Oman? No Man!

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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 raptors. Instead, we got a slightly chilly northeasterly, largely cloudy skies with the occasional sunny break.
We managed to spy a Hobby streaking across the south London skies, 2-3 Sparrowhawks including one bird that must have been over a thousand feet up, as it was a tiny dot with the naked eye. We also had the expected Peregrines, a Common Buzzard and a high flying male Kestrel. It’s incredible to think just how high these birds get. Loads must pass over our heads without us ever realising.
The Oman trip I mentioned yesterday sounds amazing with 5 nights there as part of the deal. Unfortunately, I will have to pass as I would return to Britain on the day I depart for Alderney and I would certainly miss that flight. Furthermore, I have committed myself to going to Alderney as the Wildlife Trust there have very kindly invited me to take part in their wildlife week. Plus, they have asked me to become one of their patrons.
I’m sure that I will have the chance to visit Oman again. Now, I must go – to have a good cry!

Oman! Oh boy!

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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 you may imagine, is generating a life of its own.
It’s been a great weekend for birding in London with my mates down on Beddington Farm discovering the first London Pacific Golden Plover in 107 years! What a great achievement lads! A Crane was seen overflying Canary Wharf this lunchtime, which may be a good omen for tomorrow’s stint up on Tower 42.
Finally, I received a surprise invite to a birding press trip to Oman departing on May 25th. It sounds amazing and having not been there before, I was quick to consult the internet to learn of the goodies that I could connect with, should I choose the partake in this mission. The reason for my hesitation is that I have not been formally commissioned by any of the mags that I write for. To be honest, I’d feel a bit weird about accepting a trip on the basis of it being a jolly. I guess I don’t feel that it’s right.
Anyway, I will figure that conundrum out tomorrow.

May Day, May Day – I’m bloody freezing!!

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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 walk around The Scrubs. The night before saw gallons of water pouring out of the sky. By 5am it had stopped raining but the sky was ominously dark. Surprisingly, 10 people were waiting for me so the walk commenced. The chorus wasn’t as rich as previous years partially due to the unpleasant conditions (it peed down!) and the fact that quite large areas of undergrowth had been cleared predominately for the Common Lizard populations. We did manage to connect with our usual songsters including at least 4 Lesser Whitethroats. Unfortunately, heavy rain put paid to a prolonged walk.
Last week, I had a great meeting with the PR company that looks after the Iceland Tourist Board. The long and short of it was that I have been invited over to Iceland in June along with my photographer, Russell Spencer. I’m really excited because we will spend the first couple day in Reykjavik then we’ll head out to the northeast of the island to see Ptarmigan, Barrow’s Goldeneye and millions of Puffins at first hand. I can’t wait!
Before that however, is a trip to Derby that I have lined up for next Sunday. My main goal will be to check on the city’s breeding Peregrines as well as whatever else Derby has to offer. But first, it’s a trip up that Tower on Wednesday that’s floating my boat.

One good tern

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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 treated to close views of Peregrines, a female Sparrowhawk and a male Kestrel. The latter bird is somewhat of a scarcity within inner London.
The best bird of the day and perhaps the best T42 bird of the campaign thus far was a distant tern that I picked up flying in a southwesterly direction well beyond Greenwich that banked our way and was eventually identified as an Arctic Tern. It was so high up it was virtually invisible with the naked eye. Check the Tower 42 blog for some great photos of the day’s birds taken by Mark Pearson.
Other news included getting an invitation from the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust inviting me to a talk being given by The Don himself – the one and only Sir David Attenborough. The problem is I only received the letter today and I had to confirm by today and I had opened the letter after office hours!
Finally, after nearly a year in the making, my urban birding in Budapest film was finally put on youtube. It has elicited a great response. Take a look and see what you think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zwbWN9swVw

Migrants

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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 that was promised as being nice and sunny but ended up grey with sunnier breaks.

We enjoyed our first Hobby of the spring – in fact we had 3 birds together over 70 Acre Lake, plus several Swift and my first Common Terns too. Earlier in the day, I discovered that I couldn’t get any public transport to the coach meeting point in Potters Bar so I opted for an early morning stroll around The Scrubs. Aside from a female Northern Wheatear the only migrants were a couple of Swallow. The only fall I experienced was the rain that poured on me whilst I stood by the grassland in an Adidas track top and Cape Clear baseball cap.
Today was a good day. I sent my latest piece in my BBC Wildlife ‘How To Be A Birder’ series on note taking and received a complimentary email from the editor that pleased me no end. Looking forward to climbing up the Tower tomorrow for some viz miggin’. The signs are good; southerlies, sunny and warm. Let’s see what goodies get brought in. I’m also being interviewed by the Sunday Express and being photographed as the figurehead for the ThamesWatch an initiative which is supported by Buglife and the RSPB. The idea (which has been running for a couple of years now) is to get school kids to look out for wildlife by the Thames during May.
Wish me luck with the migrants for tomorrow!

Groppers and the law

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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 socks when I had a call from a birder telling me that he had just found a Grasshopper Warbler in Little Wormwood Scrubs – a small park directly east of my patch. I’ve never seen a gropper on my home turf before, but alas, I had football obligations. The pitch was calling.

