Red Kite (R. F. Spencer)
Cormorant
The only birds recorded were singletons over on the 28th and 30th.
Grey Heron
A singleton headed over on the 9th and 14th.
Mute Swan
Perhaps our largest flock ever flew over along the length of the Grand Union Canal to the north on the 25th. The 6 birds recorded included 5 together.
Canada Goose
As with the previous month, small numbers were seen with the most being 20 birds heading over on the 22nd.
Mallard
The only report of this supposedly common duck was a flock of 5 that flew over on the 27th.
Sparrowhawk
This raptor was seen on most visits with sometimes up to 2 birds present. A female attempted to catch a Meadow Pipit on the 6th.
Kestrel
The odd bird was seen during the month.
Peregrine
Ordinarily, this mighty predator is usually only seen a couple of times a year with their visitations often only evidenced by mangled Woodpigeon corpses on the pitches or by the simultaneous reactions of hundreds of gulls, pigeons and crows spooked as they all suddenly take to the air.
This month was unprecedented by a series of daily sightings over a period of 5 days. Starting on the 7th a male was seen flying over the grassland with prey heading past the prison. The subsequent days saw a bird flying in the same general direction — towards the prison. There were further sightings on the 28th and 30th.
Snipe
A bird rose out of the grassland on the 6th and headed west. It or another was flushed from the ‘Forbidden Path’ by the pipit sign on the 29th and was later seen flying the length of the Back Passage at tree level along Chats Paddock. Finally, a single bird was seen on the 31st.
Black-headed Gull
Low numbers continued to be seen with our biggest count being 120 birds on the football pitches on the 25th.
Common Gull
Tiny numbers were seen throughout the month.
Herring Gull
Up to 10 birds were counted on the 7th.
Lesser Black-back
The usual low number was encountered during the month.
Woodpigeon
The fabled waves of thousands of continental birds didn't quite materialise as the flocks counted just made it into the hundreds. The peak was approximately 300 birds heading over on the 28th and 30th. Around 500 were on the grass in front of the prison on the 9th.
Stock Dove
Around 3 birds were noticed on the 28th and at least 4 birds were picked out with the overflying Woodpigeons the following day with a local singleton also seen.
Collared Dove
A couple of singletons were noticed during the month — one on the 4th and another heading over Braybrook Wood on the 28th.
Rose-ringed Parakeet
It seems like our roosting flock has mysteriously departed almost overnight and birds are now only seen occasionally flying over. Have they gotten wind of the fact that as of January 1st 2010 they will be taken off the protected list and be fair game for gun-toting huntsmen?
Our biggest count was 20 on the 14th.
Green Woodpecker
An adult was seen on the 22nd and it or another was heard from Braybrook Wood on the 28th. The last reported sightings of the month were a pair that flew over Chats Paddock on the 29th.
Great Spotted Woodpecker
The usual birds were seen during the month.
Skylark
The autumn passage began in earnest on the 6th and involved a minimum of 10 birds throughout the month.
Meadow Pipit
Numbers of this familiar pipit remained constant at around 20 birds maximum, apart from on the 9th when over 40 were around.
Richard's Pipit
The rarest bird of the month and indeed of 2009 so far materialised on the 28th for a few brief minutes much to the surprise and subsequent delight of the couple of long suffering viz migging Scrubbers. (Viz migging is the hip phrase to describe watching for visible migration).
The viz miggers were watching for migrants on the southern edge of the grassland in front of Braybrook Wood when a large pipit rose from the grassland around 50 feet away. It flew steadily low overhead uttering a shrill sparrow-like ‘schreeep’ a couple of times as it did so. It then gained height as it headed southwest, momentarily doubling back before resetting its course southwest.
Within seconds of hearing its distinctive call, thoughts switched immediately to registering the salient identification points; big build, pot belly, longish tail, steady flight (not bouncing like its smaller, far more common cousin the Meadow Pipit) and of course, the sparrow-like call.
After the birds in 1998 and 2007 this was The Scrubs' third record of this Asian species — a remarkable feat for this inner London site. Our bird was one of around 4 that were discovered around Britain that day.
Pied Wagtail
The peak count was of 11 birds on the 6th that were discovered feeding on the football pitches. There were also around 8 birds present on the 21st. These birds were no doubt migrants and a trickle was recorded flying over on most days.
Wren
At least 5 were seen on the 25th.
