The fall of London

I've only just got over the excitement. In fact, I was just far too stunned on Monday evening to write anything while yesterday evening I was scoring a screamer of a goal for the second consecutive week (both multi-observed by Josh et al) so was nowhere near the computer.

So, has London fallen? Not in the sense some of you neo-socialists and anti-capitalists think. Monday 15th April actually produced possibly the best Spring fall of migrants the capital has ever seen. From my office, on the mean streets of Elephant and Castle, I could hear a Willow Warbler singing away and throughout the day, whilst at work, there were updates on massive numbers of migrants from sites where if you had a good day you'd see a single Redstart with some grafting.

Rotherhithe - Russia Dock Woodland with Canary Wharf looming large in the background

So feeling pretty pumped, I managed to get to Russia Dock Woodland in Rotherhithe for just shy of 6pm and the impact was pretty instant - bang, a quality male Redstart flitting about in bushes by Alfred Salter Primary School. Then, quarter of an hour or so later I stumbled upon another male Redstart the other side of Stave Hill - this was immense as I'd only seen one Redstart in Rotherhithe previously here. And it didn't stop there as by the wind turbine, was my third and final male Redstart of this hour of really excellent London birding. Four Willow Warblers, two Whitethroat, three Swallows and a load of Chiffchaffs added to the buzz.

I've just had a quick tally of the scores from this mega day from the London Bird Club Wiki and it's totally mindblowing, especially if you realise how average London birding is most of the time: -
- 49 Redstarts
- 292 Wheatear
- 295 Willow Warblers
- 23 Yellow Wagtail
- 7 Whinchat
- 3 Ring Ouzel
- 1 Nightingale
- 1 Pied Flycatcher
- 1 Grasshopper Warbler

It's not like we're Spurn or anything here. By the next morning though, it was pretty much back to normal with just a couple of Whitethroats and Willow Warblers to show for my efforts before school, and then this evening a ringed gull on Greenland Dock was even more back to the usual stuff.

Crossness on the last day of my holidays

All good things come to an end. Quite a nice relaxing couple of weeks, what with a week spent locally after that chilled out trip to Iceland. But it's back to school tomorrow and in the comparative heat of today, headed to Crossness early on. There was a smart Little Gull roosting off the golf centre when I arrived - a bit unprecedented as this species is normally on the move here, on active migration. After a while, it got up and headed off west upriver; an Arctic Tern did exactly this mid-morning too.

Little Gull Crossness 14th April 2013

You'll probably have noticed that my photos when at Crossness go to pot, and the Little Gull above is a decent example of this. It's always too far for any DSLR shots, and when the tide is out and like not perfect then even digiscoping is a big struggle. But in a way all this is good as, sometimes these days, I seem to take more photos than actually look at birds in detail - so at Crossness there's no opportunity to do this and so the birding rules.

The same two ringed Black-tailed Godwits as this time last week were still in the flock but despite the much warmer temperatures, just a few Swallows and a couple of Willow Warblers were around. No Whitethroat or Sedge Warbler yet, though I'll take bets I'll be seeing them next weekend.

Teal twitchers at Crossness

The drake Green-winged Teal was still at the outfall, and a few people continued to have a look at it. Crossness seems to provide an everlasting impression on everyone who visits - that whiff as you pass along the Thames footpath and past the sewage farm isn't for the feint hearted, this weekend being no exception. The place isn't perhaps a walk in the picturesque wilderness, but it sure is the best birding site in southeast London.

I then had a chilled out afternoon at Eltham Palace, where a couple of Swallows whizzed by and a Peregrine patrolled the skies briefly. On the way home I stopped off at Deptford Park, where a single Fieldfare hung on in the heat.

Green-winged Teal and more summer migrants

It's raining and cold outside as I type this from the warmth of my flat. A stark contrast to the blue sky of first thing this morning and the predicted temperature tomorrow. Anyway, went down to Crossness again for a few hours this morning where the drake Green-winged Teal was performing for those that had come to see it: -

drake Green-winged Teal Crossness 13th April 2013 - slightly better photo that yesterday's attempt... but only just

I recorded three first for the year here too, with a cracking male Yellow Wagtail in the paddocks, a couple of Sand Martins over as well as a Willow Warbler in bushes near the golf centre. Added to this a handful of Swallows heading northwest and a Common Tern on the river, Spring is indeed finally here. See what tomorrow brings.

male Yellow Wagtail in the paddocks today - after all those grey skies this winter, time to get the sun glasses out

Green-winged Teal at Crossness

I hadn't been to Crossness since Monday, and what with it being the last day of the holidays, thought it'd be rude not to venture out given the squally showers and a bit of south in the wind. Anyways, there was a nice winter plumaged Sanderling off the golf centre - my first of the year here - and a Swallow flew by midriver. There was also a couple of Yellow-legged Gulls on the foreshore, which had been absent for a while.

I trundled along to the incinerator outfall where I was hoping for a Garganey amongst the Teal and Gadwall. Always checking the common species, in this case Teal, is something you have to do here in London; it's not as if you've got vagrants in droves so it passes the time. And today was one of those days where there was payout as, just off the seawall, in amongst a small group of Teal and Gadwall was a blinding drake Green-winged Teal. Happy days, only the second Crossness record (last one was over a decade ago) and another good London bird that'll keep the punters happy.

drake Green-winged Teal Crossness 12th April 2013

 With the prerequisite hybrid check and the news banged out, I acted as an urgent taxi service for John A where I met him off the DLR at Woolwich. Back on site, along with Steve C and Mike R, all the ducks flew up but within a few minutes, with the heavens opening too, all had seen it. Half a dozen Swallows and my first House Martins - three of them - zipped west before John, Mike and I headed to the paddocks.