After a disappointing game (we lost) I got in the car and started to drive back home. Seconds later I had flashing lights behind me. It was the local constabulary. It was a ‘routine’ stop and one of the first questions the copper asked me was had I’d ever been arrested before. What was that all about?
Later in the afternoon I nipped down to the Little Wormwood Scrubs site (from where a Whinchat was also reported) to try and see if I could hear the Gropper. This park is very small with 50% being municipal parkland that was littered with the local populace kissing, dog walking and playing football whilst the remainder was managed scrubland. I must say that the area looked ripe for a shrike or some interesting skulking warbler – so a Gropper certainly wasn’t out of court.
Needless to say I didn’t hear the blighter, so it will be an early morning trip there me thinks.
Finally, tonight I indulged in a bit of culture and went to a Jacobean play at the National Theatre. Frankly, I’m a street boy first and foremost so come the interval I was totally confused and had to beat a hasty retreat to the nearby British Film Institute bar further down the Southbank – where I remained. It was all a bit high-browed for me!

Scrubs Rouzel

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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 until a dog walker flushed it. We saw it again briefly whilst we stood by the grassland searching for Wheatears and Whinchats.
Inspired by his experience on Tower 42, fellow Scrubber Roy Nuttall, journeyed back to The Scrubs later in the afternoon for a spot of viz migging. He was rewarded with the site’s 2nd ever Marsh Harrier, a Buzzard and 4 Swifts that I believe to be our earliest ever.
This evening, I gave a talk to the Potters Bar and Barnet RSPB Group about a year in The Scrubs. They seemed to enjoy it and have asked me back next year.

Blue skies

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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 seen almost on a daily basis. Today was no different with a pair noted on the grassland eventually ending up on the playing fields. It’s amazing that birding friends in Norfolk still haven’t seen any.

Tonight, I went to see Birdguides’ Fiona Barclay give an interesting talk on birding and technology at Camley Street Nature Reserve, Kings Cross in London. She covered all the gadgets, websites and all the other things that defy description. I had a go on the iPad that Max Whitby (Birdguides) had brought along. Initially, I found it to be like an oversized iTouch, but I can see it catching on. But I can’t see people pulling them out in the street.

Take note

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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 of which, I had a small cross-section of visitors at The Scrubs recently. Lesser Whitethroats, a solitary Common Whitethroat, a few Northern Wheatears, a lone overflying Yellow Wagtail and tons of Chiffchaff and Blackcaps.
A really weird sight on Sunday morning was a flock that passed low over my head containing two Cormorant, one Greylag and an Emperor Goose!
I had a proposed trip in September to the Azores practically green-lit by the Azores Tourism Authorities. Great news. I’m also giving a talk on Wormwood Scrubs this Wednesday morning to inmates at Holloway Prison.
Should be interesting talking to a load of women!

No migrants

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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 the great little film that Fiona Barclay at Birdguides put together following her recent visit to Israel. It’s charming and I love it. Check it out: www.birdguides.com/webzine/default.asp?menu=menu_magazine.

Crossed a lot of rivers

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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 to write a travel piece but I will be hopefully visiting areas that have been untouched for over 25 years.
Even more amazing is the fact that I will have the opportunity to launch another visible migration urban rooftop. I think that a theme is beginning to develop here. Anyway, more on that at a later date.
I’m also on the verge of getting a trip to Iceland in June. Again, Bird Watching Magazine have commissioned me to write a piece and I’m just waiting for the confirmation.
Finally, a few images from Tower 42. London’s hottest new birding spot!

TUB with fellow Scrubber Anders Price (Helen Babbs)
The London scene (Anders Price)

Leaving on a jet plane

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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 learnt that I’d been invited to Sri Lanka by the director of tourism – totally exciting! Furthermore, Sheena Harvey – editor of Bird Watching Magazine – commissioned me to write a feature on it as opposed to my usual column. Double result!
I’m also hopefully heading off to Corvo, in The Azores at some point soon too. Partially to scout for a wildlife film that I hope to shoot there in the autumn and partially to write a piece for my Bird Watching Magazine column. Now I know that it’s not strictly urban but there are houses there!

Leicester not forget!

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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 me with John Hague who very kindly guided me around Leicester on Sunday.
Today was our first day up on Tower 42 watching for migrants. Despite the predicted early south easterlies and no rain, we had north westerlies and almost continuous drizzle come the afternoon. We saw the usual city birds like Lesser Black-backs and Carrion Crows plus a large female Sparrowhawk with a full crop and at least two different Peregrines including one that spectacularly stooped near us to despatch an unfortunate pigeon. We later saw the bird eating it on Tower Bridge!
The most unfortunate incident was that documentary maker, Ceri Levy, who was up with us shooting the making of the Tower 42 story, suddenly collapsed. At first we thought that he had vertigo but when he still couldn’t stand up due to dizziness an hour later we got a bit concerned. Ceri is a rotund little fella, so getting him back down through the veritable obstacle course that is the plant room of the Tower – which you have to negotiate to get to and from the last floor that is served by a lift – was no mean feat.
Eventually an ambulance took him away. We learnt later that his heart rate had dropped to just 40 beats a minute, his sugar levels were way up and that he had a blood clot close to his heart. Needless to say, the surgeons operated immediately and his wife told me that he is expected to make a full recovery but they are keeping him in for a few days.
We wish you speedy recovery Ceri and perhaps you should avoid running up and down tall buildings for a while!

