen in the snowdrifts on the 23rd. Nesting activity was observed in the eves of some of the houses on Braybrook Street.
House Sparrow
Most of the records this month pertained to birds heard calling from nearby Braybrook Street.
Chaffinch
Several birds remained in the area and a pair was seen on several dates frequenting Central Copse - the site from where we suspected a breeding attempt last summer.
Greenfinch
This common finch was making its presence felt, especially along Lester's Embankment where the bulk of our population seem to be breeding. Around 25 were in the area during the month.
Linnet
Singing males were prevalent on Lester's Embankment with upwards of 10 pairs presumed to be on territory. A singleton was found in Scrubs Lane car park on the 13th.
Goldfinch
Singing birds were encountered in Martin Bell's and Scrubs Lane Woods throughout the month, with other birds seen in the grassland and along Lester's Embankment. At least 8 birds were counted.
Bullfinch
A male was discovered in Martin Bell's Wood on the 18th. It was a fantastic discovery given that this scarce and incredibly shy bird has not been seen here since December last year.
Reed Bunting
This usually scarce visitor was seen periodically during the month. A female was occasionally seen ranging in the grassland between Braybrook Street to the western corner of Lester's Embankment throughout the month. A male was reported on the embankment on the 2nd, 2 females were reported on the 11th and 15th and one was heard calling on the 14th. One of the females was watched preening and looking pretty settled on the 27th.
It tempting to think that these birds have been here since mid December 2007 and that they may stop to breed.
2008 Year List
Cormorant, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Greylag, Mallard, Sparrowhawk, Peregrine, Kestrel, Moorhen, Snipe, Black-headed Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-back, Great Black-back, Woodpigeon, Stock Dove, Short-eared Owl, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Northern Wheatear, Stonechat, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Redwing, Fieldfare, Blackbird, Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Firecrest, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Jay, Magpie, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Linnet, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting, Little Bunting 56 species thus far (49 species in March 2007 & 50 in March 2006)