Birds of the Scrubs: March 2021
Wormwood Scrubs Bird Sightings - March 2021
Linnet in March
Photograph taken on Wormwood Scrubs by Paul Thomas
Photos 1, 2, 3 by Laura Williamson, ring ouzel by Magnus Andersson @magnusphotog
Barbara Crowther writes:
March birdwatching was heavily affected by HS2’s clearance of the embankment area and end of Chat’s Paddock. The loss of the embankment path also immediately increased footfall in the meadow area, as walkers naturally gravitated away from the fencing. The emergency protection of the meadow is recognised by the Scrubs birdwatching community as being much needed in these difficult times, especially in order to support the ground-nesting meadow pipits which were still around in March. We had reports of individuals, pairs or three birds reported on 3, 7, 9, 10, 15, 19 and 22 March, and we hope they’re still around. However, loss of the embankment which is normally so full of bird life and the reduced meadow access also means we may not be able to see or ID as much as we were able to previously, and we’re pretty confident that there's a lot more bird life out there than we’re going to spot.
Despite these restrictions, we still managed to find quite a lot of exciting birds in March.
Paul Thomas gets the March Nostradamus award for birding predictions. On 31 March, he announced that “ring ouzels should be just around the corner”, which advised Oliver not to go chasing far-off sightings in Staines but stick to birding the Scrubs, where he had last seen 3 ring ouzel males in April 2019. Lo and behold, just 30 minutes later, Magnus reported a fine male ring ouzel near the main drag, which flushed towards the HS2 fencing near the embankment. If this had happened the next day, we’d have thought it an April Fool, but Oliver and Bill both raced over and both were also treated to good views that afternoon. Sadly it did not stay long, but April is traditionally the best month for these smart thrushes dropping in on migration, so we’re still looking out! If you happen to see what looks like a very smart blackbird with clean white bib and slightly yellower (rather than orange) beak, then do let us know!!
The first March pair of Linnets were reported by Paul at the tops of bushes in the meadow area on 5 March, and we saw and heard more linnets as the month went on - including on 9, 10, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24 and 30 March. Laura was thrilled when after several failed visits she finally thought she’d found a small linnet flock in the NW corner on 22 March, only for her shared photo to reveal that in fact - and even more excitingly - she’d found six lesser redpolls. A fantastic find as we don’t see many at the Scrubs, the redpolls hung around the NW corner until 25 March when Oli had a good sighting of a pair amongst a small flock of goldfinches. Laura finally got lucky with finding linnets on 22 March!
Another sudden surprise on the Scrubs on Monday 22 March, when a snipe flushed some of the deeper bush and grass at the bottom of the old path in the meadow - it flew off low and silently towards the NW corner, behaviour more characteristic of a jack snipe than the common variety, but the exact ID could not be confirmed. Another ID challenge was occasioned by a beautiful white egret which flew over Laura’s head on 4 March, triggering a lively debate on the ScrubHub over whether it was a little egret or a great white, the former are more common and therefore more likely to be seen, but heron-like size and reports of great whites elsewhere in NW London do not rule it out entirely.
We were expecting the first wheatear sightings in March, and it was Anne who reported seeing our first pair of 2021 on Monday 29 March, down in the grass by the model aircraft flying zone, and later flying into the meadow scrub area.
We started first hearing and then seeing more chiffchaffs as the month went on, with four different individuals seen in Chat’s Paddock on 22 March, and they are now singing loudly from many of the woodland areas on the Scrubs. Their song can be confused with the two-tone repetitive “teacher-teacher” call of a great tit, but has a few more slight variations in notes if you listen carefully. Rather more melodically, our first blackcaps were seen in March, with the first sighting reported by Francis in the NW corner on 27 March, and then another lovely female in the same tree as the ring ouzel by Oliver on 31 March. April is already bringing more sighting of these very smart warblers - remember that the female blackcap in fact has a russety brown cap - they should become much more visible in April.
A flock of 12 redwings was spotted near the lateral path across the meadow on 3 March, and further redwing sightings were reported between 4 and 22 March, including 14 redwings over the grassland towards the NW corner on 15 March. However as predicted, numbers have declined as these birds move on towards their summer breeding grounds now.
We had a number of Great Spotted Woodpecker reports during March, including one in the northern woods on 3 March, and a lovely pair in Scrubs Lane woods on 7 March. These may have been the same pair later sighted that morning courting close to the Scrubs protection camp in Chat’s Paddock, their early morning drilling no doubt better than an alarm clock for those in tents below the trees. I’m sure there have been many more seen in March, but confirmed sightings were reported on 9 and 23 March.