Dunnock
Around 6 birds were noticed on the 25th.
Robin
At least 7 birds were reported on the 25th.
Stonechat
A pair continued to exist in the grassland though that number was augmented by a further 2 birds on the 6th until the 8th and separately on the 30th.
Redwing
The 4 or so birds watched flying over on the 4th were the first for the autumn. The movement throughout the month was modest with up to 86 birds counted until the 28th when over 700 passed over in several flocks. Around 40 birds were seen the following day and over 100 were seen on the final day of the month.
Fieldfare
A lone bird flying east on the 18th signalled the return of this rather handsome winter thrush to our beloved patch. Thereafter, tiny numbers passed through sporadically until the 28th when at least 130 headed west and a singleton landed on the grass by Braybrook Street.
Mistle Thrush
A solitary bird was seen on the 26th and a pair headed east along Braybrook Street on the 28th. Finally, a single bird was found on the 30th.
October 2009 Sightings at Wormwood Scrubs
Are you sitting down?
Last month's report featured the image of a handsome male Ring Ouzel with the tag line — a mournful proclamation — suggesting that we had blown our chances of seeing this beautiful bird this year at Wormwood Scrubs. It would have potentially been our first blank sheet in 6 years. Then, the birding gods responded with not a fleeting glance of a bird haring through but with at least 3 and perhaps up to 5 for the Scrubs faithful to ogle at. History was rewritten.
October 2009 will go down as one of the best Octobers ever thanks to the exceptional coverage from both resident and visiting birders. Our second ever Grasshopper Warbler was found skulking in the grassland, our first ever Cetti's Warbler was heard briefly, there were Peregrine sightings aplenty, a solitary Siskin and several Redpolls were all in the mix.
The bird of the month and perhaps the year, was our third ever Richard's Pipit. Unfortunately, this bird didn't stick around and soon headed off to destinations unknown but it proved again just how productive our grasslands are.
Of mammalian interest were reports of Hedgehogs in Chats Paddock and along the foothills of Lester's Embankment. Although totally expected, embarrassingly, these were our first known records! Locally, an escaped Red-breasted Goose and a regular Kingfisher brightened up proceedings along the canal directly north of The Scrubs.
Oh and as for the Red Kite image, that's next on the wish list…
Contributors: Rob Ayers, Frank Clark, Kim Dixon, Pete Dixon, David Jeffreys, David Lindo, Franko Marovich, Roy Nuttall, Anders Price, Neville Smith et al.
If you have details of any sightings or observations of unusual behaviour please send them in no matter how trivial they may seem to: theurbanbirder@theurbanbirder.com
Ring Ouzel
On the 22nd, Anders Price, a regular Scrubber noticed an ashy ‘Blackbird’ that he flushed from Lester's Embankment, which proceeded with a somewhat fluttery flight style to head to the trees near the northwest corner. He thought that in flight the bird looked slight for a Blackbird with the more translucent wings mentioned in the books. It bolted again with 100 yards of approach going across the whole of the grassland.
This description sounded perfect for this elusive thrush. Another possible was briefly seen belting down the entire length of Braybrook Street on the 28th.
Red-letter day arrived when a pair of ouzels was discovered in Chats Paddock on the 29th. A subsequent search resulted in a record-breaking 3 birds within Chats Paddock. They were extremely nervy and at one point headed off high towards Central Copse.
These birds represented the second autumn record ever — the first being a male briefly seen in October 2006. Remember, this elusive migrant is usually located at The Scrubs during the spring. The threesome were also the largest gathering ever recorded here.
Blackbird
At this time of year our familiar Blackbirds seem to become harder to see. The birds that are seen probably include numbers of the darker first winter Scandinavian birds that busied themselves feeding on the berries in places like along Lester's Embankment and within Chats Paddock.
Blackcap
Previous Octobers have never been that heavily birded at The Scrubs with concerted efforts only being a recent phenomenon. As a consequence many of our departing migrants slip away unseen. This year (as with the previous 5) we put in the hours and noted the ebbing numbers of Blackcaps. Up to 4 birds were seen on the 4th.
Chiffchaff
At least 3 birds were found on the 4th with a further couple on the 13th. At least one bird was heard calling from Chats Paddock on the 30th.
