Peregrines over Canary Wharf

I think this was a peregrine pair yesterday , I saw them several times - flying around the top of the Canary Wharf sky scraper. The falcon is to the left of the tower. When you zoom in it looks like the mate is flying close by.

Streatham crochet bomb by 319 bus stop

Barcelona Cafe Streatham

peregrine falcon - Tate Modern chimney

A lonely peregrine  up on the Tate Modern chimney this afternoon ....not a great picture but Through the RSPB scope I could clearly see she /he moving his mouth as if angrily screaming , or so it seemed to me . The RSPB man told me they think there are 25 of them in London, he also said he'd seen Honey Buzzards while doing his stint at the Tate Modern. I was thrilled to see this Peregrine - imperious and apparently in a white hot rage above the city.

A peregrine falcon high on the Tate Modern chimney this afternoon, moving his/her mouth as if screaming, an erupting rage of yellow eyes.

A documentary about these birds claimed to measure a peregrine in a hunting stoop (dive) at 242 mph- it's the fastet animal on the planet. The RSPB man said they couldn't tell its gender, like sparrowhawks the female is bigger - this is called sexual dimorphism.

Wild flower meadow Horniman Gardens and fungi walk poster

Box Hill and Headley Common ride

On Friday I enjoyed a lovely day riding to Box Hill via Banstead Heath and Headley Common - hardly anyone else was around - perfect!

Moth walk Norwood Country Park

Not too many moths about but the talker brought an amazing caterpillar, it was quite late , way beyond my bed time, so I can't remember much detail. Walking home from Norwood there was a magnificant storm over central London with forked lightening, luckily dry in the South, I saw two lovely fox Cubs.

Birmingham library

I always wanted to see this new library building in Birmingham since it was completed, and it was very impressive in real life.

Sparrowhawk update

Shortly before I went camping it was great to see a tree full of young Sparrowhawks , the two biggest perched next to each other looking out over the wood while the fluffier younger sibling still sat on the nest, since then I haven't seen them and conclude they've all gone away, which is sad but how it should be. I did see a Sparrowhawk over Streatham last week so wonder if that was one of the young ones looking for a new home . It was a wonderful experience to watch this Sparrowhawk story from the couple first meeting and mating to incubating the eggs and watching the young grow up into handsome  young Hawks, I miss them a lot a still look up into the nest in case one has decided to stay - someone told me the father hawk does stay, while the others all go off into the world.

Hurst View

Two great nights of camping on the Hurst View site, with many great wild life encounters including rabbits, deer, foxes, bull finches, curlews, tawny hoots, godwits, reed warblers, kites, kestrels, buzzards, bats, oyster catchers, wild ponies in the New Forest, donkeys and egrets. We got a warm swim in the Solent as well - shame to come home, it is so humid in London. This was the first camping trip I have ever had where I felt too hot in the tent at night! Lots of great walks and running on the wild life reserve in the sun rise...

Sparrowhawk chicks, Kite day on Streatham Common

Sparrowhawk chicks and their father feeding them

We had a very clear view of the three Sparrowhawk chicks and their father feeding them this afternoon, I managed to get a photo through the scope, it's  not that clear but at least you can see the white chick feathers.  Later I saw a male sparrowhawk flying over Streatham Tescos - my guess it was this one looking further afield for food to keep his three chicks happy - he looks noticeably slimmer as all his energy is put into the chicks.

Three large Sparrowhawk chicks in their nest

Yesterday in the late afternoon from the side angle approaching the sparrowhawk nest we saw three large white Sparrowhawk chicks - in their nest which now looks very crowded - I am amazed how fast they have grown - they seem to be the size of swan chicks and are very active and wiggly, it was a shame -  as four of us had spent time looking from a different angle and saw very little, then, when Toby and Magda had gone home we shifted our angle and the view into the nest was perfect and there were the three big chicks sitting in a neat row...

Sparrowhawk chick!

