Birders on Tower 42 two weeks ago (Jon Osborne) Our 5th visit to Tower 42 in as many weeks still didn’t result in the perfect conditions that we have desired for so long. We didn’t get a bright, sunny warm day replete with fluffy clouds and a gentle southerly breeze bringing in loads of migrant […]
Intermediate Egret (David Fettes) Another industrious day was had trying to tread water and generally catch up. Yes, the never ending game of catch up. Aside from writing the monthly articles and whatnot are the innumerable emails from no less than 4 email accounts including one for the Tower 42 Bird Study Group that as […]
Reykjavik, Iceland (Justine Watson) What’s with the weather? It’s May and I should be in my summer plumage having moulted my thick jumpers. But instead, I’m donning a beanie, thick jumper and a jacket to venture out into the metropolis. On Sunday morning, I did my bit for International Dawn Chorus Day by leading a […]
The Scrubs yesterday morning Today promised so much. The forecast was for a sunny day with a light southerly. Instead, we received a largely cloudy, hazy day with very occasional short sunny moments. As a consequence we didn’t see the anticipated drifting migrant Buzzards and Red Kites during our Tower 42 vigil, but we were […]
Garden Warbler (Russell F Spencer) Sunday’s planned trip with the Potters Bar & Barnet RSPB Group to Sandwell Valley RSPB Reserve in Birmingham became a trip to Fishers Green in the Lea Valley with Russell my photographer and his delightful wife Yvette. They were very pleased to show around their local patch on a day […]
Male Whinchat (L. Baxter) I really wanted to get up early before football to sample the avian delights that The Scrubs possibly had to offer for a couple of hours. Instead, I opted stay in bed. Last night’s talk must have been more taxing than what I had originally thought. I was donning my football […]
Male Ring Ouzel (Stephen Daly) This morning started brilliantly with the discovery of a pristine male Ring Ouzel (not the one photographed) that flew into my field of view whilst I was watching a Pied Wagtail. It perched on top of a tree and through my scope in perfect light I watched it ‘chack’ away […]
Spanish Ibex in Spain -not Notting Hill! (Stephen Daly) At last the sun is poking its head over my part of west London. To be fair, it’s been pretty sunny for the past few days made all the more better by the lack of planes. The Scrubs is still pulling in Wheatears, with birds being […]
My old notebook (Russell F Spencer) It’s been a weird last few days. The silent skies with no vapour trail scars is really unusual. You can almost imagine what it must have been like prior to the birth commercial flights. I wonder what the quiet skies and volcanic dust is doing to our migrants. Speaking […]
Ring Ouzel – where are you? (Stephen Daly) Had another boring morning at The Scrubs with a singing Willow Warbler being the only new migrant to be discovered. I’m sure that the place was crawling with migrants but of course none of them revealed themselves to me. If you haven’t already, you must check out […]
A single Swallow… (Russell F Spencer) A busy few days have been had at The Urban Birder Towers over the last few days. The main headlines are that I have been invited to visit Sri Lanka by their Director of Tourism. The great thing about is that not only have Bird Watching Magazine commissioned me […]
It was an interesting day today. Whilst watching a Northern Wheatear on top of a Blackthorn bush in the grassland on The Scrubs this morning, a Common Whitethroat suddenly popped into view making it my earliest here ever. It beat last year’s previous early bird by six days. Back at The Urban Birder Towers I […]
TUB and John Hague As usual, the photographs documenting my adventures (this time in Leicester) are coming in several days later than the trip itself. This is nobody’s fault it’s just that there is so much to do these days that downloading and sorting out pictures has become a mega job. The above picture features […]
On Sunday I journeyed north to Leicester in my mum’s car that I borrowed in the company of photographer, Russell Spencer. My mission was to hook up with Leicester’s adopted son, John Hague, and to be shown around the city’s jewel spots. We had a great day visiting a few places seeing some nice birds. […]
Desert Wheatear – why not? (John Charman) The last couple of mornings at The Scrubs have been all about Northern Wheatears. I’m not saying that I have been witnessing swarms of the blighters, no, in fact it’s only involved a single female that has probably stuck around for the last couple of days. No, the […]
I don’t often blatantly plug other blogs, but you have to check this one out. The Tower 42 Bird Study Group blog over the ensuing weeks could change the course of history when it comes to visible migration over London and indeed, change the perception of urban migration over almost every city in the world. […]
European Serin (Russell F Spencer) Another day in the office was had after a early morning jaunt to The Scrubs. The skies were heavily laden with rain when I stepped out onto the hallowed turf at 7am. It wasn’t long before the rain came although thankfully it was at most a light drizzle. I found […]
Lord knows how I managed to get into the Palace with no tie and no id – but I did! Buckingham Palace is quite amazing on the inside with grand spaces, exquisite furnishings and incredible art on the walls including Rembrandt’s, Rubens and the like all liberally dotted on the walls. Over 250 people must […]
This morning at The Scrubs I scored another Woodcock having unintentionally flushed it from the ground in Chats Paddock. The interesting thing was that I was chatting to fellow Scrubber, Roy Nuttall, about the Woodcock I saw just two days previously in the grassland when I suddenly flushed the bird. That kind of thing happens […]
White Stork – a possible sight from T42? (Russell F Spencer) The big day finally came. The Tower 42 Bird Study Group was officially launched on Friday within the luxurious T42 board room on the 42nd floor of this towering building. We were over 350 feet up looking through the window at the spectacular cityscape […]