Cetti's Warbler
As if October wasn't fabulous enough, this recent waterside-loving colonist from Europe was briefly heard calling twice on the 30th, from either the western end of Chats Paddock or the eastern edge of Lester's Embankment. They have a very distinctively loud call.
Although this strange warbler is well known in certain parts of London, especially in the Lea Valley, there was an influx of Cetti's Warblers in London over the previous few days with 5 at the Wetland Centre the same day as our bird.
Grasshopper Warbler
Our 2nd record ever ‘gropper’ was discovered on the 4th by Scrubs stalwart Roy Nuttall in the southeastern section of the grassland — the exact same spot that our first bird was discovered back on September 14th, 2006. This particular bird was practically flushed from underfoot, flying off weakly before dropping back into the grassland and disappearing. It was relocated in the afternoon by a reputable visiting birder and flushed 3 times.
This highly secretive bird probably passes through The Scrubs far more frequently than the scant records suggest. They are notoriously hard to flush and can seemingly hide behind a single blade of grass. The odds are stacked against us!
Great Tit
The exodus of tits had already started with birds presumably deserting our meagre woodlands to melt into the sanctity of the surrounding gardens that are replete with lovely bird feeders.
Blue Tit
Small numbers were encountered during October with at least 7 birds counted along Lester's Embankment on the 7th.
Long-tailed Tit
A couple flocks were roaming around the site and so were sometimes absent when we were around. The occasional flocks that were caught up with usually numbered around 10 birds.
Magpie
This ever-present corvid is a regularly overlooked Scrubs resident that is rarely counted with conviction. However, at least 20 were counted in the western end on the 25th.
Jay
As per September, the odd bird was seen and often heard screeching during the month. On the 16th 5 birds were seen.
Jackdaw
Birds were seen on a near daily basis. One of our largest flocks on record was counted on the 9th with 31 birds at large. They were originally discovered the day before when 27 had invaded Central Copse. These birds disappeared to be replaced by daily appearances of up to 6 birds until the 28th when 41 were counted — quite possibly our largest count ever. The following day 15 remained. These birds were probably dispersing juveniles.
Carrion Crow
There has been a discernable decrease in the number of crows on site. The average count was just over 100 birds.
Starling
Parties of around 100 were seen on some days whilst over 500 headed west in several flocks on the 28th. No doubt these birds were continental immigrants.
House Sparrow
At least 20 left the roost opposite Braybrook Street on the 7th whilst 58 left the roost on the 28th.
Chaffinch
A consistent stream headed over during the month with a few also seen in the trees. Over 20 were seen heading over on the 25th and 29th whilst the peak count was 25 on the 30th.
Linnet
Quite a large flock of 20 frequented the grassland on the 9th. Normally, come the autumn our breeding birds are all but a memory.
Redpoll
Our first record for the year happened on the 9th when at least one calling bird was detected heading east. On the 28th over 20 headed west.
Siskin
A single bird was heard going over west with some Goldfinches on the 30th.
Goldfinch
A small flock of around 20 birds was still frequenting the grassland during October.
Greenfinch
Our biggest count this month was 18 birds on the 22nd.
Reed Bunting
A winter male was discovered in the grassland on the 8th. Another flew out of the grassland calling on the 18th and at least one bird was heard calling from the same habitat on the 28th, whilst a female was discovered sitting in a shrub with several Meadow Pipits on the 29th. Finally, a male was seen in the grassland on the 30th. It looks like our wintering birds have arrived.
2009 Year List
Cormorant, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Mute Swan, Greylag, Canada Goose, Egyptian Goose, Mallard, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Common Buzzard, Goshawk, Sparrowhawk, Peregrine, Hobby, Kestrel, Red-legged Partridge, Lapwing, Snipe, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-back, Great Black-back, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Stock Dove, Collared Dove, Cuckoo, Short-eared Owl, Swift, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Kingfisher, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Skylark, Swallow, Sand Martin, House Martin, Rock Pipit, Meadow Pipit, Tree Pipit, Richard's Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Common Redstart, Northern Wheatear, Whinchat, Stonechat, Black Redstart, Song Thrush, Redwing, Fieldfare, Mistle Thrush, Ring Ouzel, Blackbird, Grasshopper Warbler, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Cetti's Warbler, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Dartford Warbler, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Spotted Flycatcher, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Jay, Magpie, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Linnet, Redpoll, Siskin, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting
90 species thus far (96 species in October 2008 & 84 in October 2007)