The month ahead: Nonsuch Park in September

The attention at the park turns from young Kestrels to large numbers of Jays with peak counts of around 30 (total of nearly 100 sightings in the few visits I've made in this month). Autumn migration is still in full swing and you have a very good chance of gripping me off with a potential Nonsuch lifer for me! Kestrels are still around but more wary. Gulls start improving with records of settled Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls rising in number. There's a chance that someone will find a Yellow-legged or Mediterranean one of these days. The prime area for Gulls is the playing fields at Cheam Park.

Below is a list of the 36 species of birds you may come across in September based on my records. The number is the difficulty to see each species (1 is hardest, 5 is easiest)

Black-headed Gull (5)
Blackbird (4)
Blackcap (1)
Blue Tit (2)
Carrion Crow (5)
Chiffchaff (2)
Coal Tit (2)
Dunnock (1)
Feral Pigeon (2)
Goldcrest (2)
Goldfinch (3)
Great Spotted Woodpecker (4)
Great Tit (4)
Green Woodpecker (3)
Greenfinch (2)
Grey Heron (1)
Herring Gull (2)
Hobby (1)
House Martin (1)
Jackdaw (4)
Jay (5)
Kestrel (4)
Lesser Black-backed Gull (1)
Long-tailed Tit (1)
Magpie (5)
Mistle Thrush (1)
Nuthatch (3)
Ring-necked Parakeet (5)
Robin (2)
Song Thrush (1)
Sparrowhawk (1)
Starling (4)
Stock Dove (2)
Wheatear (1)
Woodpigeon (5)
Wren (2)

August at Nonsuch

August at Nonsuch Park sees the tame young Kestrels that are very photographable. They seem to appear at the begginning of the month and disappear pretty strictly around the end so if you want good Kestrel pictures, this is the time and the place to visit.

Throughout the park, birds seem to be very quiet; even the Chiffchaffs have fallen silent (mostly!).

Swifts are making a move and the most you'll get is small numbers very high up, migrating but they are hard to spot. Other summer migrants are still around but are very hard to locate. Blackcaps are probably the most obvious (and the only ones you are likely to see) with their alarm calls.

Gull flocks grow in size, but at this point mainly contain Black-headed Gulls. You have to be lucky to get a settled Herring Gull (though these are frequent fly-overs) let alone a Common or Lesser Black-backed at this stage. These will come later on in the year.

This is a good month for passage migrants, with birds like Whinchats on the move in August across the country you stand a chance of seeing one in the park (they have been seen in the past, but by people other than me unfortunately!).

Here is a list of 38 Birds that you are likely to see in August (based on my own records). Note that August is a poorly recorded month because I go on holiday in this month for half of it and I only started recorded the site thoroughly in the last year or two so these do not fully represent the birds to be found this month, though they do give a rough idea.
The numbers represent difficulty to see (1 being hardest, 8 being easiest)

Black-headed Gull (5)
Blackbird (7)
Blackcap (1)
Blue Tit (4)
Carrion Crow (8)
Chaffinch (5)
Coal Tit (1)
Dunnock (2)
Feral Pigeon (7)
Goldcrest (4)
Goldfinch (3)
Great Spotted Woodpecker (5)
Great Tit (2)
Green Woodpecker (6)
Greenfinch (4)
Grey Heron (1)
Herring Gull (2)
Hobby (2)
House Sparrow (2)
Jackdaw (5)
Jay (4)
Kestrel (7)
Little Owl (1)
Long-tailed Tit (3)
Magpie (8)
Mallard (1)
Mistle Thrush (3)
Moorhen (1)
Nuthatch (2)
Ring-necked Parakeet (6)
Robin (6)
Song Thrush (1)
Sparrowhawk (5)
Starling (5)
Stock Dove (6)
Swift (1)
Woodpigeon (7)
Wren (3)