Keith and I had intended going to the London wetland centre, but following a brief discussion when we met up in central London, we diverted to Kensington Gardens to look for the 1st winter drake Scaup that has been there for a week or so.
Arriving at round pond it did not take us long to identify the bird which stood out from the resident Tufted Duck by its larger rounded head and a clear patch of its emerging adult silver back showing through its juvenile plumage. It stayed well out into the centre of the pond. Satisfied we wandered off to take some photos of nearby Kensington Palace and when we returned we could not relocate it. We later learned that it does move around between the pond and the Serpentine so we counted ourselves lucky that we had found it here as locating it on the much larger Serpentine would have been more difficult.
1st winter drake Scaup
There were a good number of Common Gulls present and a large flock of over 60 Eygptian Geese
Common Gull
Egyptian Geese
Our next target was to see if we could find one of the local Tawny Owls roosting in the trees. I had been told the general area to look but we hunted without success. We did find a small party of Redwing feeding on the ground.
Redwing
We decided that the cold was beginning to bite and we would head to the cafe by the Serpentine for a coffee. On the way we came across Paul one of the regular local birders, who kindly offered to show us the Owl’s roost tree. So we set off again back the way we had come and soon found the spot and there sure enough was the male bird sitting on his usual roost branch. Its easy when you know where to look!
Tawny Owl
Tawny Owl
Well in all the excitement we had forgotten about Coffee but after sometime watching and photographing the Owl we headed back to the Serpentine and that hot drink. After lunch we walked north up the side of the Serpentine and added a number of common species to our list and found lots of opportunity for photography.
The Serpentine, Hyde Park
When we reached Notting Hill the weather and the light had deteriorated but we decided to use what was left of the day by visiting Regent’s Park.
Regents Park
We did not add much to our list in the fading light but we had some nice views of some of the feral birds that breed here including Mandarin Duck and Red-Crested Pochard.
Mandarin Duck
An excellent days birding and our big thanks to Paul for his assistance in finding the Tawny Owl.
Greylag Goose [sp] (Anser anser)
Canada Goose [sp] (Branta canadensis)
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca)
Gadwall (Anas strepera)
Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos)
Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)
Common Pochard (Aythya ferina)
Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
Greater Scaup [sp] (Aythya marila)
Great Crested Grebe [sp] (Podiceps cristatus)
Grey Heron [sp] (Ardea cinerea)
Great Cormorant [sp] (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus)
Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Mew Gull [sp] (Larus canus)
European Herring Gull [sp] (Larus argentatus)
Lesser Black-backed Gull [sp] (Larus fuscus)
Common Pigeon [sp] (Columba livia)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Rose-ringed Parakeet [sp] (Psittacula krameri)
Tawny Owl [sp] (Strix aluco)
Eurasian Jay [sp] (Garrulus glandarius)
Eurasian Magpie [sp] (Pica pica)
Western Jackdaw [sp] (Coloeus monedula)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Great Tit [sp] (Parus major)
Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris)
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula)
Redwing [sp] (Turdus iliacus)
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula)
