Common Lizard at the Scrubs (Chris Gleed-Owen)
Cormorant
There were rather more than usual noticed this month with 8 on the 1st and around 10 on the 13th and 20th being the best numbers.
Grey Heron
It is not every month that we can boast 2 species of heron, especially given that there is no water on site. Thus, we rejoice at the sight of a heron sedately flapping across our domain. Our rejoicing was far and few between as herons were only spotted a couple times during the month.
Little Egret
Along with the Whimbrel, this elegant heron was the star bird of the month. A surprised Roy Nuttall watched our 2nd ever as it flew over Scrubs Lane Woods and across the small copses in a north easterly direction.
With their population steadily rising in south east England we can expect to see more of them here in the years to come.
Mute Swan
There was a report of around 7 birds flying over late in the month. This would have been our largest recorded flock.
Canada Goose
Birds were sporadically seen throughout the month.
Greylag
This feral goose is now becoming a bit of a regular visitor with a pair flying through on the 13th illustrating the point. This species was unheard of here as recently as 4 years ago.
Mallard
A couple of drakes flew over on the 13th and 20th.
Tufted Duck
An unlikely rarity here, a pair flew low apparently following the course of the Grand Union Canal on the 23rd. Unbelievably, this is only the 3rd ever record for Wormwood Scrubs!
Kestrel
The were only a couple reported sightings of this once common falcon including a fine male on the 31st that swooped low over the grassland sweeping up to try and take a finch by surprise on Lester's Embankment. He failed.
Whimbrel
Our 2nd ever record of this estuarine wader was recorded on the 1st when a single bird flew the length of Lester's Embankment from the west at just below tree top level. When it got to Chats Paddock, from where it was being observed, it veered of north east, quickly being lost behind the Channel Tunnel buildings.
Towards the end of April and into the beginning of May there was an influx of Whimbrels within the London area. However, most records were from sites that contained watery habitat.
Interestingly, our first record was a pair flying over on the 7th May 2006.
Black-headed Gull
Around 12 birds drifted over on the 13th heading north.
Herring Gull
The usual circling flocks consisting largely of juveniles were noticed on most days. A particularly large number were present on the 13th when over 55 birds were counted including at least 35 on the thermals south of the prison over White City.
Lesser Black-back
No great numbers were noted this month with no more than 10 birds logged per visit.
Common Tern
There were only a couple sightings of this graceful tern seen this month, which was rather less than the fairly frequent occurrences in May 2006. Birds were noted on the 1st and a pair on the 7th.
Woodpigeon
There was nothing unusual to report with regard to this common resident. At least 60 were counted on the 13th.
Stock Dove
This unobtrusive pigeon continued to be elusive and infrequently reported during May with only a couple birds noticed throughout the month. Invariably, the birds seen were heading over.
Collared Dove
As usual, very few were seen this month.
Swift
No huge numbers were seen during the month with 20 as noted on the 13th being around the norm. On that date, our dawn chorus walk day, these wonderful flyers were watched mating on the wing. They give a whole new meaning to the term 'quickie'!
Rose-ringed Parakeet
After the shock discovery that we are host to a large roost, counts were made on the 2nd & 3rd. We watched around 465 and 485 birds respectively coming from all points of the compass to roost in the tall trees of the Central Copse just before dusk on both nights.
Interestingly, the ones that came in from the south pre-roosted on the Populars that fringe the prison, before swooping off low towards the Central Copse.Where do these birds emanate from is anyone's guess, though they are likely to be local non-breeding adults and young birds (parakeets don't breed until they are 3 years old).
Green Woodpecker
Birds were mostly heard this month giving rise to the thought that they were nesting on site.
Great Spotted Woodpecker
The nesting pair in Scrubs Lane Wood were fully occupied in their family raising activities and were periodically seen in and around the wood.
Skylark
The only record of the month was of 1 briefly watched flying low past Central Copse on the 3rd. This bird was the last bird of the spring and roughly coincided date-wise with 2006.
Swallow
These delightful migrants with their fluent purposeful flight continued to pass through our site during the month with birds seen most mornings with 10 on the 13th being the best count.
Occasionally they may linger as 1 did along the western edge near the north west corner on the 10th and a pair on the 26th. The sight of endlessly circuiting hunting Swallows, skimming low over the cut grass for insects, always conjures up images of rustic idyll.
As we have always said, the true numbers that must travel over throughout the day every day is far, far higher as typified on 2nd when 1 flew over Central Copse at 8pm!
Meadow Pipit
Our small breeding colony seemed to be going about their business with the occasional display flight noticed right up until the month's end.