Today in Bedford Wood, Tooting Common we saw the first Sparrowhawk chick, very bright white, pop it's head up from inside the nest as the father watched over it, the chick was quite big, like a duck chick, so glad to see evidence of their success at last. My friend Lesley took her powerful scope into the woods so we really got a clear view, as well as a great view of the male with his rusty white chest and sharp yellow eyes, really looking after his offspring so alertly, I've seen him hunting by the pond several times in the last few weeks, and the mother still on the nest as she may  have unhatched eggs, exciting!

Streatham High Road again

It was the hottest day of the year so far today, the mornings are humid but the day seems to get brighter and more summery as it goes on, this week I've seen groups of young men in balaclavas riding four  wheeler motorbikes through Steatham like bad Cowboys, revving and recklessly cutting across the traffic, everyone stops to stare not knowing whether to admire them or be scared...

Saw the Tooting Bec Sparrowhawks in their nest

I saw the Tooting Bec Sparrowhawks in their nest this morning, off to try and spot Green Woodpecker chicks now...belowdecks, The Whitehouse, Norwood Grove, Streatham Common.

Sparrowhawk over Streatham Norwood Grove yesterday

I had a very clear view of a male Sparrowhawk over Streatham Norwood Grove yesterday, it looked like he was hunting swifts, or at least flying quite aggressively around them, below, the cafe on Tooting Bec Common, below that a picture I did 14 years ago after going to Tokyo, I forgot about it completely as it's in a house I used to live in back then.

Great Spotted Woodpecker chick being fed

Today in Streatham Wood, having heard a persistent, unceasing bird cry, I Finally investigated it, the call lead us to a tree with a smallish hole, at first I thought it was a nuthatch nest but then a great spotted went up to the hole with a worm in its mouth and a bug eyed, red Mohawked chick grabbed the worm - a perfect little Great Spotted Woodpecker chick, the crying only stopped for a split second as it wolfed down the worm. Back in Bedford Wood the female sparrowhawk was still on the nest, we saw the male flying over the pond on Tooting Bec Common, then, a few minutes later, flying very high above the wood and then near the railway line between the wood and the lido. There was lots of wonderful bird call in all the woods, I thought I saw a white throat in Conyers Road earlier on. We saw lots of Dunnock and, I think, a female Black Cap by the A214.

Below, the iconic Streatham High Road Cedar of Lebanon.

Wimbledon to Richmond walk

A beautiful walk from Wimbledon station to Richmond yesterday, the highlights were seeing jackdaws riding on the backs of deer and a wonderful view of a male kestrel hovering near the Wilderness. We also saw young cormorants, gossander and huge white eggs near to them, pied wagtails, Common Pochard ducks, and black headed gulls. Petersham Meadows looked like a painting..all in all I walked nearly 20 miles yesterday, amazing how far you can get if you pace yourself carefully, feet didn't even ache much....it was pretty mild, so green, from the high point in Richmond Park it felt like there was forest as far as the eye could see, I think the tower at Leith Hill was clearly visible from the top terrace looking left and even further left also possibly Box Hill, which is only 14 mies away from Richmond. Much evidence of extravagant, vapid affluence so close to London, rowdy rugby types on the train going home, quite an 80s feel to it all, pre-housing slump carnival atmosphere this Saturday night.

Chicks in Wilian village pond, Hertfordshire

Chicks in Wilian village pond, Hertfordshire, below that my mother's painting which she has had since 1951 reminds me of the scene, she says the painting was of Derbyshire though, and her grandfather used to look at it and observe  it might look nice but a terrible storm was obviously on the way...perhaps that's where the pessimism gene comes from? It was a pretty stormy day but we had a fantastic lunch at the fox pub in Wilian, followed by a little bit of sun as we waddled round the pond, I liked the gargoyles in the church tower, a very comical bunch of gurning baldies.

Trip to Shoreham

A lovely trip to Shoreham, Kent today, walking along the Darenth River and across the beautiful wooded hill tops, the site of a buzzard carrying a fox cub through the air was pretty raw, we then saw one of its brothers or sisters waiting on the path below.

 Below - a good companion on this walk...

Little owl Streatham common

I saw the little owl roosting this afternoon in his Ivy covered tree, he looked right at me, how I love that little owl...

