Blooming Beddington

Purple Loose-strife and Reed Mace

Sunflower and Scentless Mayweed

Ragwort and mixed plants

July 2011

April 2011

Still amazed by the wild flower display this year especially considering that in early April (only 3-4 months ago) a lot of the area was bare earth (pic 5). Be good to keep this kind of diversity as a permanent feature of the nature reserve but that will involve regenerating the land to encourage this abundance of seed rich pioneering species- either through ploughing or grazing.

Common Tern, Common Sandpiper, Hobby and Peregrine this evening.

The Quest Continues

Silver Y

Hebrew Character?

Heart and Dart (left) and Dun-bar (right)

Poplar Grey

The quest to get to know all the natural history at Beddington continues and I've had a few new ticks recently including (in addition to Black Kite) Wild Carrot and Roesel's Bush Cricket. I'm making some progress with the moths too and here are my latest attempts at identifying them (please correct me if the above are wrong). Here's my moth list so far after a few weeks at it:

Macros
Poplar Grey, Webb's Wainscot, Hebrew Character, Buff Arches, Least Carpet, Small Scallop, Riband Wave, Yellow Shell, Common Pug, Brimstone Moth, Swallow-tailed Moth, Common Footman, Cinnabar, Bright-line Brown-eye, Heart and Dart, Flame Shoulder, Clay, Smoky Wainscot, Common Wainscot, Knot Grass, Copper Underwing, Straw Underwing, Dun-bar, Common Rustic, Silver Y, Mother Shipton, The Miller, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Common Rustic and Dark Arches.

Micros
Small Magpie, Mother of Pearl, Brown China-mark, Adela reaumurella, White Plume, Bee Moth, Small Purple and Gold, Grass-veneer sp.

London Tree Sparrow Partnership Tour

ROGER'S TREE SPARROW VIDEO HERE: http://vimeo.com/26073090


We dodged the rain today to see the London Tree Sparrow Partnership in action. Tour members had a look at one of the feeding stations where red and white millet attracts good numbers of Tree and House Sparrows giving a chance to see the two species side by side. We then joined one of the ringing teams and had a ringing demonstration where young birds were being fitted with colour (red) rings.

Tree Sparrows are in decline because of intensive agriculture practises and the use of chemicals that reduce seed and insect life for birds. Across the UK these agricultural methods have led to a decline of up to 80% in farmland birds. Our Beddington Tree Sparrows disperse from Beddington for the winter looking for food in the surrounding countryside (like they have done for centuries) but the food is no longer there so the birds perish and few return to breed.

So the plan is to:
a) Provide more winter feeding at Beddington Farmlands to try and encourage the birds to remain on site
b) Ask members of the public who live in the surrounding area to put up millet feeders for the Tree Sparrows (in their gardens and land)
c) Set up feeding stations in farmland in the surrounding countryside
d) Colour ring the birds at Beddington to track their movements to (hopefully) the new feeding stations.

So in short the public are being invited to take part in the project by
1) Looking out for Tree Sparrows with red rings on their legs and reporting it to LTS@rspb.org.uk
2) Setting up their own feeding stations of millet to attract Tree Sparrows

Here's a few pictures from today:


Richard Black (RSPB) with a Tree Sparrow pullus. Tree Sparrows take 14 days on average to fledge. As can be seen on this semi naked young bird the feathers are not evenly distributed over a bird but are arranged in tracts (pterylae) and seperated by bare skin (apteria).

Tree Sparrow pullus sporting its silver ring on the left leg- the right leg was fitted with a red ring (but is out of sight). Looking somewhat like a little dinosaur and without intervention.... heading the same way as them too.

Tree Sparrow eggs

Ringing demonstration with Tree Sparrow expert Derek Coleman (left)

Roger's Tree Sparrow video (some id tips and great photography)
http://vimeo.com/26073090

Other London Tree Sparrow Partnership Links:
http://www.birdwatch.co.uk/channel/newsitem.asp?c=11&cate=__10917
http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/9102764.Sewage_plant_houses_UK_s_largest_rare_sparrow_colony/
http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/282000-one-two-tree-sparrows
http://www.sutton.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=13702
http://www.viridor.co.uk/news/one-two-tree-sparrows/

BLACK KITE

Here are some more photos of yesterdays star bird taken by the well deserved finder Johnny Allan ( http://surreybirding.blogspot.com/)

The bird looks like an adult. A 2nd calender year bird should show various juvenile plumage features such as white streaking to the underparts and pale edges to the greater coverts but this bird looked pretty uniform - like an adult (however the underwing is in a lot of shade in the photos). The bird is obviously in moult- some of the inner primaries and inner secondaries are missing. According to Forsman the moult in adults starts from April to May and is suspended during migration- although moult in a vagrant context is always a complex consideration.

Black Kite is a very familar bird to many travellers and occurs across a wide area from western Europe to the far east, Africa to India to Australia. Black Kite occurs in 7 different races or subspecies and presumably the Beddington bird is of the nominate race migrans.
Here's a couple of my old holiday snaps- good to see a bird over the local patch that is so evocative of exotic distant places.

Black Kite over the Taj Mahal, India, 2008

Black Kites over the Sea of Galilee, Jordan/Israel, 2009

BLACK KITE in the bloody garden!

Just got a call from Johnny to check out a Kite flying over the lake. I couldn't see it at first as I scanned high overhead but then noticed something big and black right outside the window. Needless to say I almost fell out of the window but managed to come round and got a few record shots with an old camera cursing that my 7D and big lens was at the bottom of the Atlantic instead of where it should have been!
A first for Beddington and now following on from Common Crane last year the 2nd first for Beddington from the obs.

Johnny's Glory Story here:
http://surreybirding.blogspot.com/

The Beddington Obs

A few snaps of the 'Beddington Obs' (the right top flat in the bottom pic). Now complete with wildlife garden, bird feeders, moth trap room, office, library, observation window, 42 inch blu ray for watching BBC Wildlife and also window farming (toms, peppers, herbs and melons).

LONDON TREE SPARROW PARTNERSHIP TOUR JULY 17th

We are sorting out a tour to come and see the London Tree Sparrow Partnership in action. There will be a ringing demonstration, an opportunity to see the Tree Sparrows up close on the feeding stations and a chance to learn more about this special population and the conservation measures in place to protect them. If you are interested in coming along please email me on littleoakgroup@btinternet.com. More here:
http://beddingtonfarmlands.org.uk/#/london-tree-sparrow-project/4552980111