Looking from the screen, I picked up a Black-tailed Godwit. Now with 25 Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits on the foreshore, just another of them? Nope, it wasn't as with a change in habitat and the knowledge of nominate (Continental) birds and this creature's appearance meant only one thing - this was a Continental Black-tailed Godwit, presumably a first for the site. John A had come to this conclusion too, so another good bird south of the river (though Rainham has recorded a couple of these under recorded beasts recently). See here for some previous discussion and shots of this form.

Tomorrow's another day. Well, it kind of isn't as it's Karen's birthday.

A rather more confiding Green-winged Teal that I photographed on Madeira in February 2010

First signs of Spring this morning

Thanks to the guys at the local computer store, they've managed to salvage my laptop from a virus that hit it big time on Monday - hence the lack of Icelandic updates but they'll come very soon. It was, to be fair, quite nice not to be laptop dependent and it was a good bit of rehab for me. Shame the local birding wasn't that great, with just a Grey Plover at Crossness on Monday the only bird of note (I should have known better to have wasted time going to Kelsey Park to look for a reported 1st-winter Ring-billed Gull on Tuesday, but couldn't resist the larid draw so close to home).

And so, having had a relaxing day with my parents in Hampshire yesterday, I decided I'd go the opposite direction to the current birding abyss of southeast London and stayed the night at Portland Bird Observatory. Very pleasant it was too, and it was even more pleasant to actually feel as though the winter may almost be over.

After arising and hearing that there was little in the garden first thing (just an Arctic Skua past through offshore), I headed out and did the circuit from the obs, past The Pulpit Inn and to Portland Bill itself. It wasn't a mega fall, but a male Redstart was really pleasant as was a female Black Redstart. There were at least a dozen Wheatears, and also a couple of Willow Warblers in amongst the flycatching Chiffchaffs. All very pleasant stuff.

male Firecrest at Portland Bird Observatory, Dorset 11th April 2013 - nice to see the 'fire' in its crest!

Back at the observatory, the ringers were decent enough to show me and others a couple of Firecrests - the first I'd ever seen in the hand. Off to Reap Lane and a half-hearted search for yesterday's Hoopoe with no luck, though another couple of Black Redstarts (including a stonking adult male) and umpteen Chiffchaffs and the odd Wheatear felt things were moving. I also got the feeling that Swallows were up for heading north with 25 or so going through in pulses, and in amongst them the odd Sand Martin too. Once again, just good to see some migrants and with the predicted rise in temperature this weekend perhaps the bottleneck further south may just be cleared even more.

An old Icelandic friend at Crossness today

I headed out locally to Crossness. An adult Kittiwake was on view distantly as I arrived, thanks to John A who'd managed to get himself up there a few minutes earlier than I had. That snooze button on the alarm was well used this morning...

Anyway, a singing Chiffchaff was all that the Spring sunshine could muster up, but 37 Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits were migrating birds, and included an old friend that I saw at Crossness last April too: -

Originally ringed as an adult in southwest Iceland on spring passage in April 2000, this bird (red over lime on the left leg, green over lime on the right leg) has done the rounds - initially wintering in Ireland and then switching to Chichester harbour latterly and nesting. Vigfús Eyjólfsson gave me this helpful reply of its history last spring, so who knows to date where it summered/wintered between then and now: -
26.04.00  Grafarvogur, Reykjavík, SW Iceland
27.04.00  Pollengi, Árnessýsla, S Iceland
07-25.08.00  Swords Estuary, Co. Dublin, Ireland
02-08.12.00  Wexford Slobs, Co. Wexford, Ireland
23.04.01  Solvellir, Rangárhreppur, S Iceland
24.04.01  Pollengi, Árnessýsla, S Iceland
13.12.01  Baie de l,Aiguillon, France
01.08.03  Rogerstown estuary, Co. Dublin, Ireland
28.07-15.09.04  Swords Estuary, Co. Dublin, Ireland
20.11.06  Wexford Slobs, Co. Wexford, Ireland
01.05.08  Álftafjörður, E Iceland
25.05.10  Austurey, Iceland (nesting) 
09.09.-01.11.10  Chichester Harbour,  W Sussex,  England
14.03.11  Canvey Island, Thames Estuary, Essex, England
09-27.08.11  Bartlett Creek, Motney Hill, Kent, SE England
21-23.10.11  Bosham Channel , Chichester Harbour, Sussex, England
21.04.12  Crossness, River Thames, London, England

There was also another ringed Black-tailed Godwit, from one of the UK ringing schemes, that I'm awaiting details on...

Harlequin Ducks in Iceland

I got back home this afternoon, after a really enjoyable week in Iceland. A fabulous country, and I'd thoroughly recommend it to anyone - it's Scotland on a grand scale with volcanoes, clean air and full of friendly folk. As well as a fair few interesting birds (including the obligatory gulls), and very few birders there is a lot to find and discover. Admittedly, I did luck out on glorious sunshine all week but I reckon these beauties would look pretty special in the rain too: -

 

Harlequins at Grundarfjörður 4th April 2013

Harlequins were quite easy to see, and I managed to locate the odd bird on most days of the holiday - down in the southwest near Grindavik (in the bay at Hraunsvik), in the south at Vik and then in the northwest at Grundarfjörður. April is the time of year when they start heading off from their coastal wintering grounds back onto the rivers where they breed, so some seemed paired up whilst others were still in small flocks feeding amongst the surf and rocky coastlines. Earlier in the winter, they'd be larger flocks in the bays while a few weeks on, it's when the long lens brigade pap them on the fast flowing rivers in their breeding habitat. First time I've ever seen drakes in sparkling plumage so an absolute pleasure (saw some in Washington/Oregon in minging kit last summer).