Below, Tooting Bec Lido, last week when I had a very cold plunge.

Cliffe, Kent: Nightingales, cuckoos, marsh harrier, kestrel....

A great trip to the RSPB reserve at Cliffe in Kent today, we heard lots of nightingales and saw and heard three times  a cuckoo (or three separate cuckoos?). We also saw a magnificent, vast marsh harrier, with distinct white stripes on his upper wings,  a wonderful view of a female kestrel, a tern, two nesting Mediterranean gulls and a few oyster catchers. We also heard a Cetti's Warbler, lesser white throat and reed Warbler, saw white throats, a great (white) egret , little egret, swifts, swallows, orange tip butterflies, a red shank,  black headed gulls with lots of chicks and the beatific, curve beaked site of many Avocets in the estuary mud. A delightful trip, I'd like to go back and see the Small Eared Owl, but would have to camp out - in all likelihood - to actually see it.

Below, the graffiti seemed comically ridiculous - implying a bizarre avian vendetta?

Long walk round Crystal Palace: kestrel, pied wagtails, fox.

I took a Long walk round Crystal Palace today with friends, saw a kestrel hovering perfectly over the scrubland above the palace foundations, two or three pied wagtails flitting around like dragonflies near Capel Manor, baby Coots and what I think were geese chicks, gold finches and mistle thrushes, wonderful evening sounds in Sydenham Hill Woods, a fox went into the entrance in Low Cross Wood Lane - we heard Cubs calling, first time I've seen a fox in the woods, spent almost all day walking, cold but lovely. 

The next day i went to see the motor 'racing' at Crytsal Palace, they were racing against the 
clock not other cars. Which would have been exciting but too dangerous I suppose. I was 
curious to see how they would do this, as the old track has gone as far as I know, but there were some hairpin bends and lots if burning rubber smells and screeching tyres. The, mostly male, drivers certain,y Kok it all very seriously. I remember the sound of the races here when I was a child, and like to imagine Niki Lauder and James Hunt racing in formula 3 cars here, as depicted quite vividly in the film Rush.

Tescos Streatham

Streatham high road this afternoon

Streatham high road this afternoon, yesterday a bunch of us went to the Nunhead Cemetery open day, what a beautiful location for celebrating urban wildlife, as well as beekeeping, woodworking, falconry etc, I saw the raptors up close but did feel heartbroken to see them tethered, later I saw a kestrel flying very high above Nunhead. We went into the crypt and saw mouldy old coffins in neat cubby holes, many goths were hidden out in the woods, trying not to get tanned....

Fox, sparrowhawk, Little Owl

Quite a day - in the morning on my way to Tooting Bec Common a beautiful little red fox, then the sparrowhawk on her white feathery nest, in the afternoon a wonderful sight of the Little Owl roosting on Streatham Common, during a very hot day.

Sparrowhawk over Streatham common, possibly two hobbys

I saw the sparrowhawk fly onto her nest in Bedford wood, the nest has small white feathers entiwined in its edges, I wonder if they are from chicks (too soon?) or from other birds. In the early evening I saw a Sparrow-hawk over Streatham common, and possibly a pair of hobbys, flying across Norwood Grove, at first I thought they were peregrines at first, but looking them up I now think they were smaller than peregrines, probably sea gulls ! but I'm sure the second one was a male with some redness underneath...

Swifts above Tooting Bec Common today;Sparrowhawk in her nest.

The first Swifts of the summer were cavorting above Tooting Bec Common today. Below, a Lenticular Cloud above the common. In Bedford Wood the Sparrowhawk was in her nest. All is well....

Below, Cafe Wood, looking so beautiful this morning

Queued to vote this morning

Above, mute swan on Tooting Bec Common.

I queued to vote this morning, I'm hoping this might indicate an imminent landslide, despite all the best efforts of the English gutter press to re-elect our current, out-of-touch, elite.

Athene's room was small and well insulated, giving their voices a flat, serious quality, like a Bakelite radio broadcast. The air inside it was sweetly resinous. He was working hard to remember all these details, even while they talked. They were 15 minutes into the session and he was acutely aware of time leaking away.

