The Urban Birder

Cecil Fowler

2012-02-09T16:55:00.000-08:00

Cecil the Eagle Owl giving us the eye

Cecil looking for lunch

Cecil reading up on survey work!

Last spring whilst co-leading a bird walk at Arne RSPB Reserve in Dorset, I had the pleasure of meeting Cecil Fowler, the then fluffy and adorable captive Eagle Owl. I was impressed by his weight as he sat on my gloved arm. We had a special bond and at one time we were both independently looking up watching flocks gulls passing over. He was being primed as an Eagle Owl ambassador to be taken around schools for kids to marvel at his size and whoop when he would spread that impressive wingspan.

The more alert amongst you would have noticed that I used the phrasing 'the then fluffy and adorable captive Eagle Owl'. The news that I heard recently was quite disturbing. He is now an adult and has reverted to being a wild animal who probably wouldn't think twice about taking your eye out and/or sinking those massive talons into a fleshy human appendage!

Obviously, his school days are over and now he is a stud in a breeding program. You can take an owl out of the wild but you can't take the wild out of the owl.

Redwings, Fieldfares and Brass Monkeys!

2012-02-08T16:00:00.000-08:00

Fieldfare (Anthony McGeehan)

It is totally brass monkeys out there!

I have just come back from giving a talk to the Luton and South Bedfordshire RSPB Group and I must thank God for arranging for a fast, warm train to be waiting on the platform to shift my quarters back to London in double quick time. The cold weather is obviously having an affect of the birds as I have been noticing the roving Fieldfares and Redwings in particular. I feel bad that I haven't been able to watch any recently but I'm planning to rectify that tomorrow morning when I arise from my warm pit to brave the elements and journey to Wormwood Scrubs.

Fortune favours the brave they say. Let us see.

Plenty of Bullfinches but where are the Crested Tits & Black Woodpeckers?

2012-02-07T15:07:00.000-08:00

Male Bullfinch (Russell F Spencer)

Bullfinches seem to be the flavour of the month right now. Everywhere I turn I see Bullfinches apart from in real life.

Okay, I haven't been out as much as I should have been recently but ever since I wrote a piece in RSPB 'Birds Magazine' on these delectable birds I have had loads of people sending me emails and tweets telling me about the Bullfinches in their gardens. There seems to be an awful lot of them out there - Bullfinches that is and it's heartening.

Now, on a slightly different subject, can somebody please tell me why there are no Crested Tits anywhere in the UK aside from their outpost in Scotland and why Black Woodpeckers haven't been officially found in the UK?

A stroll along the Folkstone seafront

2012-01-29T14:20:00.001-08:00

A winter plumaged Mediterranean Gull - (Sacha Barbato)

Over the weekend, I decided to spend time cogitating in Folkestone, Kent. I've recently decided that it is important to have time away from the daily pressures in order to figure out ideas and generally replenish the creative reservior. The coming week will be a busy one for me as I will be giving four feature length talks including two RSPB groups in Twickenham and Woodbridge in Suffolk, plus I'll be speaking at the Destinations Travel Show in Earls Court and at Slimbridge WWT next Sunday at their Festival of Birds weekend.

I was nice to stroll along the seafront at Sandgate, on the eastern end of Folkstone watching the gulls stream past. They were mostly Herring Gulls, but I counted a fair number of Black-heads plus at least 30 Mediterranean Gulls. Those white-winged wonders have been a particular favourite of mine for years. I just love their graceful look and those glorious white wings.

Indeed, I saw my first ever Med Gull a few miles down the coast at The Patch at Dungeness back in the early '80s'. I remember fretting about whether I would be able to recognise one when I saw it and if I would struggle from deciphering it from the far more common Black-headed Gulls. I need not have worried because when I eventually saw one it seemed so obvious. I must say that I rarely have trouble spotting adult birds these days. I've just lock into them now.

Anyway, mulling ideas are over with now. Time to start the week.

Family Guy

2012-01-23T15:05:00.000-08:00

European Goldfinch (Russell F Spencer)

This month has raced by as far as I can see. However, most of my time has been spent behind a computer screen, perhaps peering over the top of the laptop screen to squint at a some Family Guy every now and again.

Today, I put the finishing touches to a tour of Serbia in April that I will be leading. More details regarding that.

Right, back to Family Guy!

Kate Humble & Tub

2012-01-16T13:51:00.000-08:00

The lovely Kate with TUB

Spent a lovely afternoon hanging out with Kate Humble on the Alan Titchmarsh Show on ITV1. We were there to launch the RSPB's Big Schools Birdwatch and I was specifically there to chat about the equipment that budding birders could use.

I'm quite interested in eyeing up that super expensive Sony recording binoculars.

Campaign trail

2012-01-13T15:25:00.000-08:00

East London and beyond (Geoff Nutter)

This morning I spoke at The Outdoor Show at London Excel in the Docklands. Incidently, the 'Excel' bit actually means exhibition centre London - a fact that I never knew. The Outdoor Show was basically a room filled with outdoorsy-type exhibitors stands that were swarming with interested members of the public.

I spoke on stage for nearly an hour about urban birding, following hot on the heals of the venerable Dominic Couzens who spoke about bird behaviour. He delivered a very interesting talk from which I learnt a lot. My only complaint was that the organisors never once came around to say hello. Most unprofessional.

Got two very interesting emails today. Firstly, I have been asked to write a 500 word essay about why society needs to treasure open spaces by 20/20Vision - a nature photography project aiming to communicate the link between habitat restoration and our well being. I am one of five respected commentators being asked to contribute to a book coming out later this year. I'm particularly honoured because I will be in the company of the likes of Simon Barnes. You can find out more about their work at www.2020v.org.

I was also asked to join in a debate regarding the proposed Thames Estuary Airport in the Thames Estuary, to be held next week in central London. With several politians, conservationists, high calibre business people plus members of the local community, it promises to be an interesting meeting.

Long-tailed green flying rats?

2012-01-12T16:02:00.000-08:00

Rose-ringed Parakeet (Yvette Spencer)

I think that it's a well known fact that I am not a great fan of our ever-increasing populations of Rose-ringed Parakeets.

I won't bore you with my reasons now, but tonight I received a tweet from a guy in Cardiff who proudly announced the arrival of the city's first bird.

You wait mate!

What I've been missing

2012-01-09T14:49:00.001-08:00

Slaty-legged Crake (photo c/o Phil Round)

Slaty-legged Crake (photo c/0 Phil Round)

Whilst languishing in The Scrubs (my patch and not the prison) sifting through flocks of Black-headed and Common Gulls in the vain hope of finding a wind swept Kittiwake, I received an email from Thailand based birder, Phil Round.

Phil, for those who don't know is a renowned birder, Thailand's top lister and the rediscoverer of enigmatic Gurney's Pitta. Apparently, a Slaty-legged Crake was found residing in a flowerbed Chulalongkorn University in downtown Bangkok. It was particularly exciting for Phil because it was only his second ever Slaty-leg in Thailand!

All hail Urban Birding!

Back home

2012-01-02T12:10:00.000-08:00

For those who are interested, below I have listed the species that I saw on my supposed non-birdy holiday to Thailand!

The birds in brackets were only heard and not seen.

Dabchick

Little Cormorant

Striated (Little) Heron

Chinese Pond Heron/Javan Pond Heron

Eastern Cattle Egret

Great Egret

Intermediate Egret

Little Egret

Eastern (Pacific) Reef Egret

Grey Heron

Purple Heron

Cotton Pygmy Goose

Osprey

Black-eared Kite

Black-shouldered Kite

Brahminy Kite

Greater Spotted Eagle

Pied Harrier

Eastern Marsh Harrier

Common Kestrel

Peregrine

Black-headed Ibis

Black-faced Spoonbill

Asian Openbill

White-breasted Waterhen

Common Moorhen

Pheasant-tailed Jacana

Bronze-winged Jacana

Black-winged Stilt

Avocet

Red-wattled Lapwing

Lesser Sand Plover

Greater Sand Plover

Grey Plover

Pacific Golden Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Kentish Plover

Malaysian Plover

Black-tailed Godwit

Bar-tailed Godwit

Eurasian Curlew

Ruff

Sanderling

Great Knot

Red-necked Stint

Temminck’s Stint

Long-toed Stint

Curlew Sandpiper

Spoon-billed Sandpiper

Broad-billed Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Terek Sandpiper

Spotted Redshank

Marsh Sandpiper

Greenshank

Wood Sandpiper

Common Snipe

Red-necked Phalarope

Little Tern

Common Tern

Gull-billed Tern

Caspian Tern

Greater Crested Tern

Whiskered Tern

Black-headed Gull

Brown-headed Gull

Heuglin’s Gull

Feral Pigeon

Red-collared Dove

Spotted Dove

Zebra Dove

Pink-necked Green Pigeon

Plaintive Cuckoo

Asian Emerald Cuckoo

Asian Koel

Greater Coucal

((Spotted Little Owl))

Himalayan Swiftlet

Germain’s Swiftlet

Asian Palm Swift

House (Little) Swift

White-throated Kingfisher

Black-capped Kingfisher

Common Kingfisher

Collared Kingfisher

Indian Roller

Little Green Bee-eater

Blue-tailed Bee-eater

Hoopoe

Oriental Pied Hornbill

Coppersmith Barbet

Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker

((Golden-bellied Gerygone))

Black-winged Cuckoo-shrike

Ashy Minivet

Sand Martin

Dusky Crag Martin

Barn Swallow

Richard’s Pipit

Paddyfield Pipit

(Eastern) Yellow Wagtail

White Wagtail

Black-naped Oriole

Ashy Woodswallow

Pied Fantail

Black Drongo

Ashy Drongo

Greater Racket-tailed Drongo

Large-billed Crow

Asian Pied Starling

Black-collared Starling

Common Myna

White-vented Myna

Stonechat

Common Iora

Yellow-browed Warbler

Dusky Warbler

Zitting Cisticola

Common Tailorbird

Plain Prinia

Oriental Magpie Robin

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Taiga Flycatcher

Chinese Blue Flycatcher

Asian Paradise Flycatcher

Brown Shrike

Olive-backed Sunbird

Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker

Black-headed Bulbul

Yellow-vented Bulbul

Streak-eared Bulbul

Scaly-breasted Munia

House Sparrow

Plain-backed Sparrow

Tree Sparrow

Baya Weaver

Have a great 2012 all!

