Third Time Lucky?

In 2013 the rangers of Hackney Parks and Green Spaces pollarded a tree in which had a Little Owl occupying one of its hollow branches. The Little Owl could be regularly viewed from the WaterWorks NR Pitch & Putt.

Back in the day:  https://archive.is/20130626053801/theleevalleyparkbirder.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/walthamstow-and-waterworks-nature.html#selection-1065.0-1065.89

https://archive.is/theleevalleyparkbirder.blogspot.co.uk

A year 2 child’s dad (in the class I was teaching at the time) worked for HPGS and after I had mentioned what had happened, HPGS had me design a nest box which they put it up in the pollarded tree. 

The nest box was mostly occupied by squirrels and stock doves for 6 years. But yesterday, Eugene Dillon-Hooper tweeted (with photos https://tinyurl.com/rzmx9fj ) that he had spotted a Little Owl on the platform of the nest box. Eugene later confirmed that Mike Messenger spotted the Little Owl earlier on New Years Day.

Fantastic and well done Mike and Eugene!

I paid a visit to the WaterWorks NR today and after a bit of searching the nest box tree (whilst 3 Treecreepers creeped, sang and called around the trees near me), a Little Owl was found in the pollarded tree to the left of the nest box tree. It called several times. The HPGS nest box was placed facing south. However, the original branch and its hole in which a Little Owl used to look out of, faced north. And today, a Little Owl was in a natural tree hollow, facing north. Maybe it doesn’t like the box or prefers facing north or is keeping an eye on the banks of the old river lee for small mammals?

On the same Feb 2013 day, before watching my last WaterWorks NR Little Owl, I also had a Bittern in the WaterWorks NR: https://archive.is/cn2m9

Fingers crossed!

PS. A Little Owl tree had also been pollarded on the Walthamstow Marshes SSSI paddocks a few years prior to the WaterWorks NR pollarding. Lets hope at a third time of asking, a Little Owl can get a few good years of solid me time in its desired tree (however, there are a lot more parakeets around the waterworks these days and a 'doggy beach swimming club' very near the Little Owl tree: https://tinyurl.com/yx78u74l).

Pics, Vidz and eBird links from today:

Little Owl

Treecreeper

WaterWorks NR eBird numbers: https://ebird.org/checklist/S63035716

Graham

Seventh Annual Walthamstow Patch Watch (AWPW7)

Annual Walthamstow Patch Watch 7

On the 27^th of April, some of the birder’s of Walthamstow will be doing their dawn till dusk 'Annual Walthamstow Patch Watch' day. It’ll be our seventh one.

Anyone is welcome to contribute and get involved. Timely news of birds on the patch will be appreciated by all taking part. Those on Twitter can use the hashtags #AWPW7, #walthamstowbirders or the usual #londonbirds to post news of birds on the patch. It all helps the birders on the day connect with birds and not to mention totting up the list at the end of the day. The ‘Latest News’ page on the London Wiki https://londonbirders.fandom.com/wiki/LatestNews is a good place to put sightings (though not as immediate as Twitter).

As for previous AWPW lists:

As you can see, the average is around 80. Hopefully we can at least match last year’s tally.

This is the patch boundary we will be following on the day:

 

Anything seen on or from the patch counts.

The patch consists of the Banbury Reservoir, Wild Marsh East, Walthamstow Reservoirs, Coppermill Treatment Works, Low Hall Sports Ground, Walthamstow Marshes, WaterWorks Nature Reserve and Leyton Tip.

For anyone taking part, here is a useful tick list for the day:

Link to AWPW Bird List

All the best on the day

Walthamstow Birders

Nuthatch from Walthamstow Marshes

The Nuthatch is back near the Horseshoe Thicket Bridge (probably never left). 

It roams the southern areas of Springfield Park, sometimes making short forays over to the trees in the thicket of the marshes. I viewed it and listened to it call and sing from the marshes thicket bridge at midday for around 20 minutes.  

Strain your ears and you can hear it!

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52587152

The Patch on eBird (& Why do so few birders use eBird?)

Why do so few birders use eBird?

What is eBird?

eBird is the world’s largest biodiversity-related citizen science project, with more than 100 million bird sightings contributed each year by eBirders around the world.

https://ebird.org/home

With a few minutes spent on the mobile phone app, birders can record their sightings and their data would contribute to this. Many birders spend time blogging or tweeting about their latest escapades in the field, so why not put the sightings to conservation use on eBird?

Walthamstow on eBird

eBird is a useful tool.

To give eBird a patch watching context, Walthamstow Reservoirs is the 3^rd top London ‘Hotspot’ for number of species recorded and Walthamstow Marshes is the 9^th.

The WaterWorks NR appears in the top 30 under the guise of ‘Leyton Marsh & WaterWorks.’ But then Leyton Marsh is part of Walthamstow Marshes, so that’s a bit messy. The WaterWorks NR itself comes in at London number 34:

Bird blogging or tweeting, at its best, informs another birder or wildlife enthusiast of wildlife news or shares where and when to view wildlife; at its worst, it is someone’s holiday photos or latest tick (somewhere in between does a bird blog or tweet lay).