"I remember Robert, we once had a similar conversation about swifts - how you envied their scissoring effervescence, their apparently carefree lives."
"Yes, it's true - I envy the lives of others, even wood-lice."
"Believe me - they all have good and bad days."
Athene's yellow and green eyes looked directly into Robert's, above them a white uni-brow added to their ferocity. There were delicate flecks of white all across her flat brown face and rounded body. She was an odd mixture of childlike bundle and raptor sharpness, somehow he'd grown fond of these confusing contradictions.
They were up high, inside the rotten oak where Athene had lived and worked for years. It was only a few metres from the pond, but seemed another world to Robert, at least for the one hour a week he sat with her.
"Robert, I'm so glad you've kept this last appointment, even though things are bleak for you right now. Tell me more about Albin, what is it you envy about him?"
Robert cleared his throat, tilted his red and yellow beak sideways before speaking.
"He knows he'll wake in the morning. He knows his wife and children are safe - there is even a royal warrant to guarantee his protection."
“He's certainly arrogant, I agree. His gait in the water is sovereign – an effortless glide." Although she lived safely, with no personal threat from predators, Athene too, had lost many children - crows had eaten them or parakeets thrown her chicks from the nest to make space for their own. He knew this from others - she never spoke revealingly about her own life.
“He is above molecular resistance," Robert flexed one of his long, scaly toes, "have you noticed how he flies through the air like a strong heart, slowly and regularly, his huge white wings beating the sky? He's so sure of himself and his place in the world - he has no need of hurry.”
“Are there any downsides to this high-and-mighty existence?”
“His voice, although not strictly mute, can only raise itself to a farting snort, much like a small pig - though God help you if you make that observation in front of him. He's killed for less."
"What do you imagine has made Albin into such a brute?"
"Some months ago he started talking to himself. Ranting. I learnt his most traumatic memory was his father trying to drown him beneath Putney Bridge.”
“That explains his violence?"
“According to Albin, it was a valuable lesson - an apprenticeship in cygnine masculinity he never forgot."
“I remember his father, Alarch. He was a fascist, wasn't he?”
“He was a member of the Cygni - a fascist organisation established in the 1990s. Alarch's membership number was 4. Albin loved his father for his low membership number and his lack of mercy, he loved himself even more for doubling it – the brutality. But his love for his father was always shaky - to celebrate his death he had a brief affair with his mother and sisters before abandoning them to the Swan Sanctuary at Shepperton. After that he moved into the pond on Tooting Bec Common with Bianca."
“Albin and Bianca epitomise Folie à deux - they share a psychosis - a deluded emotional convergence, much like the Miloševićs or the Ceaușescus. But tell me about your own father, how does this story of brutal fathers resonate for you?"
"Dad? He was like me. Meek. Intellectual. Not good at fighting. But we knew he loved us."
"How?"
"He tried to make things feel safe, even though they weren't. When we were in danger he showed us how to make toys from sticks, to distract us."
"Who does that remind you of?"
He twitched his shoulders, looked down.
"You are a good father Robert."
He swallowed loudly, trying not to weep.
"What are you feeling now?"
"I don't know. Sometimes I feel so anxious I can't tell any more."
"Shall I tell you what I feel?"
He nodded his tiny head.
"I'm touched by how tenderly you look after your own family in such difficult circumstances.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to a Chiffchaff's repeated call. It echoed around them like the sharpening of knives.
“And in your fantasies about his inner life is Albin happy or unhappy?"
"I think his happiness is synchronised with his repeated compulsions – constantly patrolling the pond, gliding along its wavy edges, harbouring an imminent yet elegant rage to let others know they will never rise above him or dominate the waters, to kill the weak and demoralise the strong."
“You have developed such useful insight Robert. Do you remember when we first started working together, how hard you found it to talk?”
“I do.”
"So what are you going to do now - to make things better for you and your family?"
"Try to start a new life in a pond near Norwood."
"I applaud your pro-activity. It won't be easy but you are taking control."
"I wanted to ask you, Athene - are you ever scared of Albin and Bianca?”
“I’m not scared of them but I don't like what I see.”
“What do you see?”
“An emotional cross-contagion unique to swans and humans but never found in Moorhens or Little Owls.”
“We do have our plus-points then?”
“We have many Robert, but now, I'm afraid, our last hour together must end.”
"Thank you for listening to me Athene."
"Good luck to you Robert."
He would be sad, he knew that, but his father had loved him and Albin’s hadn't. He had that to hold onto as he left Athene for the last time.

