A visitor!

My bird feeder has had a visitor!

A Robin on Sunday afternoon. He flew along, perched on top, flew away, figured out how to use the feeder, came back and grabbed a beak-full of seeds. I did not see this, of course. My wife pointed it out to me.

Local paper

As well as birdwatching, I also write for The Archer, the local volunteer-run newspaper here in East Finchley. I have combined these two interests for several articles – most recently a re-write of my blog entry about the Big Garden Birdwatch which has made the March edition (page 8 if you follow the link!).

Often heard, seldom seen

There is an old patch of hedgerow in the park near where I work. I can only presume that it is the remnant of a field boundary from the days when what is now North London was mostly farmland (there is most definitely an old farmhouse, now a museum, nearby).

When walking past this patch, I often hear the distinctive ‘yaffle’ call of a Green Woodpecker. This is one of my favourite bird calls, although I do find it slightly mocking – as if the woodpecker is telling me that I can hear him, but I can’t see him.

I really should take my binoculars to work so I can do a spot of semi-serious birdwatching during my lunch hour.

Today, though, I heard two Green Woodpeckers calling to each other, and I even managed to figure out which tree one of them was calling from. I couldn’t see him though. I stood watching and listening for five minutes and then, just as I was about to give up, I saw a flash of yellow-green flying from the tree to another one. I only saw it for a couple of seconds, but it was most definitely the woodpecker.

Made my day.

Bird-related reading material

As well as birdwatching, reading is also a hobby of mine.

An ideal combination of the two, therefore, is reading books about birdwatching. There are quite a few books about birdwatching out there at the moment, by the likes of the excellent Stephen Moss (who has a regular birdwatching columns in the RSPB’s Birds magazine and The Guardian), veteran TV presenter and very enthusiastic birder Bill Oddie and old classics such as Gilbert White, still in print over 200 years after his death.

My current favourite, though, is this superb book by David Lindo. For the benefit of those readers who don’t already know, David is the Urban Birder and he can be found on TV (The One Show, BBC1), in print (Birds magazine, among others) and online (his website). As his nickname suggests, his forte is birdwatching in urban areas. This is his first book, and I am pleased to report that his infectious enthusiasm comes across in print as much as it does when he’s on the telly or when you meet him in real life (I saw him give a talk at the WildlifeXpo at Ally Pally last autumn).

In his book, David recounts his birding experiences from an early age – it’s a story of a lifelong hobby and fascination that many of us can associate with, and in David’s case it’s one that has taken him all over the world. At the heart of this book is a very simple and refreshingly optimistic message – one that I find myself quoting rather a lot. In birding, anything is possible; you can find birds anywhere. His birding philosophy, in fact, can be summed up in two words: Look up. You never know what you might see until you do.

A winter visitor in the park

The other day I went for a walk in the park near my office – Sunny Hill Park in Hendon – for my lunch break, not an unusual event in itself.

What was unusual was one of my sightings in the park – a Fieldfare, no less. I have been on the lookout for these all winter but had been out of luck so far. The severe weather that we had until last week gave me hope as these birds usually only wander into urban areas when they have to in order to find food, but so far I hadn’t seen any this winter.

And then … there it was, perched in a tree next to the path, pecking away at some berries. I had to look twice, and without the aid of binoculars. At first I assumed it was a Song Thrush, but there was something not quite right about that deduction. I ruled out a Redwing because, well, there was no visible red patch on the flank and no clear white strip over the eye. Stepping a few yards along, I got a better look at the head. Yup, I thought, that’s grey. So is the rump for that matter. And the tail is dark. Could it be … well, there’s no-one else around to confirm it. But I’m confident in my judgement here. Fieldfare!

And then off he flew. And I walked off with a spring in my step.

Other sightings in the park included Starlings, Robins (plenty of these), Great Tits, Carrion Crows (plenty of them too) and gulls of the Herring and Black-headed varieties.

South of the River

As someone who has been raised and now lives and works in North London, I usually have no reason to venture south of the Thames. Today, though, I was visiting relatives in Richmond which, it turns out, is a lovely part of the world. Richmond Park in particular is an area with much birdwatching potential – indeed, as vast open spaces in London go, it’s up there with the Heath. Naturally, I took the binoculars with me. After all, you never know what’s going to turn up.

After lunch, we went for a walk along the Thames and through part of the park. I’d like to mention at this point that the view from the top of Richmond Hill, looking out to the west over Glover’s Island and Twickenham, is glorious.

Weather-wise, it was a lot milder than it has been in London for much of the past two weeks (‘mild’ is a relative term at the moment – it was three or four degrees Celsius). Blue and Great Tits were there to be seen and heard in abundance, while along the River itself I saw Black-headed Gulls, Mallards and the odd Coot. In the trees by Petersham Nurseries, I spotted a couple of Redwings in the trees.

There are a lot of Robins to be seen and heard at the moment. They must be marking out their territories ahead of the breeding season. I must be getting better at identifying birds by their song as I just think ‘Robin’ as soon as I hear that ‘tic-tic’ sound.

Most abundant of all, though, were the Ring-necked Parakeets. Walking though Richmond Park shortly before dusk, the air was filled with the very distinctive sound of these birds as they sorted out their roosting arrangements.

All in all, a lovely day’s walk and some good sightings. Nothing out of the ordinary, but there’s nothing wrong with that.

Something to listen to

It seems I’ve been watching wildlife programmes fronted by Simon King for many years – I can remember Bird Brain of Britain back in the 80s, and more recently I have enjoyed watching shows like Springwatch and Autumnwatch. I found out about his new podcast via the medium of Twitter – it’s him describing what he sees as he goes for an early morning walk. Worth listening to – I hope he goes on to do more.