2011-12-31T17:10:00.001-08:00

Black-eared Kite (Neil Kumar)

I would like to thank everyone who tuned in to my blog during 2011 and I hope that you will continue to do so during 2012.

I also wish you all a very safe, prosperous and bird-filled 2012.

Remember: keep looking up and always expect to see everything and nothing - that way you will never be disappointed.

Great....a Black-headed Gull

2011-12-26T07:25:00.000-08:00

A sample of the 3,000 or so Brown-headed Gulls

TUB looking for the elusive Pallas' Gull

There's a Pallas' out there somewhere

This afternoon, I journeyed to Bang Poo, just outside Bangkok to try and locate a Pallas' Gull or two. This species used to be referred to as Great Black-headed Gull back in the day when I was a pup. Indeed, I've always wanted to see a GBH gull ever since I was a kid, although my dream has always been to find one in the UK. To put its rarity into prospective, the only accepted British record to date stems back to 1859 when a bird was found at Dawlish Warren, Devon I believe.

I came to Bang Poo on the recommendation of Thailand's biggest lister and Regional Rep of the Wetland Trust, Phil Round. Bang Poo, in the Samut Prakan province, is a favoured spot for Thai daytrippers who visit the pier to feed the multitude of gulls that accumulate there. On my arrival I was confronted by sight of nearly 3,000 Brown-headed Gulls variously loafing on the water close to the pier or squabbling over scraps thrown at them by the giggling sightseers. Meticulously sifting through them I found around six Black-headed Gulls which are locally scarce. The Brown-heads were slightly bigger with a more solid build, broader wings and more ponderous flight. I spent three hours examining every gull both near and far. No GBH. Plenty of winter plumaged Common and Whiskered Terns, Great Egrets, Pond Herons (either Javan or Chinese), Little Cormorants, Barn Swallows, a few passing Brahminy Kites and a solitary Osprey. But no GBH.

How many Black-headed Gulls make a Great Black-headed Gull?

Christmas Day in Bangkok

2011-12-25T09:28:00.000-08:00

Red Collared Dove

This is my first 'hot' Christmas, as the ex-pats like to call it and I must say that it's rather strange not to be on native soil tucking into some mince pies in front of the telly. Instead, I indulged in a near all day feeding frenzy broken only by a two hour massage and bouts of serious siesta-ing.

I poked my head out of the door only once to watch a wintering Yellow-browed Warbler work its way around a neighbouring tree and to try and picture the above featured dove using my bins as a long lens.

Tomorrow, my birding hat will come back on again as I will be visiting a spot called Bang Poo.

More to come from your Asia correspondent.

A Fantastic Christmas wished to all!!

2011-12-24T08:51:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from Thailand!

Brown Shrike (Dave Gandy)

Black-faced Spoonbill

Dave Gandy & TUB staking out a vagrant Chinese Blue Flycatcher in Bangkok (P. Hayhurst)

Malaysian Plover

Butterfly sp

Sunrise at Hua Hin

'Heuglin's' Gull

Pheasant-tailed Jacana

Bangkok!

2011-12-18T07:54:00.001-08:00

A sluggish monitor!

A closer shot

After months of waiting I've finally began the first day of my holiday in Thailand. The plan is not to go mental with the birding and to try and get some rest.

Fat chance of that!

So far I have had a few ticks including Chinese Pond Heron and Peaceful Dove plus a lovely view of the same Kingfisher species that I see back in England. Tomorrow morning, I'll be doing a spot of urban birding in Bangkok before heading south to the beach and near the spot were the last of the Spoon-billed Sandpipers hang out.

TUB Christmas present ideas No.2

2011-12-14T15:47:00.001-08:00

It's got to be - hasn't it?

I think that this a superb book that would look good on any coffee table. For me it's more of a art book than a field guide and it may take some getting used to, but it's an absolute beauty!

Perfect Crimbo present for the art minded birder.

TUB Christmas present ideas No.1

2011-12-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

You might think that this book is an odd choice as one of my plugs for Christmas, but hear me out.

Firstly, it's written by Clare Evans, a south coast based birder who happens to be a very lovely person. However, the best reason to buy this book is the fact that it really is a useful tool. I'm the worst when it comes to managing my time and I'm steadily swamped by the day. I've dipped into this book and have taken on some of the hints that she has suggested when it comes to prioritising emails, the work/pleasure mix and timetabling.

All good stuff, I can assure you. This book would make a great stocking filler for any you busy bees out there.

Tune in tomorrow for another prezzie idea!

Woodies

2011-12-09T15:44:00.001-08:00

Wood Pigeon (Russell F Spencer)

Hello again!

All I want to talk about right now are Wood Pigeons - and for two main reasons. Firstly, I got myself into the Guinness World Records Book the other day by getting 226 people to immitate the song of this delightful pigeon using swannee whistles.

Secondly, on a rare visit to The Scrubs this morning, I saw around 700 heading over high from the northeast. They twinkled in the blue skies. A gorgeous sight.

Look at your neighbourhood Wood Pigeon in a different light.

A mad week

2011-11-29T15:40:00.000-08:00

A Robin - fresh out of the freezer!

Since my last post when I visited a very foggy Gibralter Point I have delivered talks to the Friends of Wormholt Park in west London and RSPB members in Aylesbury and Guildford plus took part in the North West Birdfair at Martin Mere Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust in Lancashire.

Finally, I did some filming with a kid who breeds quail in his back garden in east London and with Polly Morgan, the supremely talented artist who uses taxidermy in her visually stunning work. She uses a lot of birds and when I was in her studio she prepared a Robin for stuffing right before my very eyes. She had me plucking out one of its eyes and scooping out its brain with a pair of tweezers!

Barf!!

Foggy Gibraltar Point

2011-11-21T15:48:00.000-08:00

After being so excited about going to Gibraltar Point in Lincolnshire last weekend for the first time, I was met with a wall of fog - all day. So despite being out all Sunday morning I didn't really see anything of Gib Point at all - I could have been anywhere!

I did see a shadowy Spoonbill flying over in the fog, Goldcrests, Reed Buntings and many invisible calling Pink-footed Geese. At much closer quarters were the below depicted Woodcock and deceased Badger.

A controlled Woodcock

Wingspan

Headshot

Dead shot

North East Adventure

2011-11-18T15:02:00.000-08:00

Checking out a Bittern from the Hide at Gosforth Park, outside Newcastle (Alan Tilmouth)

Alan Tilmouth & TUB

It has been a long and busy week with various ongoing projects taking up a lot of my time - hence the lack of blogging activity.

Last weekend, I had the distinct pleasure of being shown around parts of Northumberland and Tyneside in the company of keen birder and bloody good ornithologist Alan Tilmouth. I spent a misty morning being shown some great sites plus seeing some great birds such as a vagrant Greater Yellowlegs and Lesser Scaup plus a Grey Phalarope, Eiders, Willow Tits and a Bittern. The latter species was seen briefly at perhaps the most fascinating site I visited, Gosforth Park Nature Reserve, on the outskirts of Newcastle. Unfortunately, this interesting urban reserve is in trouble as the surrounding area and its corridors are under extreme threat of development. There is an active campaign going on to try to save the area. Check out local campaigner, Alan Hewitt's blog and help save this special site http://www.savegosforthwildlife.com/http:/www.savegosforthwildlife.com/2011/11/18/the-urban-birder-david-lindo-backs-save-gosforth-wildife/

Finally, I ended up at the fabulous Washington WWT in the afternoon where I delivered a talk and signed a few books. My day was capped by the spectacle of several hundred Curlews flying in to roost just outside the hide that I was sitting in. They looked and sounded amazing in the evening gloom. I have never seen so many Curlews inland before in my life. Just as I thought that I had seen it all a Barn Owl flew right by the window of the hide to land by the side of the building. It had pounced on an unfortunate rodent and had its wings spread out across the grass. A magnificent sight. A brilliant end to a fantastic day!

Kikinda good!

2011-11-08T04:31:00.001-08:00

Some more images from the International Long-eared Owl Conference in Kikinda, Serbia.

A controlled LEO

Checking out the biometrics

Release

Some of the owl inhabited trees in Kikinda

A tiny fraction of the roost

Delegates on their tea break

The Bullfinches are back!

2011-11-06T14:24:00.000-08:00

A male Bullfinch (Russell F Spencer)

I'm very happy at the moment because a small party of Bullfinches (a male and two females) have taken up home within Chats Paddock in Wormwood Scrubs. Two pairs of Bullfinches used to breed on my patch including a family that nested within a scrubby enclosure called Chats Paddock. All was beautiful until disturbance during the 2006 breeding season caused the Paddock pair to desert. The remaining pair did the same the following year, thus by 2008 they were extinct as breeders.

Gone also were the parties of birds that used to visit my beloved patch during the winter. Overnight they went from being a regular sight to being recorded perhaps once a year for a few moments. Indeed, I heard one call once from deep cover last winter and that bird turned out to be the only one recorded that year.

So I hope that the birds that have taken up residence for the past week stay. Perhaps they may stop and breed. I'll report back.

My Kikinda Town!

2011-11-04T01:24:00.001-07:00

With the International Conference on the Survey, Monitoring and Conservation of the Long-eared Owl (to give it the official title) over I had time to reflect on the phenomenon that is the amazing parliament of Long-eared Owls that gather in Kikinda, northern Serbia.

In the town square there were already nearly 200 birds gathered - and winter hasn't really even kicked in yet. They can expect to see at least three times that number by January!

Kikinda can truly claim the title of Long-eared Owl Capital of the World!

Two birds as seen through my bins (binscoping)

Strange fruit

Spot the LEO

I can see you!

Serbia bound

2011-11-02T15:36:00.001-07:00

The view from a reclined passenger seat - cold Serbian fog!