Pied Wagtail
A pair was regularly seen at their traditional breeding site near the Lynford Christie Stadium along the southern edge of the site.
Wren
At least 7 singers were counted on the 13th and a fledgling was discovered in Chats Paddock on the 31st.
Dunnock
No counts were made this month, but it seemed as though all was well in this particular bird's world at The Scrubs.
Robin
At least 5 singing birds were located during our dawn chorus walk on the 13th.
Northern Wheatear
This has been a weird year for this species. Migrants have generally been thin on the ground across London and The Scrubs was no exception as we have probably ended up with just around 16 records this spring. The only May report was of a well marked female on the 20th.
This bird was likely to have been off the larger and brighter Greenland race 'leucorhoa' which passes through Britain during May, later than the nominate race, on their way to Iceland and Greenland. This particular bird was found on the football goals at fairly close range (Wheatears seem to have a penchant for football pitches - were they players in their previous lives?). She appeared like a dull male: slight 'bandit' eye stripe, dark primaries, browny grey mantle, peachy throat and upper breast and dull white underparts.
Keeping to a football theme, a Wheatear was seen feeding on the pitch at Wembley during the Chelsea v Manchester United FA Cup Final!
But more incredibly, the day after, a well-marked female was discovered sitting on a kiddie's portable goal in a totally concreted matchbox garden in Notting Hill by an observer who had casually looked out the back window whilst retrieving a fax!
It was literally 10 inches away, eyeball to eyeball with the observer, before it flew onto a nearby wall that it casually hopped along before disappearing over the other side!
May 2007 Sightings at Wormwood Scrubs
May blew hot and cold. Well, hot, cold, grey and wet to be exact! You were almost left thinking that summer had already come and gone in April. A lot of this weather helped to douse enthusiasm and critically, put off interesting birds from making landfall.
Indeed, east London and its Essex border was the place to be in terms of weird and wonderful sightings. Having said that we had 2 goodies pass over our heads during the month, namely a Whimbrel and a Little Egret, both of which the 2nd ever to be seen here.
Perhaps the single most devastating ornithological discovery to hit the Scrubs birders was the news that at least 500 Rose-ringed Parakeets are using Central Copse as a night roost. This revelation was akin to learning that Elvis really is dead or finding out that you had a heavy dose of head lice! We were devastated!
We don't really know how long this roost has been in existence because the blighters sneak in just before sunset and nip off in noisy groups by 5.30am - behind our backs when we aren't looking! We shall be monitoring the situation in the late summer and may even have to bring our flame-throwers! Anyone fancy a parakeet barbeque?The installation of sign posts around the grassland asking people to keep out of the grass has helped to keep disturbance to our breeding Meadow Pipits to a minimum. The signs have been instrumental in highlighting how amazing The Scrubs is for birds. We can only assume that the people stealing the signs are taking them home to stick up in their back gardens!
May 13th saw our first ever Dawn Chorus walk. It was well attended despite the impending rain clouds and the early hour. Hopefully, this will become a regular fixture in our birding calendar. We are planning a summer bird walk perhaps in July at a slightly more reasonable time. So keep an eye out.
Finally, on the 6th a Barnacle Goose (normally a denizen of the high arctic this time of the year) was seen flying over Lester's Embankment. We assume that it was probably stretching its wings for a quick circuit to work off the loaf of bread it had been fed at St James Park!
Contributors: Neil Anderson, Philip Cadle, David Jeffreys, David Lindo, Roy Nuttall, Mark Patterson, Steven Robinson 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
Whinchat
Our second pair for the spring turned up on the 12th along Lester's Embankment and became our latest ever spring Whinchats and our first May birds since 2005.
Song Thrush
This rather common if secretive resident was frequently seen commuting the distance between Braybrook Street and Lester's Embankment with food for their hungry chicks. At least 10 birds were noticed on the 23rd and our first fledglings were seen on the 13th along the embankment.
Mistle Thrush
Despite the presence of a singing male near the pony centre in March there appears to be no sign of breeding. So singletons on the 5th, 13th and 31st were interesting and potentially indicated that they may well be breeding closeby.
Blackbird
This common thrush is a guaranteed sight at The Scrubs. At least 7 males were heard in full warble on the 13th plus more birds were actually seen.
Blackcap
Maybe 10 males were in song during the month including a male that was heard singing at dusk from the parakeet roost on the 3rd. There was also a male in the north west corner that was doing an excellent job mimicking the scratchy notes of a Reed Warbler.
Garden Warbler
As with a couple other migrant warbler species, there was a spate of scattered records during the month from several locations. This bland-looking species has never been proven to breed here, though migrants singing during May are not uncommon.
Lesser Whitethroat
The breeding population of around 5 pairs here at the Scrubs were the talk of the town with this month with several birders travelling the breadth of London to 'twitch' our Lesser 'throats!
Common Whitethroat
As May kicked in it was clear that we have experienced a slight drop in numbers of this nimble warbler. Around 13 males were singing from suitably scrubby areas around the park. This was a far cry from the 22 or so singing males that were recorded in 2005.
Sedge Warbler
After such a poor spring for this species last year, we have treated to the sporadic burst of song from completely different parts of The Scrubs on different days. We feel that this represents different migrants passing through as opposed to 1 or 2 birds moving through. In total possibly 6 birds were involved including 1 heard from Central Copse on the 2nd at 8pm over the raucous din of the roosting parakeets,Chiffchaff
We estimate that around 5 pairs have chosen to breed in the wooded areas around the site, although 8 birds were in song on the 13th.
Willow Warbler
We have seemingly had no repeat of territories being held as in last year, but as with the Sedge Warblers, we heard sporadic singing from different areas. Usually this involved a single bird though 2 were in song on the 1st and 13th.
Spotted Flycatcher
This elegant migrant is usually one of the last to pass through Britain, classically arriving in May.
A bird was discovered flycatching in Scrubs Lane Wood on the 20th with a possible 2nd bird in the vicinity. This bird was late by our standards as last year they were first recorded on the 3rd May. Another pair were discovered in by the north west corner of Lester's Embankment (our migration hotspot!) on the 23rd.
Last year was amazing with a record 17 birds passing through during the spring, including 11 together in Chats Paddock.
Great Tit
Birds were still singing on the 13th when at least 8 were heard. At least 10 were counted on the 23rd. Fledglings were seen for the first time at the month's end.
Blue Tit
At least 10 were seen on the 13th with fledglings noted at the month's end.
Long-tailed Tit
At least 10 birds were seen on the 13th along the northern edge of the site and a family party of around 8 were discovered on Lester's Embankment on the 23rd.
Jay
Our 2 possible breeding pairs continued to be active during May, being seen most days flying to and from their nest site.
Magpie
At least 15th were flying around on the 13th and 23rd.
Jackdaw
A few continued to traipse across the sky during May with 8 on the 1st and 13 on the 20th being the maxima. Are these all different birds or is there a small local colony?
If they are not calling, the Jackdaw's quicker flapping flight, at times somewhat reminiscent of a Feral Pigeon, usually makes them distinctive for their larger cousins, the Carrion Crow.
Carrion Crow
There was nothing untoward to report about our local crow population. At least 180 were counted on the 13th.
Starling
Starlings have made a bit of a welcomed comeback at The Scrubs over the years. Well, we haven't quite got the huge shimmering flocks cascading around at dusk prior to roosting, but we do seem to have a small and quite healthy population.
There are 2 perhaps 3 main breeding areas with the largest of which the colony around Braybrook Street and the smallest in the 2 old dying trees in the centre of Scrubs Lane Wood. The youngsters shrill begging calls was first heard mid-month and by the 20th onwards upwards of 100 birds (the vast majority being juveniles) were feeding in the grassland.
House Sparrow
The usual birds were noticed in and around Braybrook Street. One good thing that came out of discovering the parakeet roost was that we also rediscovered a small sparrow roost of around 30 birds.
Chaffinch
Our nesting pair in Central Copse were watched coming and going on several dates during the month.
Bullfinch
Despite their continued presence, this secretive finch was barely observed during the month.
Linnet
There were at least 10 pairs along Lester's Embankment, some of which were often found foraging in the grassland and the adjacent mowed grass in the western end of the site.
Goldfinch
This dainty finch was in fairly short supply during the month, as most have moved off to breed in the large trees in the streets of the surrounding area. Around 10 were counted on the 23rd.
Greenfinch
As with last month, the colonies along the northern edge seem to be thriving with the song of singing displaying males being commonplace.
2007 Year List - thus far
Cormorant, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Greylag, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Sparrowhawk, Peregrine, Hobby, Kestrel, Moorhen, Lapwing, Grey Plover, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-back, Great Black-back, Common Tern, Woodpigeon, Stock Dove, Collared Dove, Cuckoo, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Skylark, House Martin, Swallow, Sand Martin, Tree Pipit, Meadow Pipit, Yellow Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Stonechat, Black Redstart, Northern Wheatear, Whinchat, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Redwing, Fieldfare, Ring Ouzel, Blackbird, Sedge Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Common Whitethroat, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Jay, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Rook, Jackdaw, Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Linnet, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Bullfinch
73 species thus far