November 30 2106

It has been a lovely autumn. The trees kept their leaves well into November and the colours in Southwark Park and Stave Hill have been beautiful.  With most insects now overwintering in various stages of their lifecycle or hibernating as adults, it's the birds that are the most obvious and visible wildlife on the peninsula.

Stave Hill and Russia Dock Wooodland have held some great birds.  As the leaves fall the flocks of Long tailed Tits are becoming more visible together with large numbers of Great Tits and Blue Tits. Wrens churr from the undergrowth and Robins continue the relentless singing.  The most charismatic bird is the Kingfisher.  There are two females present.  They have favourite perches in the ponds; they are quite tolerant of noise but wary if approached.  So the normal sighting is a streak of electric blue as they fly low over the water.  When they catch a stickleback they beat it against a branch first to make it easier to swallow.

Kingfisher eying up fish

Beating Stickleback against branch

Swallowing hard

Showing off plumage

Rarer than the Kingfisher, harder to see and even harder to photo is the tiny Firecrest.  Two birds were present in November flitting restlessly through the bushes and trees near the main entrance to the Eco Park.  They have arrived for the winter and will hopefully stay until March.  They are really special birds for Rotherhithe; very similar to the more familiar Goldcrest but with bold black and white eye stripes. Stave Hill must be one of the best places in the country to get close views of this scarce and beautiful tiny bird. 

Firecrest in Stave Hill

Firecrest

There were two other special winter visitors to Stave Hill.  A very attractive male Teal - a genuinely wild duck - on Downtown Pond, and a Fieldfare - a visitor from Scandinavia - on the highest bit of woodland feeding on berries.  Greenfinch and Chaffinch have also arrived in good numbers and are becoming much easier to see as the trees lose their leaves. 

Male Teal

Fieldfare

Chaffinch

Greenfinch

On the docks, Tufted Duck and  Black headed Gulls are the most common birds.  Its a difficult time for Swans with adults driving young from their territory.  The pair on Surrey Dock didn't fare too well this year.  Only one cygnet survived and it appears that it can't fly.  The Swan Sanctuary has been monitoring Surrey Water and is concerned that the male Sawn may chase off the cygnet before he is mature enough to cope on his own.  They are asking to be alerted of signs of aggression from an adult.  Their website is http://www.theswansanctuary.org.uk.  The contact number is 079780 404 866


Surrey Water is not a great territory for Swans with very little in the way of vegetation for them to feed on.  Their main diet is bread thrown in by local families.  There is nothing wrong with bread; it doesn't harm the Swans, but it probably needs to be part of a wider diet.  Another adult Swan did drop into Surrey Water early in the month, but was seen off in a fairly brutal way by one of the locals. 

Local Swans drive off  newcomer

In Southwark Park the attractive and well named Shovelers have arrived in good numbers and a flock of 40 Redwing flew over early in the month.  Also three Little Grebe have been present

Male Shoveler

Little Grebe

So another great month of wildlife.  As the weather get colder we should get more winter visitors; certainly Redwing and hopefully Waxwings feeding on berries.  And perhaps the Peregrine will return to its perch on the Surrey Water gasholder.