Robins, dunnocks, blue and great tits have all been heard singing and gathering nesting material in all the main wooded and meadow areas of the Scrubs, and long tailed tits are often seen in all the copses and woodlands. Parakeets are also displaying courting behaviours, as Laura’s picture perfectly captures! March also brought many more sightings and slightly raspy sounds of greenfinches, which we’re always glad to see given the UK has lost over 1 million of these lovely finches in the past 15 years, largely due to trichomonosis (always remember to keep those garden bird feeders clean, folks!). Three greenfinches were seen in the meadow area on 3 March, and then throughout the month, up to 10 seen in a small flock on 24 March in the marshy area near the NW corner. Chaffinches continue to be seen especially near Braybrook woods, and a pair were atop the trees there on 7 March. Braybrook woods and the hedges along the meadow on that side are also the place to look for house sparrows, which are now heard calling quite loudly again.
Two crows were busy harassing a kestrel near the NW corner on 17 March, and a male kestrel in the North West corner also posed delightfully for pictures for Laura on 23 March. Still on the raptor front, a sparrowhawk perched up in a tree in the northern woods long enough for Barbara to gaze through her binoculars into its yellow eye on 22 March. One of the HS2 night security workers has reported a ‘white owl’ within the enclosure where the brambles have been cleared, but we’ve not managed to confirm what sounds like a possible barn owl, however it is possible as there have been a few reports of barn owls near the Old Oak area in the last year or so.
The large flocks of gulls normally seen on the playing fields we saw over the winter are now starting to reduce in numbers, but we still have regular visits of individuals and smaller groups. The carrion crows continue to throng in the playing fields on some days, with 200 of them reported on 10 March having a ‘cor-vention’ in a sure breach of lockdown rules on large gatherings. A herring gull was also seen harassing a carrion crow overhead on 7 March, which appeared to be carrying the remains of someone’s takeaway. Paul watched a cormorant fly over the NW corner of the Scrubs on Tuesday 30 March.
Finally, whilst not exactly a live bird sighting, Sophie found several interesting orangey-grey black tipped feathers in the northern woods at the start of March. A search on the fascinating featherbase.info database concluded they were most probably from a pheasant. We can only guess as to what might have happened, and it looked like the feathery leftovers from predation that could have been by a peregrine, sparrowhawk and/or fox.
What to look for in April
It’s worth keeping a keen eye out for ring ouzels and wheatears in April, as these are usually good months for sightings as they migrate northwards and to higher ground. April should also see more warblers arriving at the Scrubs to add to our chiffchaffs and blackcaps, most notably we should see the arrival of our first common whitethroats, and the more elusive lesser whitethroats. Willow warblers are also possible, and there have even been sightings of sedge and garden warblers by keen watchers in previous years, although we’ve now lost some of the territory these were often seen. Finally, we haven’t yet seen reed buntings back at the Scrubs, but at least one pair was around last Spring, and may even have had a nest in the meadow area as we also saw juveniles later in the Summer, so fingers crossed we see them back in 2021 again.
April has previously brought common redstart to the Scrubs - and if we’re lucky we may see one or two. It’s worth saying that whilst not exactly a Scrubs sighting, Oli has already spotted a black redstart at Whiteleys on 6 April - while black redstarts favour high buildings (so more likely to be on the hospital than in the Scrubs itself), a common redstart could well pay a visit. We didn’t have any stonechat reported in March, but both they and whinchats have been seen in this month in previous years. The redwings and fieldfares have mostly headed off to their northerly breeding grounds but there may be a few late birds passing through. It’s always worth looking for pied wagtails often down on the grass, and if we’re lucky we may get a grey or yellow wagtail. And when not looking at the grass, then keep looking up - as well as our regular kestrel, occasional sparrowhawks or even a peregrine overhead, there’s always a chance of a red kite or a buzzard passing over, swallows, sand martins and house martins are now returning, or you may spot cormorants, herons, and various geese or ducks moving between more watery territories.
Happy birdwatching!
If you’d like to join the ScrubHub, the WhatsApp group which is solely dedicated to bird sightings at Wormwood Scrubs, the link to join is https://chat.whatsapp.com/LwFtlsE8fJaLPlV4KF0S2X
Sightings in March contributed by: Paul Thomas, Barbara Crowther, Laura Williamson, Magnus Andersson, Bill Haines, Oliver Flory, Francis O'Sullivan, Sophie Cogan and Anne Middleton-Smith.
Barbara Crowther