Pond story

Bianca and Albin were back in the area. They worked together as man and wife persecutors, silently hunting down and cleansing the area of those in the community who were deemed undesirable or inferior. They'd been searching for the Rail family all night, systematically scanning every dark corner and potential hiding hole in the district. The Rails did their best to protect their two children from sensing the danger they were in, but Galina, the mother, couldn't stop shaking, her eyes were red and wide open and her voice had an unmistakeable tremble in it. She had a habit of twitching her shoulders when the terror became too much for her. Robert, the father, felt both pity and anger when he saw his wife do this; he hated himself for feeling this way, for resenting the fear that visibly engulfed her, but he hated even more the idea his children might detect any sign of it.

"Why does mummy look so funny?" Jacob asked his father.

"She's got a tummy ache, it makes her feel tired."

"But she doesn't look tired" said Jacob as he played with a stick he'd fashioned into a sailing boat.

"That's enough, go back to bed or you'll wake your sister".

He hoped his voice sounded ordinary though their lives were in imminent danger. Bianca and Albin were the most aggressively vicious persecutors in the neighbourhood. What frightened him most was the way they carried out their duties with such hungry pleasure.

Last week Galina and Robert had seen this cruelty for themselves, cowering for cover instead of trying to help their neighbours of several years, the Hewitts. They were ashamed of this - their cowardly paralysis, but the violence unleashed upon their neighbours was beyond all intervention. They'd seen poor Mrs Hewitt held down in three feet of water and drowned, while Mr Hewitt was beaten and stamped on by Bianca. The memory was more than they could bear. As the two huge Mute Swans approached the reed-bank Galina stifled a sob, if this was the end she hoped it would be quick, but the terrifying, muscular swans, seemed to revel in prolonging the pain they inflicted on Moorhens and all creatures considered lesser species. Even if they survived the night it was clear the pond on Tooting Bec Common was no longer safe. Somehow they had to find a new refuge. Robert had recently overheard three Coots discussing a pond further South of Tooting, towards Norwood. Perhaps this might be a safe haven, somewhere the kids could have a real future? One without the constant threat of violence. As he thought about this dream Robert stayed very still. He was glad to see the kids were both asleep. Albin and Bianca were now perilously close to the nest, he could see Albin's huge orange and black fringed bill and Bianca's bead-like black eyes. The water made tell-tale lapping sounds as it carried them. He only let himself breathe once they had passed.

Dawn Chorus Sydenham Hill woods Saturday

It was worth getting up at 3:30 on Saturday morning to attend the Dawn Chrous walk in Sydenham Hill woods, it was a tremendous avian opera. To top it all we saw a very good view of a Tawny Owl, amidst the shrieking, horrified alarm calls of Nuthatches and Thrushes. Later I saw the sparrowhawk in the nest in Bedord woods, This morning I saw both the male and femal in the nest, it looked like they were having a BankHoliday lie in.

A Little Owl. Sitting in a niche of ivy. Roosting in a kind of evergreen eye.

In all that London mess I spy him.
Athene Noctua.
A Little Owl. Sitting in a niche of ivy.
Roosting in a kind of evergreen eye.
Right in front of me - perfectly scaled down.
A murderous, white and brown white-speckled miniture raptor.
10 feet from the raucous main road.
The owl twists his head 180 degrees.
Looks right at me.
Yellow eyed, blinking once.
Shuts his eyes.
I can't mistake the envy I feel.
The simplicity of this life.
I envy him.
I envy the owl his simple savage self.
His absence of self doubt.
He stares straight at me seeing all, but indifferent to it.
He doesn't envy anyone.
He doesn't want anything I've got.

