Beckton Sewage Works Latest

 

April 18th



I visited on Thursday morning and mostly concentrated on the Outfall and River for activity, still waiting for that much needed Osprey to add to the Life List. They have been seen here in the past by others, but for me, a much-needed addition to the list.

A good morning with a few additions in the shape of a Marsh Harrier, not regular here, also Arctic Tern with a single seen along with 11 Sand Martins, 4 adult Mediterranean Gulls were also good to see.

Elsewhere there are still 17 Redshanks hanging on from the Winter, I would expect these to go very soon to their breeding grounds. 3 Common Sandpipers were also seen along with 7 very noisy Oystercatchers.

The usual culprits on Beckton Sewage Works, the Ravens are still on site, and I am only seeing one of the Common Buzzards, so expect they may well be nesting in the Willows again.
The Kestrels in the nest box on the main building are incubating and a 2nd pair, likely a new pairing are hanging around the 2 tall Chimneys. I will have to get a box up for them if I can, obviously not up on the Chimneys but somewhere more accessible.

Don’t seem to get passage waders here anymore, I would suspect the sheer number of Crows, now working the mudflats, is likely a put off.

Still no Wheatears!

 

 

New Kestrel Box

 

On Wednesday myself and my compadre in arms Lee, placed a Kestrel Box at a new site, following on from a previous visit having seen Kestrels in the area.

These days I can’t do it all myself like in the past, however I am lucky enough to have some really good mates around me, who help me no end and put up with my demands and nagging extremely well.

All went smoothly, apart from me trying to undo the rope, my sidekick performed admirably despite his office boy status and the box looks great, the rest as they say is up to the Kes’s.

It more than likely its too late for this year, but you never know, I would expect Stock Doves to show an interest as they do, hopefully it will peak the Kestrels interest also.

                                                                   Ready to go up

                                                                        Substrate

                                                    Heavy duty straps - no damage to trees

                                                             How can they resist it?

A massive thanks to Lee.

Parliament - the week

 

As some of you may be aware, over last week, I have been covering and monitoring Drone flights at Parliament which are being undertaken, on a NaturalEngland disturbance licence due to the presence of the breeding Peregrines.

The Drone is photographing all the structures and masonry, my role involves monitoring the Peregrines in liaison with the Drone pilot, to gauge/avoid reaction and conflict. I am pleased to say that they have behaved themselves, the flights are well away though, from Victoria Tower where she is incubating.

As you do, sitting/standing up there on the roof for 7+ odd hours, I recorded what went over, what was present at Parliament, or what was seen/heard in Victoria Gardens Park, I was above sitting close to this.

On 2 specific days, April 8th and April 11th I recorded 22 and 23 species respectively, not to bad a figure with a couple of highlights, one in particular.



April 8th – 22 species

The immature Peregrine was still present, but I also recorded 2 Common Buzzards, female Sparrowhawk, Stock Dove, Pied Wagtail and the highlight, a Great Spotted Woodpecker. Only saw this as the Tiercel tried to take it, luckily it made it to the sanctuary of the Abbey trees.

Can’t recall the last time I saw one in Victoria Gardens Park but would presume they are present in nearby St. James Park.



April 11th – 23 species

Much the same in terms of species, a single Common Buzzard, however a Blackcap was briefly heard singing in the Park early a.m. A female Sparrowhawk was again seen ,would presume the same one, likely from St. James Park, however bird of the week arrived at 10.59a.m. I know this exactly as I had a great big clock in my face.

I heard a Gull going off distantly alarm calling, and on locating it above the London Eye, it was mobbing a large bird of prey, bins up confirmed a very stunning Osprey! A hard bird to get over Central London, the only downside, was that I didn’t have my camera with me to get a few distant record shots.

Got the news out and then watched it thermaling towards the BT Tower, putting up every large Gull, it was eventually lost to view heading northeast, well chuffed to say the least. No doubt not such a rarity nowadays thankfully, but still gives me a buzz seeing a bird like this going over the Capital.

If I recall my first Central London Osprey, after another was seen in East London many years ago sitting at West Ham Station.

Nest Box pressures

On one of my sites I am covering, the urge to breed and find a nest site, shows the lengths and efforts, many species will go to reproduce and nail a nest site.

Most of it concerns a couple of Barnie boxes ,the pressure on these, even occupied, is nonstop, even from a relatively ‘ lightweight’ species like Stock Dove.

Up to 4 of these smart looking Doves are trying relentlessly to gain access to a Box, on watching the activity taking place, it was quite obvious that a Barn Owl was inside. Individual birds continually tried to get into the hole and every time, they failed and retreated/flushed as the Owl inside no doubt showed aggression.

I watched this over a 2-hour period, it was constant, such is the powerful urge to reproduce and breed.

On another box, an unusual scenario is that a pair of Kestrels seem to have claimed a Barnie box, the female in particular quite attached to it. At first I thought she was just using it to hunt and launch from on prey below, but after being joined by her mate, it seems they have designs on the box.

Again, watching over a good few hours, she didn’t try to enter it, possibly due to a roosting Barnie inside, then again, I thought perhaps she is waiting for the Owl to exit to mug it. However I have only ever seen Kestrels mug Barnies when they have prey.