Jeez! Was I lucky today.

I got to Heathrow airport 10 minutes after the check-in desk had supposidly shut. Expecting to be told that I had missed my flight to Belgrade to attend the International Long-eared Owl Conference, I was surprised to learn that the flight had been delayed by an hour and that I had plenty of time to chill. Result!

Arrived in chilly Belgrade at 6pm their time and I was driven to Kikinda (the small town with the immense Long-eared Owl population plus the site of the conference for which I am keynote speaker) via Novi Sad. It turned out to be a four hour slog.

I have to stay up and write my speech tonight but I am also excited by the prospect of seeing loads of roosting LEO's tomorrow too!

Ghosts of Gone Birds - The Launch

2011-11-01T15:51:00.000-07:00

Artwork by Ralph Steadman

Went to the launch tonight of the Ghost of Birds Gone exhibition at the Rochelle School of Art in Shoreditch and what an amazing night it was!

Met loads of people that I knew (and didn't know) and saw some fantastic art. The whole concept of Ghost of Gone Birds is to raise an army of creatives to get the world to understand that we desperately need to conserve our birds and other wildlife.

If you get the time come and take a look at the art.

A first for Portland Bill

2011-10-31T16:41:00.000-07:00

Trying to hide behind a 2nd winter Great Black-back (John Martin)

Standing out in the flock - a first winter Caspian Gull

Profile shot (John Martin)

A controlled Eurasian Sparrowhawk

Last weekend was billed as a weekend off - free from TUB commitments. I imagined sleeping in till late morning and digesting the morning's papers in the Observatory common room over a cup of peppermint tea free from the pangs of birding. Who was I kidding?

I arrived on Friday after dark and after a restful night in my bunk bed in the lighthouse, I arose pre-dawn to join the gang of birders that had already gathered by the french doors that overlooked the Observatory garden and ultimately the sea. It was a grey and breezy day. Nothing had been caught in the nets (although later in the afternoon the assistant warden pulled a male Lesser Redpoll from the nets). Overhead small numbers of Bramblings, Chaffinches, Goldfinches and Pied Wagtails swept over. A couple of the guys recorded late Swallows. That was it for Saturday.

On Sunday, I got downstairs after dawn due to mixing up the correct time - I hate it when the clocks go back! The weather seemed even more grim than the day before. Despite that got great close views of a female Sparrowhawk in the hand. Magnificent. It was 9am and I had decided to take a stroll to the Bill some 15 minutes walk away. I was accompanied by Bristol birder, John Martin. To cut a long story short, we discovered around 12 gulls loafing on the common near the Bill and John first noticed the Caspian Gull. It was very distinctive with a very white head, long forehead and bill that seemed almost straight. It was my first on British soil seeing as I have seen a few in Serbia and Hungary. To be honest, identifying Caspian Gulls is not my forte and I was grateful to John pointing out the other more technical identification features. I called the Observatory and within five minutes it had empted with everybody getting a great chance to look at the bird before it was flushed by a boxer being walked by its owner. More pictures of this special bird are available from the Portland Bill website. site http://www.portlandbirdobs.org.uk/aa_latestnews.htm

Other hilights from my downtime weekend included my second ever Red-breasted Goose at nearby Ferrybridge, a female Merlin on both days, a late Turtle Dove, maybe 100 Mediterranean Gulls all told, a flyby Arctic Skua and 8 Kittiwakes.

All hail Portland Bill!

Back to Bristol

2011-10-25T16:18:00.000-07:00

TUB beginning to fire up

After an industrious day writing my latest piece for Bird Watching Magazine I journeyed down to Bristol to deliver a talk at the invitation of the Avon Wildlife Trust.

I was a good and well attended night and I sold a few books to boot!

Lowestoft birding

2011-10-24T15:22:00.000-07:00

Lowestoft birders Andrew Easton & Steve Jones

After bugger all sleep on Saturday night I made the journey at 4.30am under the cover of darkness to meet with Lowestoft birders Andrew Easton, Steve Jones and their mate Rob who had to nip off and lead a local bird tour for most of the day. I got to the appointed meeting point in Lowestoft on the Suffolk coast at 7.15am without a satnav and relying on The Force. I was pretty proud of myself.

I will be writing about this trip in a forthcoming Bird Watching Magazine issue but to cut a long story short, I had a great, if quiet, days birding. The highlights included a Firecrest, Brambling, Siberian Chiffchaff, Great Skuas and an obliging Purple Sandpiper.

I can totally recommend urban birding in Lowestoft!

A happy ending - so to speak!

2011-10-21T16:08:00.000-07:00

Sparrowhawk (Tommy Holden)

Whilst half of the UK's birding community is either lusting after or going after the Siberian Rubythroat in Shetland back at base there has been heated debates rumbling on about the identity of the mystery small raptor seen at the beginning of the week by a relatively inexperienced Scrubber.

Many people cast comment and the range of possibilities varied from a Merlin (the bookies favourite) through to Peregrine, Hobby, Red-footed Falcon, Sooty Falcon and even Great Grey Shrike! It took a brave man, namely Scrubber Neville Smith, to stick his neck out and speak out to disagree with many commentators including the venerable Dick Forsman - a Jedi amongst raptor experts!

Neville called our mystery bird nothing more than just a male Eurasian Sparrowhawk. His rationale was quite simple; a Merlin would not sweep up into a willow and plus, on blowing up the flight images you could just about make out dark splayed primaries. Falcons don't have fingers!

It was fun to debate and the lessons learnt were that we all are learning and never discount the most likely bird.

The Scrubs' first Merlin or is it something else?

2011-10-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

Sitting in a tree

Marked out

In flight (All photos by Nick Gibson)

Newbie Scrubber Nick Gibson was strolling around The Scrubs when his path was crossed by a low flying small falcon flying in a rapid fashion towards the grassland. He had the presence of mind to take some shots of the strange raptor. Unfortunately, the pictures were not great so sussing the identity of the mystery falcon is going to be tough.

The small size and general bluey grey back and mantle perhaps suggests a Merlin - a long expected site tick. However, when perched on a bush the general colour seems bluey grey including its head and chest area. Clearly not right for a Merlin. Or is it just a trick of the light?

Anyone want to hazard a guess?

Fog gets in your eyes

2011-10-17T13:49:00.000-07:00

The Scrubs - I'm lost!

Somewhere on the football pitches

A thousand apologies, for those who follow my blog for my recent lack of blogging activity. I have been all over the show promoting my book. Since my last entry I've given talks and signed books at Rohan Kensington (outdoor clothing store), Waterstones in Notting Hill (with my mum as the special guest), the London Wetland Centre, Bexley RSPB Group and the Wildlife Expo at Alexandra Park last Saturday.

And there's a shedload of events yet to come including attending the Photographer of the Year award at the Natural History Museum on Wednesday, the BTO Oscars, the RSPB's Society of Wildlife Artists opening, a talk for the Avon Wildlife Trust, a weekend at Portland Bill Bird Observatory, the launch of Ghosts of Birds Gone and being keynote speaker at an international conference on Long-eared Owls in Serbia. All that activity taking me to the first couple of days of November!

I had a rare moment yesterday morning at The Scrubs. My hopes for observing diurnal migration were dashed by a total peasouper of a fog. At one point I actually got disorientated on the patch that I have stalked for the past 18 years!

Needless to say, I didn't see that much apart from a dark thrush that landed on top of a Poplar a la Fieldfare style before quickly disappearing. I got my bins on it momentarily, but couldn't make out any plumage details due to the thick fog. Ring Ouzel?

The launch of the Cabot Tower Bird Study Group, Bristol

2011-10-06T16:27:00.000-07:00

The view of slumbering Bristol from the Tower

Cabot Tower

Out of the blue

2011-10-01T21:47:00.000-07:00

On Friday I spent four hours basking in the heat of the glorious sun staring into blue cloudless skies from the summit of Tower 42 searching in vain for signs of migrations. There was a southwesterly breeze that at times became surprisingly brisk and was the probable reason for our lack of success in seeing anything flying over. Indeed, apart from a couple local Peregrines we saw absolutely zilch.

The whole episode was filmed by a crew from CBBC's Newsround, who were doing a piece for a future show on urban birding. Well, at least they had stunning views across London!

Tower 42 Bird Study Group members (Darren Crain)

Newsround crew and TUB (Darren Crain)

Vis migging at The Scrubs

2011-09-28T15:32:00.000-07:00

Dawn at The Scrubs

Ahh....Summer has finally arrived. Okay, it's the end of September and a little weird but it sure is nice to feel the heat of the sun. I dragged myself out of bed to be on the patch at 6.30am. My arrival was greeted by a lone and lost looking Redwing that erratically headed west low over the rooftops. I was still getting out of the car when a Hobby at slightly higher altitude lilted across the sky westward before hurtling into a headlong dive after some unseen and no doubt unsuspecting prey item.

The mist was still fairly thick over the grassland by the time I had appeared on my patch proper. The sky and the sunrise was glorious making the raucous unstructured departure flights of hundreds of Rose-ringed Parakeets from their roost look almost romantic in the morning light.

Anyway, I soon settled down to a good hour of visible migration watching in the company of fellow Scrubber, Rob Ayers. Together we noticed several wagtails heading over including a certain Grey Wagtail with the remainder put down as 'alba's' (Pied/White Wagtails). A large female Peregrine was escorted from the premises by four parakeets and a crow, 12 Siskin and 20 Swallows were the main players overhead whilst at least 30 Meadow Pipits cavorted in the grassland with a similiar number of Goldfinches.

Nice. But time was ticking and the parking meter maids were stirring. The time had come to burst back into civilisation and leave my idyll. The good thing though is that it will happen all over again tomorrow morning hopefully with a different cast of birds.

Sunday in Cambridge and WWT Welney, Norfolk

2011-09-26T15:57:00.000-07:00

TUB & BBC Radio Cambridgeshire DJ Mark Rumble

TUB & the girls at WWT Welney

Portland Bill

2011-09-19T15:57:00.000-07:00

Scoping Gannets (Cherry Barlow)

Had a really nice weekend based at the Portland Bill Bird Observatory. I gave a late night talk at the Obs itself to a tired audience that included a knitting ringer, a sleeping child, a Tawny Owl, a cat and a few humans!

On Sunday I traipsed down to the Bill in a blustery and sometimes wet westerly for a spot of seawatching. Managed a couple of Balearic Shearwaters, a female Common Scoter plus the usual Shags, Cormorants and large gulls. On the fields around us was a Northern Wheatear, stacks of White Wagtails, Starlings and masses of hirundines passing by.

Later that afternoon after Sunday lunch, I scoped three Grey Phalaropes floating inshore at Chesil Cove loosely associating with a couple of Black-headed Gulls.

Chisel Cove - Grey Phalaropes are out there - somewhere!

Portland Bill Bird Observatory in the afternoon

The Bill at 6am (Cherry Barlow)

TUB with Beebo the Tawny Owl (Cherry Barlow)

Guilty pleasure

2011-09-16T16:03:00.000-07:00

The iconic Tower 42

I've been feeling extremely guilty recently. Why? Well, it's September and it's the best month to be roaming around Wormwood Scrubs looking for migrants hoping to find that BIG one. That is what I have done for many years until this year. Due to my punishing schedule I have been so knackered in the mornings I haven't been able to raise an eyelid let alone get myself down to my patch. Instead, I have been receiving regular updates from a couple of the Scrubbers telling me of huge numbers of passage Swallows and good numbers of Whinchat with the occasional Wheatear thrown in.

The weather today seemed perfect for durinal migration. A slight easterly, blue skies fluffy clouds and it was warm. Yesterday, I had a garden tick in the shape of a high soaring Common Buzzard. It was part of a small movement that passed over London that afternoon. So 10am saw me on the roof of Tower 42 with a couple other birders scanning the skies in the vain hope of finding some winged wonders. For a change we did see raptors with 3 Common Buzzard heading the list. I was very happy.

I've heard that the Tower is up for sale now. Obviously, I'm worried for the future of the Tower 42 Bird Study Group. Will the eventual new owners be birder friendly?

Anyone got £290m spare?

TUB Tour

2011-09-15T17:08:00.001-07:00

So far my book tour has taking me from the streets of Notting Hill to Manchester, Conwy, Norwich, Boston, Maidstone, Cambridge, Thetford and back to Wormwood Scrubs.

On Saturday, I will be talking at the Portland Bill Bird Observatory, Dorset. I can't wait!

The Idler Academy, Notting Hill

Waterstones, Manchester

Waterstones, Boston

Reed Warbler?

2011-09-12T09:26:00.001-07:00

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

These series of pictures were sent to me by a member of the public who found this unfortunate warbler over the weekend.

My money's on Reed Warbler. What do you think?

Flying Orcas

2011-09-10T16:59:00.000-07:00

House Martin (Russell F Spencer)

The past 48 hours have been very eventful and fun.

For a couple of hours during Friday afternoon, I took 100 local school kids - all under six - for a knackering nature walk around Wormholt Park, Shepherds Bush. Luckily they were in 4 groups of 25. When I asked them what wildlife they had seen today I had answers ranging from a ladybird and a dog to an eagle and a jungle.

On Friday night I gave a talk to the Cambridge Bird Club. I really enjoyed it despite a train journey from London that lasted for eons resulting in me being late for the start of the evening. The only upside to being on the train for so long was that I was able to enjoy 7 Swifts swilling about in the heavy skies above Royston Station, Cambs. They were the first birds I have seen for at least 2 weeks.

The train journey home was equally nightmarishly long. After initially sharing the platform at Cambridge Station with a truckload of drunk and raucous girl students my journey back was even longer than the way out had been. When we pulled into Kings Cross at 1am I experienced the embarrassing situation of being shaken awake by a fellow passenger after falling asleep, mouth agog with my ipod blasting Marvin Gaye into my ears. I was the last person in the carriage!

Today directly after football I did a live radio interview with North Manchester FM chatting about urban birding. I had to forgo my customary post-football breakfast with lads followed by a long siesta and instead lead a bird walk through the streets of Notting Hill. My group consisted of 2 guys who were birders and 5 sexy young women who were all non-birders. We didn't see a great deal but the highlight were a flock of around 10 House Martins, or Flying Orcas as I dubbed them, heading south.

If I can get the girls to flank me the next time I'm in Norfolk I'd be a very happy man!

Road trip

2011-09-08T16:36:00.000-07:00

Looking southeast from Tower 42

It's all go at the moment as I embark on my nationwide tour of bookshops, RSPB Local Groups, Bird Clubs and some weirder places giving talks and signing books. It all continues tomorrow afternoon (Friday) when I take out a succession of school kids around Wormholt Park in Shepherds Bush, west London.

Then in the evening I will be addressing the Cambridge Bird Club and having a book signing after the talk. Someone asked yesterday about diary dates. Well, if you would like to hook up with me then check out http://www.theurbanbirder.com/diary/ for the latest whereabouts of The Urban Birder Roadshow.

Hopefully, I will meet you on one of the dates.

I do love a mystery bird!

2011-09-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

Putative African Rail (Russell F Spencer)

The above photo was taken in May at Ziway Lake in Ethiopia and I'm convinced that it is an African Rail. I saw it from the corner of my eye whilst looking at a host of ticks that were parading in front of me all at the same time. You know how it is when you are in a new region of the world - absolutely everything you look at is totally new.

Any experts on Ethiopian birds out there?

Meanwhile, I have been racing up and down motorways on the first part of UK book tour, having already taken in The Birdfair of course, Waterstones Kings Lynn and the BTO's headquarters in Thetford. I have quite a full programme coming up and I will try and give you an up to date blow by blow rundown of how it's all going over the ensuing weeks and months.

Bye for now.

Life after the Notting Hill Carnival

2011-08-31T14:08:00.000-07:00

Let us prey that the carnival be banned in the future (photo: Sue Rylance)

I am an absolute Carnival hater. Every year, the thought of an August Bank Holiday fills me with dread. The Notting Hill Carnival hits my area. Residents movement is restricted as roads get blocked off and shops board up and put their prices up in readiness for the hordes of people who decend upon the normally relaxed streets of my area.

I actually live on the route of the Carnival floats. Although I have nothing against people partying in the street and having a good time, what I do detest is the amount of litter left behind. More alarmingly, the number of people - which is a very inacurate and perhaps over polite term to describe the animals that used my Mews as a latrine. Someone even took a dump on my doorstep. All the while, the toilet blocks or 'pissoirs' as termed by the Metropolitan Police on their website, were just yards away down the road!

I had a couple of nicer moments at this year's Carnival. The nicest, apart from leaving the area to seek refuge in East London, was hearing and seeing a migrant Yellow Wagtail bound overhead as I neared the relative sanctuary of the local tube station.

Here's to hating the 2012 Carnival!

At bit more Birdfair

2011-08-26T15:50:00.000-07:00

TUB doing a bit of arm signing! (Russell F Spencer)

TUB talk (Russell F Spencer)

Call My Ruff - again (Russell F Spencer)

Rutland 2011

2011-08-23T14:52:00.001-07:00

TUB knocking out those signatures! (Russell F Spencer)

Call My Ruff teams (Russell F Spencer)

Call My Ruff (Russell F Spencer)

Meanwhile, back at The Scrubs

2011-08-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

Spotted Flycatcher (Russell F Spencer)

I have been neglecting my local patch in a major way recently. Everytime the alarm goes off at silly-o-clock I just can't raise my eyelids let alone my head off the pillow. But last Sunday I dragged myself out of bed, albiet at 6.30 a tad late by my standards and hot-footed it to The Scrubs.

When I arrived it was one of those mornings when you could feel the autumnal magic. There was a soft westerly wind and it was slightly cloudy. There was little to see at first. The usual common suspects headlined by a flyover male Pied Wagtail and a couple of Collared Doves (a scarce bird here). By the time I had crossed the playing fields heading east to sift through the trees in the Southern Copse, I noticed that there was a bit activity with a fine Lesser Whitethroat popping out into the open.

The grassland back in the western end was a hive of activity. At least 20 Common Whitethroats were rummaging through the Blackthorn occasionally joined by upwards of 5 Lesser Whitethroats. As I was enjoying the scene, a 1st winter male Common Redstart suddenly popped up out of nowhere. It was our earliest returning autumn bird ever. I was well pleased. My pleasure was multiplied when I noticed a immature Whinchat sitting on top of a nearby shrub.

On the final part of my circuit I walked along the embankment which is shrouded in shrubs, gorse and some unsightly Hogweed. Whilst watching the parade of warblers interspersed with Linnets, Greenfinches and juvenile Starlings, 2 Spotted Flycatchers suddenly flew into view. A scarce migrant here, I was really made up now!

I must go birding more often!

Olympic Birding

2011-08-15T03:31:00.001-07:00

Last week I had an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the Olympic Village alongside some of the key players that helped to build ecology into the site. I'll be writing a piece about in a forthcoming issue of Bird Watching Magazine.

I was very impressed at how well nature was integrated into the whole complex. It has to be said that once work is completed I think that it will make for a very interesting little urban patch. They have already recorded Short-eared Owl flying around inside one of the stadiums last winter and a Cuckoo this spring!

David Stubbs, TUB & Claire Holder (Ben Hurley)

TUB & some Waxwing food (David Stubbs)

The northern wetland area (David Stubbs)

Shoot at Lemsford Springs, Hertfordshire

2011-08-10T15:32:00.001-07:00

I spent yesterday morning shooting two youtube films for Opticron about how to choose binoculars and digiscoping. Our location was the delightful Lemsford Springs Nature Reserve run by the Herts & Middx Wildlife Trust.

TUB & Opticron's Sarah Onacko (Pete Gamby)

Digiscoping (Pete Gamby)

Shooting (Pete Gamby)

RSPB Conwy Reserve - my 1st official book signing!

2011-08-09T23:54:00.000-07:00

The roadshow has finally hit the trail and last weekend saw me at RSPB Conwy to help celebrate their centenary.

The day involved a two-teamed birdrace (my team lost by 3 birds!), co-leading a bird walk with Reserve Manager and good mate, Julian Hughes (who very kindly allowed me to stay at his house the previous night - despite being growled and spitted at by his big dog!) and of course, my first book signing.

TUB & the lovely Ruth Miller of the Biggest Twitch (Alan Davies)

The very first book being signed!

Our birdrace team

It was quite a weird experience signing my book for the first time, but luckily I had Ruth Miller and Alan Davies on hand - a couple of seasoned book signing veterans - who between them have signed loads of their book 'The Biggest Twitch', about their around the world record breaking trip seeing over 4,000 species in one year.

It's out!!

2011-08-01T15:44:00.001-07:00

On a bookshelf near you!

Shoreditch House Private Members Club

2011-07-27T17:33:00.000-07:00

Over the past few years I have been giving an increasing number of talks up and down the country as well as abroard. Most of the time it's to RSPB Groups, Wildlife Trust members or bird clubs but recently I have been speaking at some interesting non-wildlife venues speaking to people who readily admit that nature is not the first thing on their minds.

Tonight was such an occasion when I spoke to members of Shoreditch House (www.shoreditchhouse.com) about urban birding. It was to a group of mostly 30-somethings lying on sunbeds on the roof of the building. Fortunately, it was a fairly balmy evening with blue skies and at least there were plenty of Feral Pigeons, Lesser Black-backs and Herring Gulls to puntuate proceedings.

My audience were very attentive, a pleasure to talk to and were keenly interupting me to point at some distant speck behind me. I thoroughly enjoyed myself especially when a pair of Greenfinchs and a calling Grey Wagtail variously bounced overhead. It was just nice to spread the word about urban nature to the target audience I most like speaking to.

Farewell to an old Scrubber!

2011-07-26T18:12:00.000-07:00

Anders Price (Russell F Spencer)

Anders & TUB on Tower 42

Wormwood Scrubs lost a birding soldier today to the bosom of the United States, Washington State to be exact. Anders has been a loyal Scrubber for the past two years after arriving on these shores a husband to an American Diplomat who was on secondment in the UK. In the mornings when she made her way to the embassy he would cycle down to The Scrubs for a spot of birding. Indeed, our paths first crossed a couple of years ago when he came down to see a migrant Spotted Flycatcher that had pitched down on our beloved patch.

Since then he became a steadfast member of the birding team, discovering our first ever Great Grey Shrike (whilst I was marooned on The Azores last October sob sob) and the finder of our third ever Woodlark. I knew that he was ultimately going to leave the fold last year when he first got wind of the possibility of his family returning home. I put it to the back of mind, rueing the day. But that day has finally come.

Good luck Anders mate. Hopefully I will make it to your new US patch one day, but in the meantime, thanks for being such a great Scrubber!

Arne RSPB & Cecil Fowler

2011-07-25T15:29:00.001-07:00

I spent a wonderful Sunday in Dorset with members of the Hawk & Owl Trust led by the lovely Cherry Barlow. She had organised for me to lead a walk at Arne RSPB Reserve along with the very knowledgable Rob the Warden.

Prior to the walk we took a quick stroll onto the heath were he showed me my first ever Smooth Snake, Britain's rarest snake. Indeed, I was fortunate enough to handle both a male and female. On the actual walk we were unsuccessful in finding another Smooth Snake but we did catch a Slow Worm - ashamedly my first ever live one. Well, I am a city boy after all!

Slow Worm - this one was a pregnant female

Rob the warden - lovely, knowledgeable chap! (Penny Hayhurst)

One of the big moments of my visit was to meet with Cecil Fowler, the young Eagle Owl that Cherry had asked me to name a few weeks ago. Cecil and I got on like a house on fire. We immediately had an emotional link.

Meet Cecil Fowler

TUB, Cherry Barlow & Cecil (Penny Hayhurst)

TUB & Cecil birding (Penny Hayhurst)

TUB & Cecil gull watching (Penny Hayhurst)

Looking up! (Penny Hayhurst)

TUB on the Tower

2011-07-14T13:14:00.000-07:00

Spent the morning on Tower 42 filming for both Butterfly Conservation and with ARD the German public service channel - equivilent to Britain's BBC. I'm shooting a documetary with them on urban birding in London.

The Serbian Long-eared Owls

2011-07-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

A Long-eared Owl peeping down at me

I've been back from my wonderful trip to Serbia last Friday and I'm still stunned by the beauty of this country that has had more than its fair share of troubles recently. Nonetheless, the nature available to be seen by visiting birders is astounding. I had great views of Bee-eaters, Golden Orioles and Goshawks plus farmland birds that we are finding increasingly harder to connect with here in the UK. Corn Buntings, Skylarks and Yellowhammers proliferate whilst I heard Quail, my bogey bird, on several occasions - remember, my visit was in July; the height of summer and the time when most birds are least active.

As I intimated in my previous blog entries, it was the owls that really blew me away. The Long-eared Owl phenomenon was only discovered as recently as eight years ago. The main town where the best numbers of this endearing owl can be found is called Kikinda, around 150 km directly north of Belgrade in the Pannonian Plain. It felt as though there was at least one owl in every tree; in parks and even in the trees lining the streets. There is a tiny street with no more than 10 trees conveniently close to a bar that has since changed its logo to resemble a stylised owl. These small trees harbour an astonishing 700 plus birds during the winter. 700!! Elsewhere in the town at least 20 Short-eared Owls also winter, plus there are countless resident Little Owls and many Kestrels.

The amazing thing is that the Serbs don't realise what they have in the owls choosing to live in such close proximity to humans. They now need to spread the message out to the world in general to encourage ecotourism into their towns and cities for people to see these incredible birds. I believe that if the birders and tourists come it will engender a great pride (as well as revenue) for the locals and hopefully they will do all they can to nuture and protect the owls.

Serbia isn't expensive to get to and once you're there it is certainly inexpensive, so get yourself out there and see these fantastic owls for yourself. I'm heading back out in the winter to see and film the Kikinda gatherings for myself.

If you do head out let me know how you get on.

Life in Serbia

2011-07-09T06:22:00.000-07:00

Sniffing around

The Wild West

Rural idyll

Cropfield

Anyone for Cricket?

A Stone Martin

What am I? A Firebug that's what I am!

One of many Long-eared Owls

The latest from Serbia

2011-07-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

European Bee-eater (Russell F Spencer)

Another hot day in Serbia with highlight being a soaring Long-legged Buzzard - a personal first - as well as truckloads of Long-eared Owls and Purple Herons.

Tomorrow's my last day in this surprising country. Stay tuned.

LEO Slayers

2011-07-05T16:17:00.000-07:00

Long-eared Owl (Russell F Spencer)

The phenomenon that is the super abundance of Long-eared Owls in Serbia is astounding. In Rusanda Park in the Pannonian Plain, which to all intents and purposes is an average looking park next to a spa and attached to a large lake, there are literally tons of breeding LEO's all over the place.

The research seems to indicate that there is a super abundance of food due to the ubiquitous rodents to be found in the nearby farmland. Thanks to the largely unchanged farming practices the owl's prey items have proliferated stuffing themselves silly on the plentiful grain left in the fields.

Long may it continue!

Serbian Surprise

2011-07-04T15:35:00.000-07:00

Yellowhammer (Russell F Spencer)

Little Owl (Russell F Spencer)

I think that one of the biggest surprises in my urban birding career has been my experience in Serbia. In terms of wildlife it is a complete treasure trove. I have been taken by the sheer number of birds, the amount of habitat (paticularly farmland) that is great for birds and other wildlife plus the people are nice too.

The highlights thus far must be the fact that the town that I am staying in is home to over 200 pairs of Long-eared Owl - that can be heard calling every night every where!

East Grinstead

2011-06-29T17:33:00.000-07:00

Yellow-billed Stork (David Fettes)

No, I didn't see a Yellow-billed Stork in East Grinstead at my talk to the local RSPB group, but I did mention my recent trip to Ethiopia again tonight. The stork was one of the species that I spied on that visit. My talk was ostensibly about urban birding and in particular Wormwood Scrubs but as usual I strayed off piste and ended up interspersing the talk with Brown Bears, convicts and blow-up dolls. Work that one out!

Not a stirling performance by myself tonight but my audience was appreciative. I had many positive comments about my RSPB Birds & Bird Watching Magazine articles, plus an invitation to come back and speak again next season.

Thanks for your comments guys.

What a nice Hobby I've got!

2011-06-22T16:19:00.000-07:00

Eurasian Hobby (Russell F Spencer)

My trip to The Scrubs this morning was well worth it. Aside from discovering a fledgling Reed Bunting proving that they bred in the grassland for the second year I enjoyed the sight of many juveniles of several species being fed by their respective parents.

The problem I had though was the fact that I was freezing. It is nearing the end of June yet it seems unnaturally cold. As I marched back to the sanctuary of the car and the ultimate prize of breakfast back at base, a fine Hobby dashed through chasing what seemd to be a Stock Dove. I could watch Hobbys for an eternity. They are truly stunning birds.

Later in the day, I ventured south of the River Thames to the land that they cal West Dulwich to deliver a short speech at the my mate Helen Babbs' book launch. Her book's entitled. 'My Garden the City And Me'. I spoke for five minutes about Tower 42 resulting in at least five people wanting to get on the roof that instant!

Oh, and I mentioned that I had a book coming out too!

Disappointing day in the office

2011-06-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

Collared Dove (David Fettes)

After deliberating and procrastination for nearly five weeks I finally finished an article on farmland birds for Countryfile Magazine in the wee hours of this morning. That's a heck of a long time even for a lazy git like me. You may be surprised that I refer to myself as lazy but the truth is, I'm so last minute dot com it's untrue.

Today was a frustrating day as I had to deal with a number of people that I could of quite frankly throttled on the spot. What's worse, the sun didn't really shine today. But I think the biggest unstabling thing for me at the moment is that fact I haven't visited The Scrubs for nearly two weeks. So tomorrow morning is the morning. Before then, I must imagine that I am the Collared Dove depicted above, sitting in a nest chilling out. Zen!

Me and Boris at the City Hall

2011-06-20T16:03:00.000-07:00

I was invited to speak at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust's ' a celebration of learning outside the classroom' at the City Hall alongside Mayor Boris Johnson and the WWT's CEO Martin Spray. I had a great evening and the WWT staff are certainly a great bunch of people who really looked after me.

TUB on the podium (Simon Papps)

Boris & TUB (Simon Papps)

My baby!! Out at the end of July (Simon Papps)

Date with the rain

2011-06-12T16:04:00.001-07:00

Eurasian Jackdaw

What a washout!

Today I was in Plymouth being guided by great birder and ace twitcher, Sarah McMahon around the plentiful sites in the metropolitan area of her adopted home city. I say adopted as she hails from Leicester. What would have been a great day turned into a day of wet misery with solid rain falling from solid grey and misty skies all day. We literally toured the outskirts of the sites by car not daring to get out due to the blistering wind and pelting rain.

The afternoon was a tad better with the rain easing off a little, enough for me to spot a distant Little Tern from the corner of my eye as it quartered the River Plym. Sara was happy because any species of tern in June on the Plym is highly unusual, let alone a Little Tern whose nearest breeding colony is probably 100 miles away in Dorset.

As I always say, anything can turn up anywhere at anytime.

The Observer Ethical Awards 2011 at the V&A

2011-06-09T16:02:00.000-07:00

Mixed with the in crowd tonight but spent most of my time chatting with Bill Oddie, who has promised to pop over to The Scrubs in the autumn.

TUB presenting an award with the lovely Lucy Siegle

TUB gassing

Lucy with the Oscar winning Colin Firth

Lily Cole

Back to reality

2011-06-09T01:01:00.001-07:00

Cirl Bunting - Dean Eades

I think I've finally caught up with myself, at least on my blog. At last I can write about things that are happening in real time. Not that there is much going on at the moment that's worth boring you about.

The major thing in my life right now is to finish an article on farmland birds that I am writing for Countryfile magazine. Not my usual thing as it will contain a host of facts and figures. All interesting stuff I must add. Anyway, back to the grindstone.

The Holy Quail

2011-06-08T00:44:00.000-07:00

On May 17th I was lucky enough to be walking the Liben Plains in southern Ethiopia doing habitat transects in the company of BirdLife International's venerable Dr Nigel Collar (google him as he's a Don) within the known range of the poorly known and severely threatened Liben Lark. We strolled through an area of slightly longer grassland which suddenly made me think about Quails. I was explaining to Nigel that despite having heard Quails singing for the past 25 years I had never actually seen one when I suddenly flushed a quail from underfoot. I got onto it as it sped away only to dump down a few yards away and realised that it wasn't a Common Quail but a close relative, the Harlequin Quail.

Although I was excited to see a quail of any description, especially a new one, I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't my holy grail bird, my bogey bird, the only regular species on the British list that I was yet to see. To add insult to injury, an hour later a real Common Quail began to sing from an area of grassland literally yards from where I was standing on the plain. I didn't even attempt to kick it out because knowing my past track record for flushing these tiny gamebird my chances of seeing it would have been virtually nil.

It has always been a fantasy of mine to flush a Quail or Corncrake out from the grassland at my beloved Scrubs. Every autumn, I would religiously stride through the grass at Wormwood Scrubs ostensibly counting Meadow Pipits and secretly wishing for exotica. Imagine my horror a few hours after seeing a Harlequin Quail when I got a text from a fellow Scrubber informing me that he had just found a singing Quail on my patch! I throw my hands up in despair. Here I was some 5,000 miles away from home (or thereabouts) whilst a lifer was striding around on my patch in my absence!

I thought that the Scrubs Quail would be a one day bird but text updates kept arriving for a couple of days after it's initial discovery. When I got home a week later I didn't bother to hit The Scrubs thinking that it would be long gone. Last weekend I was on Alderney and I received a call from yet another Scrubber. He told me the news that I didn't want to hear. There was a Quail singing in the grassland again! That bird must have been there the whole time!

As soon as I got back to London, some three days later, I staked out the grassland for three days on the trot and for three days I heard nada. Sometimes things are just not meant to be. My search for the holy grail continues.

Alderney revisited

2011-06-06T16:38:00.001-07:00

Hopefully from tomorrow I will be up to date with my blogging that I have so woefully neglected for the past month.

I spent the weekend before last on Alderney in the Channel Island primarily to partake in the Alderney Bird Race organised by the Alderney Bird Club. My team won with a whooping, by Alderney standards, 78 species including Long-eared Owl and least expected Sanderling, Whimbrel and Common Sandpiper.

It is a beautiful island and I thoroughly recommend that you visit.

Ethiopian Birds

2011-06-05T13:44:00.000-07:00

Here is a tiny selection of images from my recent Ethiopian trip.

All images are copyright of Russell F Spencer.

Liben Lark doing a Harrier Jump Jet impersonation!

Liben Lark in song flight

Liben Lark

Eastern Chanting Goshawk

Bateleur

Pygmy Falcon

Moorland Chat

Abyssinian White-eye

Somali Short-toed Lark

I'm back from Ethiopia....

2011-06-04T16:43:00.000-07:00

....well, two weeks ago ut it's take me this long to get my act together on my blog. So over the next few days I will post a few pictures from the trip.

Ethiopia is an amazing place. The birdlife's out of this world and the people are warm and sharing.

My urban local patch in Addis Abbaba

On our journey south

The Liben Plains

The plateau in the Bale Mountains

The Big London Bird Race

2011-05-06T15:48:00.000-07:00

Black-headed Gulls

During May last year I was sprinting around London bird frantically trying to find as many species as humanly possible in the Oystercatcher Bird Race in which my team controversially came second. This year I will be racing on the behalf of the Alderney Bird Club on the lovely island of Alderney at the end of May as part of the inter Channel Island bird race.

You would be forgiven for thinking that London will be bereft of a bird racing frenzy well not if Harry Boorman and his cousin Luke have their way. They are racing around the London area on May 28th and 29th seeing and hearing as many birds as possible to raise money for the RSPB.

Give the guys a helping hand by checking out their blog and donating.

http://harryandlukeslondonbirdrace.blogspot.com/2011/02/harry-and-lukes-big-bird-race.html

Good luck chaps!

Kittiwake from Tower 42

2011-05-05T14:57:00.001-07:00

Kittiwakes mobbing a Gannet at Troup Head, Scotland (Russell F Spencer)

They said it would be glorious today with a gentle southerly breeze. Potentially ideal conditions for watching migrant raptors from the roof of Tower 42, one of the tallest buildings in London. Well that was the prediction on the weather websites I looked at a week ago.

Of course, I woke up at 5am this morning to grey skies. By the time I got to The Scrubs, an hour later, it was still looking worryingly dull. Was there rain in the air? Later, as I set off for Tower 42 in London's Square Mile it started to drizzle. I felt sorry for the members of the Tower 42 Bird Study Group that were already on the roof getting a soaking and probably not seeing much. When I finally clambered onto the roof at 12.15pm most of the small crowd of watchers had decided to call it a day after only registering just a single Swift.

Now down to three birders, two sightseers and two vigilant although non-birdy security men things continued to look grim. No sun in sight just grey cloud. After an hour of Lesser Black-backs and Herring Gulls the sky began to take on a brighter complection. A message came through on my phone from the London Birders Yahoo site. A adult Kittiwake (a scarcity in Central London) had just been reported from Southwark Bridge. Wait. We overlook that bridge, I suddenly realised. It was all hands on deck searching the Thames with our scopes for a maritime dot. Suddenly, I picked it up as it fluttered to land under the Millennium Bridge. It was a marvelous way to brighten up an otherwise dreadfully disappointing session and a nice site tick too.

Our magical day will come. I am certain of that.

There is a birding God!

2011-05-04T15:40:00.000-07:00

Hobby (Russell F Spencer)

A couple days ago I was wishing for a Hobby to appear at my patch before I board the plane to Ethiopia next Monday. Well, the higher powers that be sent me one! I was delighted to have one drifting and circling over the grassland at The Scrubs this morning for at least 10 minutes. It was practically the first bird I saw!

I also watched a female Sparrowhawk perform an interesting hunting strategy. As I was parking my car on Braybrook Street, which borders the western edge of The Scrubs, she appeared from out of nearby Braybrook Wood flew right past me and into the playground of the school across the road. She was bombing at full tilt, seemingly heading into a brick wall as she chased after a sparrow. All the while she employed a undulating flight pattern like an enormous finch. The hunt was unsuccessful and she landed on a wire fence appearing to pump her tail before taking off with a crow in hot pursuit.

In recent years I have noticed that Sparrowhawks sometimes adopt different flight modes whilst hunting, perhaps to try and camouflage themselves as they approach their prey. Once, I watched a female fly the entire length of the grassland in a flight pattern not unlike a large Mistle Thrush - strong wingbeats with a slight undulation when her wings were closed. Her quarry, a flock of feeding Starlings, sussed her in the last minute and spooked. Last winter, whilst standing in the snow covered grassland watching a flock of finches, I was aware of a male that flew quite close to me trying to sneak up on the finches. The thing that initially threw me was that his flight pattern seemed quite Swallow-like with deep languid beats. Anyone else seen Sparrowhawks behave like that?

Anyway, any chance of a nice rarity dear Birding Gods?

Spider Man where are you?

2011-05-03T14:47:00.000-07:00

Not much birding done at all today whilst yesterday, I did manage to sneak a quick walk through a thronging Walthamstow Marshes. Despite the sunny weather and the ton of people out variously cycling and walking with families, friends, dogs and sometimes all three - I still managed to see a few birds.

I counted as many as six singing Common Whitethroats in the tiny pockets of scrub alongside two singing Sedge Warblers. All within a stone's throw of picnicing humans. The best bird of the afternoon was the Peregrine that flew over being chased by a crow.

Later, whilst helping to move a pot plant onto a windowsill, I came across the above photographed spider. I was taken by its size and colouration. It was easily over an inch long and had reddish legs and thorax with a pale abdomen. Consulting my Collins Spiders Field Guide the only things that matched the description was either Dysdera erythrina or more likely, Harpactea hombergi. Being a bit on the big side, I decided that I'd let it go about it's business and not to disturb it for a proper photocall.

Anyone knows what it is?

I'd like one of those please

2011-05-02T14:08:00.000-07:00

Hobby (Russell F Spencer)

While most of the world ponders if Bin Laden has truely been slain I'm sitting here wondering when I will see my first Hobby of the year. They seem to be all over the place now with one seen down the road from me at the London Wetland Centre and over at Rainham in Essex they had 22 of the blighters!

The Dawn Chorus that I led yesterday morning went well with a reasonable turnout of bleary eyed interested parties. We had nothing out of the ordinary with at least 20 singing Common Whitethroats, around 12 singing Blackcaps, 8 Chiffchaffs and a solitary Lesser Whitethroat and Willow Warbler. I also though that I heard a Sedge Warbler but dismissed it only to be told this morning via text that one was in full song in the area where I thought I had one.

Next week is the last full week of May that I'll be spending London as I will be in Ethiopia the following week on an expedition with BirdLife International until near the end of the month. After a couple of days on British soil I will then be heading out to Alderney in the Channel Islands to compete in the inter-island bird race, amongst other things.

I have a week to find a Hobby - so to speak!

International Dawn Chorus Day - May 1st

2011-04-30T13:26:00.000-07:00

Common Whitethroat (Russell F Spencer)

Had an interesting morning at The Scrubs yesterday. It was a fairly cloudy day with an occasional hint of blue sky and a northeasterly blow. The birdlife on show was nothing out of the ordinary with both species of whitethroat, Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, Song Thrushes and Great and Blue Tits leading the parade.

Then out of the blue, or to be more precise, out of the grey headed over a flock of nine Bar-tailed Godwits that were moving purposefully east. Virtually any wader seen at The Scrubs is an oddity, seeing as we have no standing water or established marshy bits. The exceptions are the Snipe that are regularly flushed from the grassland, the recent regular occurances of Woodcock during the winter months and the occasional passing Lapwing. The godwits were part of a massive movement of birds across southern England including thousands past Portland Bill and the Patch at Dungeness along the south coast. A Common Tern heading north capped off what was eventually to be an interesting session.

Off to bed early tonight as tomorrow is International Dawn Chorus Day. I'm leading a walk bright and early on my patch hopefully to accompanied by a crowd of song bird lovers.

Diving Kestrels

2011-04-28T14:37:00.000-07:00

'Common' Kestrel (Bill Black)

Trawling through my Facebook newsfeeds earlier today, I noticed that the London Wildlife Trust are encouraging Londoners to count Kestrels across the capital. Brilliant idea! It's all part of the Trust's 30th anniversary celebrations. They conducted a count 23 years ago that indicated the presence of around 400 nesting pairs around the metropolis. Since then it has been common knowledge that their populations have taken a plunge not only in London but across the nation.

I heard the other day that the humble Kestrel is Britian's only decreasing raptor and has been overtaken in terms of populations by the Common Buzzard and Sparrowhawk - facts that I find totally unbelievable. I think that I heard a figure of around 30% decrease in population being mooted, which is unthinkable. (Perhaps someone could let me know the official figure.) Also, their decline seems to be inexplicable. A drop in vole numbers?

I have noticed a sharp fall in the sightings of these lovely falcons in recent years. My Kestrels at The Scrubs have gone from being a daily occurrence to a once a month treat. Are there still many of these adorable 'motorway hawks' where you live?

Other news in The Urban Birder world included being a judge in the Observer Ethical Awards 2011 at the Guardian's plush offices in Kings Cross, London. It was great hanging out with my fellow judges, all of whom where great fun. I rubbed shoulders with people like Rob da Bank (founder of Bestival), Lily Cole (model), Ben Fogle, Deborah Meaden (businesswoman supreme), Sue Perkins and Gordon Roddick (co-founder of Bodyshop). The entire proceedings was chaired by my mate Lucy Siegle, the Green Goddess and The One Show presenter. The results of our debating will be announced in early June.

I think that's it. Oh and by the way, there's supposed to be a wedding going on in London somewhere.....

Feel the heat, summer's heat

2011-04-26T15:06:00.000-07:00

Summer in the city

Hasn't the weather been fantastic?

I've been spending an inordinate amount of time doing the final tickles on my forthcoming book - The Urban Birder. Today after months of toil it is safely with the publishers being lined up to be printed. It will be out during August and I must admit, I am nervous.

Down at The Scrubs, the migrants have been streaming through with the highlights being a Turtle Dove very briefly on Monday morning and over the weekend another singing Nightingale in Chats Paddock was discovered. This particular male had a different singing voice to the one found the other week. This one's song was briefer, quieter and dare I say, less musical. Also back in reasonable numbers were Common and Lesser Whitethroats plus a fair number of Blackcaps. Dissappointly, only one singing Willow Warbler has stuck around compared to three singing males this time last year.

If you are around the west London next Sunday morning at around 5am then come and join me for a Dawn Chorus walk at The Scrubs to celebrate International Dawn Chorus Day.

Better go now. I'm one of the judges on the Observers Ethical Awards 2011 tomorrow morning at the newspaper's HQ. I'll be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Kate Humble, Deborah Meaden, Brian Cox and Sue Perkins. I've got to fill out around a million judging forms before getting my beauty sleep.

Searching to find the one

2011-04-20T14:47:00.000-07:00

Ring Ouzel (Stephen Daly)

I've come back from Bonny Scotland to the sights and reports of more migrants flooding through Wormwood Scrubs - my inner city Fair Isle.

Today, a cracking male Ring Ouzel was discovered along the 'Forbidden Path' in the grassland, making it our 5th spring 2011 record of this enigmatic montane thrush. Easily the record spring showing for our site.

I still feel that a biggie is on its way.

Spey Sight

2011-04-18T15:40:00.000-07:00

Findhorn Valley - Dippers, Oystercatcher & Common Gull

Findhorn Valley - Golden Eagle (that I missed!)

Findhorn Valley - Merlin & Ring Ouzel

Findhorn Valley - Pink-footed Geese

Lossiemouth - Buzzard and nearby Osprey

Special thanks to Kirsty Sharratt and all at the Grant Arms Hotel in Grantown-on-Spey, Moray.

More tomorrow

Blackcap question

2011-04-14T16:28:00.000-07:00

Blackcap with Goldfinch (Yvette Spencer)

Has anyone ever heard of Blackcaps eating sunflower hearts?

Who needs Berkeley Square!

2011-04-13T16:45:00.001-07:00

Nightingale (Mike Weston)

April is a fabulous time to be stalking Wormwood Scrubs because you never know what you might find. After 18 years, I have built up a very interesting picture of the birdlife that frequents my inner city Fair Isle.

It is during this month that you are most likely to encounter migrant Ring Ouzels, Whinchats, Northern Wheatears, Common Redstarts, Swallows, Cuckoos and Nightingales. The last two species are of particular interest because whilst the previously mentioned migrants are more or less annual, the latter two have been absent from our April score sheet since 2008.

This morning, I arose from my cosy pit at 5.30am and blearily made my way to The Scrubs. For the past couple of visits I have half-heartedly been on the lookout for passage Nightingales. At The Scrubs they have historically turned up between the 20th - 27th April for one morning and were invariably detected by their glorious song. This particular morning I thought that I would give it a bit more of an effort. For nearly 2 hours I scoured the bushes and strained my ears listening for the merest strains of its song.

I arrived in Chats Paddock, a small fenced off area of gorse and brambles that has the distinction of having the best record of all the areas of The Scrubs for scarcities and rarities. Almost every good bird that has appeared on my patch have either flown over or hung out in this small area. At first, the only thing I saw was a Dunnock and a woman that I bumped into who was walking around 10 dogs. As I passed her I heard a heavenly sound. A Nightingale singing quietly literally yards from where I was standing. I was euphoric. I quickly rang my fellow Scrubbers and 15 minutes later three were with me trying to locate the songster. The only problem was it had stopped singing before they came. Typical.

After a few minutes, we heard a strange repeated croaking call coming from the opposite side of the paddock near some sallows. It sounded like a cross between a frog and a crow. Puzzled, I checked my Collins guide and suddenly realised that we were listening to a calling Nightingale. No sooner had that realisation set in the original bird suddenly burst into loud song nearby - an event that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. What a beautiful song and one that sounds so out of place in an urban park in heavily populated west London.

I had to leave it singing to go to a meeting but moments after I left a Scrubber called me to say that I had just missed a female Ring Ouzel - our second of the spring - and a Shelduck - our 4th ever record. You may be thinking what's so special about a Shelduck, well, the last one recorded the The Scrubs was on April 22nd 2008 - the same day that our last Nightingale was recorded here.

Coincidence?

All good

2011-04-12T14:57:00.000-07:00

Long-tailed Tit

A good day in the office was had at The Urban Birder Towers. United beat Chelsea and I finally finished proof reading my book. Well, to be honest, you never finish proof reading when you've written a book. Like a vulture circling over a carcass you find yourself forever picking at pieces moving off only to come back to pick again.

Wrote an article on urban wildlife for BBC Wildlife sitting in bed at 6.30am whilst taking a break from laborious proof reading. All the while I wanted to be on my patch checking out the latest migrants and counting breeding pairs of the commoner species like Robins and Long-tailed Tits.

Roll on the dawn.

Yet more Wheatears at The Scrubs

2011-04-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

A fine male along the 'Forbidden Path' in the grassland (Nick Gibson)

A closer look (Nick Gibson)

What a few days down at The Scrubs recently. Eight Wheatears until today's influx of between 4-5 birds in the grassland plus an incredible Ring Ouzel on Saturday morning that materialised whilst I on the football pitch sweating between the sticks.

