Parliament April 28th - Wet!

 

Not great weather it has to be said last Sunday at dawn.

I had deliberately timed this visit to the end of the month, to see where we were at this stage - eggs or chicks?

As you are probably aware, the weather was awful all morning, with the heavy rain I was in position at 6.00a.m, to be honest I was not expecting too much activity, I thought they would likely wait the rain out and then become active. However, hunger is a great motivator, and the first signs of life came at 7.02a.m, when the immature Tiercel appeared from the south side of Victoria Tower and flew straight to the nest balcony, looking down and screaming at the incubating bird below.

Yes, the immature is still with us and it remains to be seen, will he be a help, or a hindrance at breeding, we will see, I have had this in the past with long staying immatures becoming a nuisance, (Battersea Power Station) stealing prey, that is meant for the chicks.

However, from what I saw during the course of the morning, it seems he knows his place in the scheme of things.

At 7.38a.m the Falcon appeared from the other side of Victoria Tower with partial prey, she had obviously had a good feed, it also meant that the adult Tiercel was incubating. When the immature had landed on the balcony wall, just after 7, he was looking down at the Tray, so now fairly sure they are in the Tray instead of the old nest box sitting on the Balcony floor.

After caching the prey, the Falcon flew to the balcony parapet wall and sure enough, the Tiercel then appeared, she then dropped down to take over incubation.
The fact that she didn't take prey down to the Tray, and having obviously been away a while feeding herself, possibly points to eggs still, I intend to have another watch next week.

Alternatively, it is also possible that she had fed them prior to my arrival in semi-darkness, flew off with the prey remains, fed herself and the Tiercel took over incubation as soon as she left and fed.
After she resumed incubation, the Tiercel had a brief feed before relinquishing the prey to the immature.

                                                                         Immature

                                                      A very wet Falcon with prey remains

                                                             Waiting for Tiercel to shift

                                                                     Nest Relief

                                                         Tiercel feeding on Falcon prey

                                                                       Immature

                                                 Tiercel waiting for immature to claim prey

                                                           Prey claimed by immature

So, it looks like the immature may know his place in the pecking order, he was watching and calling all the time and didn't try and take the prey whilst it was unguarded, until the Tiercel released it to him.

Still not sure as of Sunday if eggs or chicks, further visits are needed.

Return to Cooling Marshes

 If you have read the blog in the past, its no secret that I love the wildness of the North Kent Marshes, with more available time, I would spend a lot more time over there. At dawn you just can’t beat the sunrise as everything comes alive and the landscape is revealed.

Wednesday’s visit, dawn arrival naturally, was very rewarding and from 5.45a.m until 12.00p.m I recorded 73 species, I would expect that as the tide started to rise and more waders came to roost possibly, no doubt I could have added more.

Admittedly I was moving about and suspect if I had concentrated on the river more, I would have added Terns, possibly even Scoters to the day list.

However, a thoroughly enjoyable morning and I recorded 8 species of wader – standouts on these being 9 Whimbrel (suspect more as they were everywhere) and a couple of Bar Tailed Godwits along with a flock of Avocets feeding out on the mud.

On the drive out to it no less than 5 Corn Buntings singing, once I arrived, I checked the fields with the Cows, and it was great to see 5 Cattle Egrets feeding amongst them. Gradually becoming a more common sighting, much the same when Little Egrets first arrived, nowadays everywhere.

I watched these for a while, along with a Stoat that was just too fast for the camera, also circling overhead was a Tiercel Peregrine presumably from the Essex side as it came that way.

I was hoping for some Wheatears, only ended up with one but nonetheless as ever always great to see one, just don’t get enough of them.

A really good visit and definitely a prelude to more over the summer, quite looking forward to it already.

 

 

 

 

 

Beckton Sewage Works Latest

 

April 18th



I visited on Thursday morning and mostly concentrated on the Outfall and River for activity, still waiting for that much needed Osprey to add to the Life List. They have been seen here in the past by others, but for me, a much-needed addition to the list.

A good morning with a few additions in the shape of a Marsh Harrier, not regular here, also Arctic Tern with a single seen along with 11 Sand Martins, 4 adult Mediterranean Gulls were also good to see.

Elsewhere there are still 17 Redshanks hanging on from the Winter, I would expect these to go very soon to their breeding grounds. 3 Common Sandpipers were also seen along with 7 very noisy Oystercatchers.

The usual culprits on Beckton Sewage Works, the Ravens are still on site, and I am only seeing one of the Common Buzzards, so expect they may well be nesting in the Willows again.
The Kestrels in the nest box on the main building are incubating and a 2nd pair, likely a new pairing are hanging around the 2 tall Chimneys. I will have to get a box up for them if I can, obviously not up on the Chimneys but somewhere more accessible.

Don’t seem to get passage waders here anymore, I would suspect the sheer number of Crows, now working the mudflats, is likely a put off.

Still no Wheatears!

 

 

New Kestrel Box

 

On Wednesday myself and my compadre in arms Lee, placed a Kestrel Box at a new site, following on from a previous visit having seen Kestrels in the area.

These days I can’t do it all myself like in the past, however I am lucky enough to have some really good mates around me, who help me no end and put up with my demands and nagging extremely well.

All went smoothly, apart from me trying to undo the rope, my sidekick performed admirably despite his office boy status and the box looks great, the rest as they say is up to the Kes’s.

It more than likely its too late for this year, but you never know, I would expect Stock Doves to show an interest as they do, hopefully it will peak the Kestrels interest also.

                                                                   Ready to go up

                                                                        Substrate

                                                    Heavy duty straps - no damage to trees

                                                             How can they resist it?

A massive thanks to Lee.