Tomorrow’s the day

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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. As with everywhere else, there was a lot of flooding around and there were pools of water everywhere. A lot of the derelict land resembled mini wetlands replete with several Little Ringed Plovers and a one even had Lapwings and a solitary Golden Plover.
Tomorrow is a big day in my calender as it is the first sustained watch from Tower 42. I will have around 10 birders up there along with cameramen, Opticron and a couple guys from the BBC’s Natural World team who are wanting to film us in action one day for a forthcoming programme. We’ve also got coverage on ITV’s regional news tomorrow too. I just hope that we pull in some birds.
Photos from tomorrow will be duly posted.

Eternal dreamer

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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 fact is that I could be well on course for a big spring count.
Most springs I have to content myself with maybe 5 or 6 birds between mid-March to the end of May. We have already had upwards of 10 birds and April has only just started. Our record spring was in 2006 when we recorded at least 42 birds including a flock of 11 on the football pitches. That year was also notable for falls of 5 Common Redstarts, 11 Spotted Flycatchers in one fractious flock, 3 Nightingales, 2 Cuckoos and a Ring Ouzel. That’s what I call a good urban trawl!
Finally a couple of links for you. Firstly, The Urban Birder on BBC London Tonight talking about the Tower 42 Bird Study Group:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/london/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_8590000/8590009.stm
And TUB on the BTO’s site talking about the demise of House Martins in their ‘Out of Africa’ Appeal: http://www.bto.org/appeals/a2b/
Let me know what you think.

Follow the Tower 42 Bird Study Group blog

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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. I know that I have been banging on about this project’s uniqueness but I have to stress this really is different.
I really can’t wait to report on the birds that pass over or at least within sight of the Tower and I’m secretly hoping for a rarity.
http://t42bsg.blogspot.com/

Can I have some more hours in the day please?

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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 another Northern Wheatear, heard a singing Reed Bunting (in itself a very rare occurrence – will it try to breed?) and I also heard my first Willow Warbler on The Scrubs this spring. Summer is coming.
I spent the day arranging meetings and doing more work on the Tower 42 Bird Study Group. Later in the evening I brought some shopping around to my mum and after, when I arrived home, I got to work finishing my latest piece for BBC Wildlife Magazine which is about bird calls and songs.
Sometimes I wish that I didn’t need to sleep.

Rubbing shoulders at The Palace

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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 have been there in honour of Sir Peter Scott and everybody was there from David Attenborough down.
I had a great time hanging out and chatting with colleagues in the business. I even managed to have a handshake and a chat with the legend that is John Craven.
But that’s enough name dropping for one evening. After we were tipped out of the Palace at 8.40pm I returned to The Urban Birder factory for the night shift. I have a BBC Wildlife piece to complete.
Thank you WWT for inviting me tonight.

First The Tower next The Palace!

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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 to me quite frequently so I’m often careful about what I wish for!

The first phase of the Tower 42 BSG is complete and now we look forward to the first watch period on Wednesday April 7th. My next major engagement is at Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen’s hubby at the WWT Sir Peter Scott Centenary Celebrations tomorrow night. Sordid details to follow.
Finally, a worthy cause to get involved with. It’s a quiz competition that you can enter to raise money for trans Saharan migrants and to honour the life of the remarkable Bob Scott, a fella whom I met on many occasions and who was one of the nicest people ever to don a pair of binoculars. March 26th saw a year’s anniversary of his untimely death.
Get involved and get the chance of winning some amazing prizes.
www.birdguides.com/bobscott

Tower of Power!

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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 that is London. The roof is over 600 feet up and the views from there are astounding. London truly looks like a village – a huge village encircled by a green verge.
The launch event was attended by around 70 people ranging from London birders to several of the conservation bodies to members of the media – namely the BBC. The management at T42 gave a quick speech on the history of the Tower and how they met me. Let me say now that the management at T42 have been absolutely amazing. They have shown unprecedented foresight and faith.
I then came on to talk about how the T42BSG came to being. I handed over to the first of the Bird Study Group’s partners Tim Webb from the RSPB London Office, who spoke about the London Peregrine Group and the work that we were going to do on Swifts. Then the British Trust for Ornithology’s Nick Moran spoke about Birdtrack, followed by Mathew Frith of the London Wildlife Trust who spoke about their work with communities in London.
Earlier in the day, 7am to be exact, I gave two live interviews for Radio London from the roof. Later in the afternoon I did some filming with BBC London Tonight who did two separate pieces for their lunchtime and evening news slots. It’s was amazing to get this much attention for this project. Furthermore, BBC London also want to follow up progress on the Tower in their Springwatch coverage.
The scene is set. Let the observations begin.