03/10/2008

Another good day.

1 Pied Wagtail (something like 3rd or 4th record here for me), 2 Nuthatch (1 near Mansion House, 1 near ponds), 1 Kestrel (male north east of ponds), c15 Goldcrests (gardens, ponds etc), 1 Coal Tit (gardens), 9+ Mistle Thrushes (around Mansion House), 1 Stock Dove (over), 1 Chiffchaff (ponds), 2 Moorhens (ponds)

27/09/2008

I think I broke my day list record for Nonsuch Park today with 34 species seen or heard.
Some of these species were great patch birds. Species in bold are occasional visitors to the site, others are resident or seasonal but in low numbers.
Swallow (1 south 1st site record for me) Pied Wagtail (1 over near ponds, 3rd site record), Grey Heron (regular in winter but scarce in autumn), 24+ Jays (all over the place), 2 Green Woodpeckers (1 near ponds, 1 at north end), 4 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, (mainly around ponds), 3 Nuthatches (2 in gardens, 1 c500m north of ponds), 10+ Goldcrests (mainly around gardens), 1+ Chiffchaff, 1 Kestrel (near ponds), 1 Sparrowhawk (over ponds), 1 Moorhen (ponds), c10 Jackdaws, 2+ Mistle Thrushes, 2 Stock Doves.

So, in summary, an awful lot of patch scarcities but no decent migrants despite 4 hours of almost non-stop thorough watching. I am surprised I didn't have another Buzzard or Peregrine as it looked pretty good for raptors with Gulls circling on thermals. No sign of the Hobbies today... perhaps they've left. I think they probably have as it was a clear, sunny day with a fair number of dragonflies and still no sign...

What a day: 20/09/2008

This has probably turned out to be the best day at Nonsuch Park this year, if not ever, with two much needed and very exciting Nonsuch lifers for me and a lot of other good local patch birds.
Here are the highlights:

1 COMMON BUZZARD, flying north over at 4:43pm. 1 female PEREGRINE from the north then drifted towards Sutton mobbed, by presumably one of the regular, Hobbies which went into full blown high speed dives at the Peregrine. The former two are Nonsuch lifers for me. I expect the Peregrine was the Sutton bird. I saw another Peregrine from the same viewpoint, at Cheam Park, about 3 miles away, attacking a Gull (to no avail). I don't know if this is the same bird or not.

Above: Peregrine

Above: Common Buzzard

Also present today: 2 Green Woodpeckers (1 heard at the gardens and one flying over the enclosed area, no dogs area, 2 by the southern most car park), 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker (heard in the gardens), 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull (with Black-headed Gulls at Cheam Park), 14 Jays (all over), 17+ Jackdaws (mainly around the gardens), 1 Nuthatch (heard at the gardens), 4 Stock Doves (2 over main grassland area and 2 in dead tree near mansion house) , 1 Chiffchaff (in hedge at second no dogs area which is the enclosed area by the southern most car park), 7 Mistle Thrushes (open short grass area overlooked by the Cheam end car park) and 1 Blackcap (heard alarm calling by the first dogs area, the enclosed area near the Cheam end car park).

Nonsuch 9th April 2008

Another trip to Nonsuch today, focussing on the western half, aka Ewell end. I checked the scrubby area at the furthest point first. It wasn't as good as I remember with only a couple of Chiffchaffs singing and a Blackcap. Next I went to Warren Farm where there were some House Sparrows, my first for the year at Nonsuch and an increasingly scarce bird at the site. There were about 5 Jays in the scrub and woodland around the edges too and I saw a male Sparrowhawk circling in the distance from the farm. Next I went to the ponds, where there was a drake and female Mallard and three Moorhen with a singing Chiffchaff or two in the area. Green Woodpeckers were plentiful as were Blackcaps with at least 6 present. Just as I was leaving, there was a female Kestrel dust bathing in the non concrete car park right next to the school.

Nonsuch Park 7/4/08

Another trip to Nonsuch (there will be many in the next two weeks as I'm off school).
There were no Gulls today on the Cheam Park playing fields, I think the majority have gone to breed at more coastal sites now. There were several Green Woodpeckers on site and one or two Great-spotteds were heard. Tits seen were Blue, Great and Long-tailed. A Goldcrest was seen in the woods near the 1st no dogs area (ND1). A Mistle Thrush was heard singing. The Little Owl was present again. It was in the same tree just north of the mansion house, past the fence until a dog walker, or rather his dog, flushed it and it flew past the fence into the plantation of young trees where it was mobbed by Tits and Blackbirds. It was eventually driven into the gardens where a pair of Mistle Thrushes added to the gang mobbing it, it then flew into another tree; we decided to go so we wouldn't cause it more stress. The ponds produced a single Moorhen and a Chiffchaff or two were singing around there. There were around 23 Magpies on site, a record.

A blogging game and an early Chiffchaff

I have been tagged by a blogger namely gallicissa for this blogger type of chain letter! The point of the game is to write a 6-word meme describing your inner birder and then pass it off to 5 more bloggers.
I am meant to, if I can, put a picture with it too but seeing as I have only had my camera back for a while and have taken almost no decent pictures I can't.
Here's my meme
"screeching devil birds make my summer"
I couldn't really think of anything better. I'm not that poetic.

RE: Nonsuch Park, I am pretty sure that I'm going tomorrow so I'll have a report for you tomorrow evening.

Following southerly winds and rain last night I went to Banstead Downs before school, the only migrant was a Chiffchaff heard singing around 7:30am, probably too early for a decent number of migrants to be grounded. Although there were a couple of odd birds flying over going 'chee chooo'. No idea what they were!

Nonsuch Park 15/3/08

I went to Nonsuch park from just after noon to about 4:30 pm today, half of that time Phil Wallice was there. We did the usual route, there were large numbers of Green Woodpeckers present and a Jay was heard. Ring-necked Parakeets were even more noticable today. There was a Mistle Thrush feeding on the first no dogs area. Today, Stock Doves were active with 3 birds seen. Tits were all over the place today with Long-tailed, Blue and Great being seen in large numbers. Gulls weren't so obvious with only a few on the playing fields and a few circling high overhead. A Song Thrush showed well in the gardens where a Kestrel was seen flying towards the main grassland area. A single calling Chiffchaff was present around the ponds where two or three Moorhens were seen. One of the other more interesting birds of the day was a calling Little Owl (which I failed to locate) in mature oak trees c200m north north east of the mansion house.