With eBird, there is no question of its usefulness. An eBird report can contribute to graphs, data and trends for the patchworker or conservationist. For example:

January to December Observations of Waterfowl on Walthamstow Marshes 1900 - 2018

Northern Wheatear Observations on Walthamstow Marshes 1900 - 2018

This is a link to London's eBird data (find your patch from here):

https://ebird.org/region/GB-ENG-LND/hotspots?yr=all&m=

So, why do so few birders use eBird?

Pied Flycatchers, Warblers, Raptors, Whinchats, Walthamstow 2018 Year List, Rats and a dry East Warwick island scrape.

Last year on Walthamstow, the first Pied Flycatcher turned up on the 29^th of April during the 5^th Annual Walthamstow Patch Watch day (a female on the central path of the reservoirs). Then that was it for 2017. 

Fast forward to Autumn 2018 and we’ve had a definite 5 (possibly 7 but could be same birds) all in the same spot - the front paddocks of the Lee Valley Riding Centre.

On the 13^th of August, J-P Elmes, Matt Cunningham, Sue and Mark observed at least 3 separate birds on the front paddocks. 

@Suzehu

And, on the 3^rd of September Mark and Lol observed at least 2 separate birds on the front paddocks.

@Suzehu

Also on the southern side the patch were Garden Warbler and Willow Warbler in the WaterWorks Nature Reserve.

@Suzehu

@Suzehu

As was a juvenile rat.

@Suzehu

On the marshes, a 4 raptor day was fun.

Sparrowhawk

Peregrine

Hobby

Kestrel

And the Whinchats have been daily on the Bomb Crater Field.

Whinchat

With an eye on the patch year list, we’re currently on 146. Better than 2016 (143), 2015 (141) and 2014 (139). Our patch average is 146.6, so we just need to find two fifths or 40% of a FOY bird to beat the average before the year is out.

Black-necked Grebe?

Short-eared Owl?

Also, on the reservoirs, the East Warwick island was inspected and it was quite disappointingly not scrape like (thanks to DW for pics).

Walthamstow Birders

Nuthatch and other significant Walthamstow patching.

A patch Nuthatch is rare.

June 26^th, meters away from the patch, I heard a Nuthatch call above me in the Springfield Park tree I was under. I used the sound clips on the Collins Bird Guide mobile phone app to lure the bird closer to the patch. I crossed the Horseshoe Bridge and on setting foot on the patch, I heard the Nuthatch and then watched it fly over me into the Horseshoe Thicket. Well and truly patch ticked. I heard it again the next day.

The patch stats have Nuthatch with only one other record since 2010:

And it seems that it may have been there since June, as Stuart F heard it again from the patch on August 5^th. So, on August 7^th, I went back onto the patch for a bit of a twitch. After half an hour of listening on the Horseshoe Bridge, I heard the Nuthatch. I located its tree in my scope and got some views of it, before some Goldfinches moved it off. 

Like everywhere else, the patch is dry and hot. Bed 18 at the WaterWorks is at the lowest I’ve ever seen it; the Marshes are yellow and the Lockwood Reservoir is low. Even a pit stop in the East Warwick hide was hotter on the inside than on the outside!

There was no real sign of any occupation of the newly installed owl boxes on the Marshes.

On the WaterWorks, a Jersey Tiger moth was great to observe. As were a Holly Blue, a Common Blue and a Green-veined White butterfly.

Holly

Common Blue

Green-veined White

Peregrine Falcons are very vocal at this time of year. They can be seen and heard from the Marshes, WaterWorks and the Reservoirs.

Munching on a Parakeet

Common Terns have bred again on the Reservoirs this year, with two chicks. This year their old digs have been replaced with new accommodation courtesy of the LWT.

Familiarity breeds contempt is the phrase that comes to mind when contemplating our Common Sandpipers. When they’re the only wader after a long walk around the Lockwood Reservoir, it’s like they’re rubbing it in; but when they’re not there at all, you miss them.

I often like to torture myself with a big patch day. This usually involves an early rise followed by a 6 hour flogging of the patch from bottom to top, hoping for a treat, but ultimately yielding little or no reward. Lovely. And indeed, if it weren’t for the 15 Mistle/Song Thrush combo right at the start of the day on the ex pitch and putt field or for the Lockwood Dunlin right at the other end of the day, I might have thought it a waste of time. Maybe I should cut this habit out during mid summer.

On July 25^th and 27^th, two Little Ringed Plovers were welcome visitors to the Lockwood.

Reed Warblers have done extremely well this year. I have never heard and seen them in such numbers across the Marshes and Reservoirs.

@suzehu

Returning back to the WaterWorks:

Sue Huckle (@suzehu) has been patching the WaterWorks like a monster! She and fellow patcher, Mark D observed and recorded the breeding Garden Warbler, Sparrowhawk and Muntjac Deer. The pleasure she draws from watching the natural world is so evident in her images. 

All of the following are Sue’s pics from the WaterWorks Nature Reserve:

The Violet Black-legged Robberfly – a first for the WaterWorks (so probably the patch).

Grass Snake

Garden Warbler

Grey Wagtail -bred in the well head for the 3rd year.

Banded Demoiselle

Smooth Newts

Weasel

Muntjac

Breeding Sparrowhawk pics:

@suzehu 

& 

@grahamhowie

 Walthamstow Birders