                                                 Male returning with mouse for female on box

Previous to this on different days, I had often seen her on the box assuming she was hunting from it, however on watching the male take a mouse the other day, he flew straight to the box and gave it to the female.

Interesting development, more to come.

Parliament Latest

 

March 23rd




I popped into Parliament last Saturday, arriving at 5.20a.m just as the dawn was starting to show.
It turned into a bright but very cold morning; however, it was good to finally see some sunshine.

Lots going on with the Peregrines, good to confirm we have an egg or 2, she's not on full incubation yet, this usually begins at 3 eggs, indeed copulation is still continuing, so obviously one or more to come.

Unfortunately, the new Riverside Tower nest site has again been ignored, she is in the old faithful nest balcony on Victoria Tower. The tie to this core structure is incredibly strong and it will take a massive carrot to move her. The height of the Riverside Tower nest site could be an issue being lower, it’s a possibility that they may not even look at it, until they can no longer use Victoria Tower.

What is unusual, is that last year's juvenile, now an immature is still present and being tolerated, it could be that he will assist with breeding, hopefully if all goes well, he will be a help and not a hindrance.
Long staying juveniles can be a problem, in that they often steal prey meant for the Falcon from the adult male, or even the chicks, I have had it happen at other sites like Battersea Power Station.

We will see what transpires, shortly after dawn, the immature landed on the balcony wall and was staring down, screaming to be fed, she was obviously down there incubating but appeared as soon as he flew off.
The whole point of this was to try and get her to feed him, even at this stage, he will still try it on to nab/steal an easy meal.
During the next couple of hours, he intercepted another intruding female Peregrine high up and saw her off out of territory, so hopefully he will help and benefit them if he stays.

                                                                           Falcon

                                           Falcon - swollen vent shows another egg on the way

                                                       Falcon arriving - Tiercel in with prey

                                                                        Immature

                                                   Immature seeing off intruding Falcon

                                                                           Adults

                                                                         Tiercel

Eventually the adult Tiercel came in with prey, she was sitting nearby, he had obviously fed, what remained of the prey was definitely a Woodcock. A nocturnal migrant, especially on clear nights, unfortunately for it, Peregrines in Cities now hunt at night also.

The Falcon then fed while he dropped down to incubate, the juvenile was nowhere to be seen so she fed on the remains before flying to Central Spire.
The Tiercel appeared later, and they copulated on Central Spire, the Falcon then flew back and rested up near the balcony no doubt guarding it.

So, fingers crossed all will go well with breeding ,no reason why not, they are in a good position on the Balcony, they now have a good egg base/substrate and are safe from extreme weather.

Battersea Power Station - March

 

I visited last Saturday morning 16th after checking Sunday's forecast which was very poor, Saturday proved better, not the bright sunshine forecast but a good morning, nonetheless.

Peregrines - no eggs as of yet, this is if they are coming given her age, she spends a lot of time in the nest box however, resting and creating/renewing the egg scrape and going through the normal process and routine.

Given that the new nest position in the Northeast Wash Tower has been such an outstanding success from everyone's hard work, it's such a pity, that she may not be able to grace it with eggs/chicks due to her age.

Both on show on Saturday, the Falcon in and out of the nest box, duffing up a Crow over the Thames also, but mostly just resting up in various positions/locations.
The Tiercel however was more active, I am fairly sure he hit a pigeon and failed to hold it, it was on the Roof Gardens of the Flats on Switch House East. He repeatedly circled this position for around 3 or 4 minutes, obviously not comfortable coming down to grab it.

I have seen them do this a number of times, failing to grab the prey on impact and it drops, this looked exactly the same, they are loath to give it up as you would expect.

                                                  Nest Box totally accepted - will she lay?

                                                                              Falcon

                                                                        Tiercel

In regard to the Roof Gardens, we have a Magpie building a nest aloft in one of the Birches, not good news for all the small birds on the Estate, they will take a lot of eggs/chicks unfortunately. It is nature however and you have to go with it, the Magpies themselves, could also be targeted by the Peregrines, especially young freshly fledged Magpies.

The Feeders continue to attract large numbers of Goldfinch, especially feeding on the Sunflower Hearts.
Numbers continue to soar with 25+ seen at the Power Station, they are still sorting themselves into pairs, and it could be that we will again have double figure nests as per last year.

In terms of breeding, the Wagtails are paired and already nest building, the Power Station Estate has always been a regular established breeding site over my 24 years, for both Pied and Grey Wagtails.
It looks like we have 2-3 pairs of Grey Wagtails and 2 pairs of Pied, paired up, all are nest building already.

                                                                     Goldfinches

                                                      Grey Wagtails - already building

                                                                 Magpie building

The Black Redstart was again seen briefly in his favourite Garden, notoriously hard to get into a nest box, I have targeted them with several discreetly placed open fronted nest boxes, dotted around the rooftop gardens, well hidden in structures.

2 of the Aurora gardens nest boxes are in use, (Great and Blue Tit) but I didn't see the Blackbirds which bred last year in the gardens, hopefully I am just missing them.

Amusing sight of the morning, will definately go to 2 Pied Wagtails living up to their raptor harassing reputation, mobbing the Tiercel whilst he tried to recover his prey!