Little Owl, Streatham Common

This afternoon in broad daylight, thanks to Carl Zeiss (binocular maker), I had the best view yet of the Little owl on Streatham Common, after a big absence, at least as far as my spotting goes (though my friend Andrew did say he'd seen the owl recently, in his usual spot). I've been looking regularly but not seeing him, but this afternoon every detail was crystal clear. The owl looked right at me, about ten feet away, then twisted his head to the left and nodded off, he was roosting in the gap between two ivy covered trees, he was only about four or five feet off the ground, but protected by bramble bushes;  he didn't seem bothered by the traffic noise or the raucous fun-fair sounds near by. I am so glad he is still here, looking so round, soft and healthy, what a great day for bird watching! Especially the raptors. I also saw a female black cap (mother red cap?) in the woods higher up on Streatham  common earlier, as well as a great spotted woodpecker, green finch, chaffinch and chiffchaffs, but the Little Owl is such a thrill for me to see, largely spotted because I've been scanning trees systematically, determined to find where he roosts - heartening to know patience pays off. My telephone pictures are terrible, one day I'll get a real camera, but I still think you can see an owl shape in the gap between the trees. I'm assuming he's a he, but have no evidence, he might be a she...he/she is perfect, a beautiful, dazzling bird, a gem, I don't know why I'm so mad about them, perhaps it's their miniature, perfectly scaled down owlishness, they are archetypes of mystery, wisdom, secretiveness, sleepy hunting marvels, they stare straight at me seeing all, but indifferent to it....

Male sparrowhawk on nest? Unlikely?

The bird walk on Tooting Common early this morning was rather too cold and damp, so We peeled off after two hours and went back to Bedford Wood to take another look at the sparrowhawk nest, this time it looked very much like the male was on it, but the information I have read suggests this is unlikely, who knows? It certainly looked like him up there, though whether there are eggs in the nest yet is another question, we saw the male and female earlier in a maginifcient tussle with a group of magpies, well away from the nest, the view of the male sideways on was particularly magnificent, he is a handsome, rufous bird, and looked much longer through my Carl Zeiss birthday binoculars. I've just read that they don't mate with the same male, contrary to anthropomorphic anecdote, the female  goes off after they've reared the young successfully, while he stays behind, the following season she will pick the best mate.

Below, this is Streatham Wood.

We saw the pair in Bedford Wood mating on the 5th of April. If the gestation period is 32-35 days and that mating was successful, then sparrowhawk birthday(s) should be between the 8th & the 11 th of  May. the RSPB says this:
"Three to six eggs are laid at two-day intervals during May. Incubation lasts for 32-35 days and the eggs hatch in succession over two or more days, so that the chicks are different sizes. The female helps the chicks to break out of their shell. They are covered in pure white short down, and their eyes are already partly open when they hatch. " (RSPB.org)
Earlier we saw a female sparrowhawk being mobbed by a crow near Dr Johnson Avenue, then , another view of a sparrowhawk, female I am sure, by the whiter underwings, diving onto a pigeon, I'm wondering if it was the same female who took the catch back to the male, then we saw the magpies fighting them for it back in Bedford Wood, all very exciting. We saw greenfinches, heard a willow warbler, saw a female black cap. There was speculation that three long eared owls were seen before in the cafe wood - this sounds improbable, but you never know I guess! What a sight that would be.
It looked like we saw the male on the nest, but both sexes have bars on their tail feathers and white spots on their backs, so it's hard to say, I thought it looked like the male.
Re the idea of a male sitting on the nest, the RSPB book does not rule out the male taking part although most of the nest work is done by the female, the RSPB site states:
"  The female has sole care of the eggs and young, while the males' role (from egg-laying through to fledging) is to provide all food required by the female and the chicks. The female will hunt as the chicks get older, but only if the male is unable to catch adequate food by himself." (RSPB.org)  I'm sure we are going to see the chicks quite clearly in another 12 or so days. 



RSPB.org on sparrowhawks: