AX3T in Rotherhithe

I had two NTGG birds today - both 1st-winter Herrings - including this bird AX3T that enjoyed the Tesco value bread I lobbed out for it: -

AX3T

Spookily, at the tip yesterday, it just so happens that the only 1st-winter Herring Gull I took photos of was AX4T just as it had been ringed and processed...

AX4T

So let's see where and when today's bird in Rotherhithe was ringed. I don't think there'll be any surprises though!

Stayed local as you can tell, doing a check of Rotherhithe. It felt like spring, just without the migrants... although local birds such as Robins, Wrens, Dunnocks etc were in full voice. A couple of Linnets were back on territory near the doctor's surgery, a couple of Egyptian Geese were looking typically hideous with the Ring-necked Parakeets in Southwark Park while, sadly, it seems like there has been a general departure of large gulls from the river.

Local Linnets - an increasingly rare breeder in Inner London

One of the undoubted joys of London birding. Or not.

Summer in Rotherhithe

A beautiful day, if not a little quiet on the birding front. Although Black-headed Gulls are now back in town, after the usual few weeks of near-absence - over 200 on the Thames this evening, though no juveniles just yet.

Rotherhithe is the only site in Inner London where Common Terns breed, and they usually settle down a little later than less urban locations. Therefore, it was good to see the first of the year's chicks at Surrey Water yesterday - at least one pair also is still incubating.

Vocal Common Tern

Inner London's first Common Tern chick of 2011

A visit to Burgess Park also produced a pair of Egyptian Geese protecting their nest - it was none other than these two vocal birds, that I photographed in Southwark Park in March, that had settled down and were still just as loud and territorial today as they were three months ago. Although you can't see it on the top photo, the gander bears a metal ring on its right leg.


Egyptian Geese in Southwark Park, March 2011



Egyptian Geese nesting in Burgess Park, June 2011