Although I didn't see it, I was glad that we recorded that fine wild thrush for the 7th year in a row.

Mini fall at The Scrubs

2011-04-07T16:09:00.001-07:00

Wheatear (an autumn bird)

It was a magical morning at The Scrubs today with not one but two male Common Redstarts in the grassland along with three Whinchats (including two males) and a handsome male Northern Wheatear. Add to that mix a lone Swallow heading north and several Willow Warblers in song then I would say that it wasn't a bad haul for a site surrounded by urban sprawl.

Things are heating up. My guess is that something really special is just around the corner.....

That's more like it!

2011-04-06T14:57:00.000-07:00

Today was a glorious day in the city and although I didn't make it to The Scrubs this morning, the reports that came back to me included a sighting of yet another fine male Common Redstart, this time in the grassland.

I had my eyes peeled watching the sky all afternoon whilst I was out roaming my hood. I didn't see any overflying raptors although I got a text from someone who had spotted a Common Buzzard over Shepherds Bush, of all places.

Keep looking up all!

The Urban Birder in The Podding Shed

2011-04-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

Jay - looks like a pair's on territory at The Scrubs (Russell F Spencer)

Unfortunately, I didn't make it to The Scrubs this morning and as a consequence missed out on two male Common Redstarts and six Willow Warblers. I have to delve into the history books to read about the last Common Redstart spring influx. It occurred in 2006 when at one point we had five redstarts in Chats Paddock. An unprecedented influx.

Instead, my day was spent proof reading my book. Later this evening I took part in a Charlie Moores (he of 'Talking Naturally' fame) The Conference Call skype podcast in his Podding Shed along with The Drunk Birder, John Hague, Birding Blogs' Tom McKinney and of course Charlie. I was on for around 20 minutes being quizzed about Urban Birding, The Scrubs and my new book.

The promotional roadshow has begun.

The migrants are coming!

2011-04-03T12:39:00.000-07:00

Female Common Stonechat (Andy Cook)

I didn't get to The Scrubs this morning as I was over in Sunny Walthamstow, East London. A stroll through Wanstead Flats in the vain hope of rediscovering the two Ring Ouzels discovered yesterday by the Wanstead Birder drew a blank. It was however, one of those mornings and indeed afternoons when you instinctively felt that it would be good for raptors.

Evidently that was the case with London-wide reports of a juvenile Marsh Harrier over Brent Reservoir and generally, Common Buzzards, Red Kites and a supporting cast of Sparrowhawks and Kestrels. I scored a kettling Common Buzzard and maybe three ultra high Sparrowhawks.

Meanwhile, over at basecamp a male Common Redstart graced the embankment and a female Stonechat was also found. The latter species has gone from being a regular migrant to scarce visitor.

This is getting exciting!

It's Tower 42 season!

2011-04-01T15:39:00.000-07:00

A sunny day on the Tower (Jon Osborne)

For the second year running we will be ascending the many floors and scampering up ladders to scan the skies over London in the hope of catching some migrating raptors - provided we get some nice weather, good winds and good luck. Our inaugural observation date will be next Friday.

I get really excited climbing those final stairs to the roof and if we don't see any birds, the views across the capital are just magical. Unfortunately, things are not so magical over at Canary Wharf. My proposed spring bird survey looks like it's off. After many phone calls and emails I got very little feed back and no indication of interest in the project from the powers that be.

You can't win them all.

I'm lying in wait!

2011-03-31T15:47:00.000-07:00

Common Terns (Sacha Barbato)

Not long now before the skies become busy with commuting birds and the bushes swell with refueling migrants.

I've had two pretty poor overcast mornings over the past couple of days. Will it be a case of - 'but on the third day.......?

Extra Extra Extremadura

2011-03-30T03:37:00.000-07:00

Some more images from my recent trip to Extremadura. All images copyright of Edo van Uchelen.

Another Wheatear

2011-03-29T15:33:00.000-07:00

Won't be winning a photographic competitions with this one!

This morning I hit The Scrubs early, pre dawn with a novice birder en tow. I was asked by a friend to take this fella out to introduce him to the world of birding. To be honest, I didn't fancy it. It was too early in the morning and selfishly, I wanted to be looking for migrants on my own. It was too early to be conversing, scratch that, too early to be teaching someone about birds at 6.30 in the morning.

When I picked up Ed (who lived locally) I was taken by his politeness. When we arrived at The Scrubs I was surprised by his enthusiasm and vigilance. He wasn't a young man and his enthusiasm was what I would have expected from a kid. He was enthralled when I pointed out a closeby female Great Spotted Woodpecker, delighted when he saw displaying Meadow Pipits parachuting from the sky and mesmerised by his first ever Northern Wheatear.

I actually enjoyed taking Ed around. He thanked me prefusely and vowed to become a Scrubber. I'm pretty sure that in a year's time Ed will be a great birder. I'll have to get Ed to start blogging.

The latest Scrubs news

2011-03-28T00:44:00.001-07:00

My inagural digiscoping efforts of a glorious male Northern Wheatear at The Scrubs yesterday using an ill-constructed kit.

I will try to improve!

All Ireland Conference 2011

2011-03-26T15:59:00.001-07:00

TUB on a beach in Donegal c1993 (Rene Pop)

Last night I delivered the key note speech at the RSPB Northern Island and Birdwatch Ireland jointly organised annual conference. It was held at a golf hotel on the outskirts of Belfast. I spoke about urban birding to the assembled masses and including some chatter about Tower 42 and of course, The Scrubs.

I had a great night and everyone was so friendly. My audience were especially appreciative when I proclaimed early on that I considered myself an honorary Irishman who should really be called David O'Lindo!

Before catching my flight back home I did a radio interview with BBC Ulster and was also interviewed on camera by the RSPB chatting about urban birding. Back in London I was giving myself brainache trying to work out how to fix together the digiscoping kit loaned to me by Opticron.

If it took me three days to put together a bird feeder then I stand no chance.

Call to arms

2011-03-24T19:22:00.001-07:00

Great Tit (Russell F Spencer)

My grand fighting talk/pep talk to myself worked, because yesterday I strolled onto The Scrubs and immediately flushed a migratory Woodcock from the playing fields. It was our first ever March bird. A little later a second winter Mediterranean Gull flew over with a bunch of Black-headed Gulls. Now, we have had a wintering bird on and off, but that one was an adult and by the last time it was seen (last month) was sporting a fine black hood.

Finally, whilst checking the grassland to count the numbers of singing Meadow Pipits an exquisitely beautiful summer plumaged Northern Wheatear landed on a Blackthorn bush. Lovely.

I must go now to prepare my speech for the All Ireland Conference in Belfast on Friday, where I will be chatting about the virtues of urban birding. Wish me luck!

Time waits for no one

2011-03-23T16:01:00.000-07:00

Wren with nesting material (Russell F Spencer)

Blink and you will miss it. Spring that is. I always find the transition from winter birding to spring migrant watching difficult. Laziness is the name of the game during the dark months of winter. I get up late and infrequently drag myself down to The Scrubs. Then all of a sudden things start to change. Buds appear, the first bumblebees start gingerly fly around inspecting any orifice that they stumble across and of course, with the change in the weather comes the bird song and migrants.

Well, that's the running order on paper. Usually, there are several false dawns when the weather seems nice then the next day you die from hyperthermia. Last week we recorded our first Wheatear and since then nothing, apart from several Chiffchaffs. It's easy to become despondent. You think, oh I'll just stay in bed this morning, especially as there has been no movement for the past few days. Sods law, the morning that you kip in is the morning when a great migrant touches down on your patch.

I'm not going to fall into my usual trap. I'm going to break my balls (as often quoted in Scorsese's Goodfellas) and make sure I cover my patch this spring. I want to be there to welcome that magical bird - whatever it may be.

The wanderer returns

2011-03-15T16:38:00.000-07:00

Northern Wheatear (Stephen Daly)

This morning was one of those classic misty occasions when you peer out through the venetians at stupid o'clock and think to yourself, 'there's a Wheatear on my patch'. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it out as I was still tweaking my book and needed the extra hours this morning.

Luckily, one of the Scrubbers made it down to the patch and clocked a fine male in the grassland. I'm out in the morning to see what I can find.

Red Kite delight!

2011-03-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

Red Kite (Jon Osborne)

I have become a recluse. There is no other way of describing it. I haven't even been birding since returning from Extremadura. The main reason is that despite finishing my book the most arduous part has just started. The tweaking. And boy, the tweaking is driving me mad.

This afternoon, I took a stroll around the block to clear the cobwebs. Within moments I noticed a group of around 12 Carrion Crows cawing and flying purposefully at rooftop level. At first I thought how unusual it was to have seen a group like that in my neighbourhood. Don't get me wrong, crows are a common sight in my area and there are several breeding pairs dotted around the immediate vicinity. But then it suddenly dawned on me that they were mobbing something. My excitement mounted as a Red Kite suddenly popped over the rooftop with over 20 crows in hot pursuit.

Red Kites are far more regular in London than ever before thanks to the expanding introduced population in Oxfordshire. Even so, it was great to see such an amazing bird of prey so close to my home.

Dirty City Blues

2011-03-03T15:58:00.000-08:00

Dirty City Blues (Alastair Riley)

Life in the city has been cold and grey until today when the sun peeped out momentarily and it was just cold. It's funny how different you feel when a couple rays bounce of your skin. Recently, I recorded my first non Wood Pigeon on the feeders in my back garden. I use the word 'garden' very loosely as my yard is basically a small concrete patio. A pair of Robins worked in tandem trying to chisel off bits of suet, whilst on the floor below a male Blackbird splished and splashed in the ornate birdbath that someone gave me for Christmas about a hundred years ago.

The Spring migrants will be with us shortly and I can't wait. In fact, I will be lying in wait for them in several locations come April, namely Tower 42, Canary Wharf Estate and of course on my beloved Scrubs.

Perhaps, I might be lucky enough to enjoy a vision similar to the one that my good friend Alastair Riley has painted whilst I patrol the urban wilds of the Canary Wharf Estate. Time will tell.