October has a couple of potential birds of the month, but with no sign of the Hawfinch influx appearing in the valley any time soon my bird of the month goes to a joint tie between; the Barn Owl that Simon found one evening when walking up the path to long pond and also the Snow Bunting which i flushed when entering an animal pen at Belmont farm the day before. The Snow Bunting is the rarest of the two with this being the first one in the valley for nearly 90 years.
Chiffchaff this year have taken a bit of time for their numbers to come down due to the relatively benine mild conditions at the beginning of the month. 11 seen on the 1st was the highest count of the month, followed by 10 on 3rd, 7 from the 6th till 7th, 3 on 8th, this was followed by 4 on 13th and singles on 10th, 12th, and 16th. Starling numbers started to build during the month before peaking at 77+ on 8th, the number then rounded of to around 50 individuals by the 15th. A Late Lesser Whitethroat on the 1st marks the latest valley record that i can find and was found in a surprise location, near the little pond on the path from St Pauls. Pied Wagtail were numerous during the month with a peak count of 15 on 1st, followed by other high counts of 12 on 10th and 14 on 22nd. Grey Wagtail were seen more regularly during the month of October than recent years, with singles being reported on 3 occasions and 2 on 22nd being the highest count. Mistle Thrush counts have been poor so far this year with singles on 3 dates during the month a 2 recorded twice during the month. Treecreeper reporting remained high with 1 on 1st and 2 on 6th. Coal Tit were around this month and to be honest probably went under recorded with 1 on 1st, 19th, and 22nd, and 2 seen on 13th, and 16th. Meadow Pipit have had a great Autumn so far with them being reported on 16 different days during the month. These reports are as follows: 2 on 1st, 6 on 2nd, 2 on 5th, 1 S on 6th + 18+ on the deck, 14 on 7th, 4 on 8th, 17 NW on 9th, 5 on 10th, 3 on 12th, 4 from 13th - 16th, 1 from 21st - 22nd, 10 on 24th, 4 on 27th The mass arrival of the wintering Canada Geese flock wasn't evident in October with just the locals being recorded. A peak count of 12 on 22nd was a below average count. The pair of Egyptian Geese at Belmont farm were present all month and were joined briefly by a 3rd on the 29th. House Martin were still migrating through during the month, with 10 W on 1st, 1 NE on 6th, 2 S on 9th, and finally 5 stopped off briefly to feed before flying off South on 13th. Red-legged Partridge reports concerned the same 3 individuals at Belmont Farm on the 1st and 22nd of the month. Stock Dove reports were high throughout the month however a winter flock of at least 42 individuals had started to gather alongside a Woodpigeon flock numbering at least 200 birds roaming the valley. Only one Hobby remained into October, however it was last reported heading of high to the South on the 2nd. Despite the early records of Fieldfare during September numbers have so far remained at a poor level with unfavourable migration conditions during the whole month. Records during the month were as follows; 1 NW on 2nd, 5 on 8th, 2 on 9th, 4 SE on 12th, 1 on 16th, 1 S on 24th, 3 on 27th. Common Buzzard remained at a steady count of 2 during the month bar the count of 6 on 3rd being unseasonably high, and 3 on 21st. Kestrel sightings remained at a good level during the month with singles on 7th, 17th, and 29th, and two seen on 3rd and 22nd. Two Sparrowhawk were present from the 2nd - 3rd, with singles then seen on 12th and 27th. During the month there was only one sighting of a Kingfisher on the 3rd at Darlands Lake. Teal numbers started at 4 on 3rd and quickly rose to 7 by the 5th, and then 8 on the 6th, 7 were then seen from 7th - 12th. 9 were then seen on 13th, however 8 were seen subsequently on 15th, 16th, and 21st. A peak count of 11 were seen on the 24th, before only 5 were seen on the 27th marking an unseasonable decline. Redwing trickled through during the month and were a regular feature on sky watches, but no substantial numbers had been recorded yet. Records were as follows; 8 NW on 3rd, 1 NW on 5th, 6 dropped into usual winter roost on 7th, 18 on 8th, 33 NW on 9th, 14 NW on 10th, 1 on the deck + 7 SW on 12th, 4 on 13th, 9 on 15th, 36 on 16th, 6 on 17th, 26 on 18th, 56 on 19th but probably more due to the foggy conditions allowing for only some of the birds to be seen, 3 on 20th, 54 on 22nd, 35 SW on 24th, 7 on 27th, 2 on 29th, Three Stonechat were seen from the 5th - 6th followed by a Female on the 7th, 2 were then seen on the 10th, followed by 3 seen again on 24th, making it one of the best Autumns one record for this species. There were 2 records of Swallow at the beginning of the month with 1 on 5th, and another West on 8th, however this species perhaps went under recorded this month with other parts of the UK and also London receiving a far amount of records throughout the month and through into November. Despite there being only 3 records of Linnet during the month they refer to a good amount of individuals with 1 on 5th, 10 on 12th, and finally 4 on 15th. Goldfinch were regularly seen during the month with an average count of 20 during the month, however 2 counts stood out amongst the others with 50+ seen on 5th, and 37 NW on 9th. Nuthatch were heard more than they were seen during the month, but 2 good counts were noted with 2 on 5th, and 4 on 12th. An interesting peak count of 300+ Black Headed Gull on the 5th was the highest count for quite some time. Siskin counts in October have been the best for some years with 10 S on 6th, 1 on 7th, 1 W on 12th, 3 on 15th, and finally 1 on the 16th. Goldcrest numbers have also been good this year with nine reports concerning 34 birds. The highest count was of 8 on 13th. Lesser Redpoll have also had a good year so far bucking the trend of a sharp decline in this species over wintering with 1 on 6th, 2 NW + 7 SW on 12th, and finally 2 on 15th. Reed Bunting were seen only on 2 dates during the month with 2 on 6th, and 1 NW on 12th. This year is almost guaranteed to become the first year in modern times to have Rook sighted in every month of the year with an average of 25 seen during the month. A peak count of 46+ on 13th buckled the average. A single Little Owl was seen throughout the month on 4 occasions making it an average month for this species. The first and only record of a Common Snipe this year was found by Ian in the Owl field on the 7th but didn't stick around as it flew off high. Common Gull have been another one that have been slow to return with only 1 on 7th, 6 on 10th, and another one on 13th showing that the conditions again have made it hard for them to migrate with the strong South Westerly's all month! A Cormorant was seen on the 10th, but that was the only sighting this month. The first Peregrine seen for a little while was a female that nearly took out a Stock Dove over Mill Hill School playing fields on 11th. Bullfinch have had a very good month with 1 on 12th, 2 on 13th, 1 on 15th, 2 on 24th, and finally 1 was seen on 27th. Woodpigeon are hardly ever worth noting except during their migration with at least 500 flying South West on the 16th was the first sign of this mass movement. However we failed to match the counts of near 30,000 being recorded on a few occasions in East London. Chaffinch is another common resident that also migrates. While other parts of London saw max counts of over 1000 through during the month, we only managed a max count of 85 on 16th! Skylark have had quite a poor year so far and although sightings have increased they are still rather dismal with 1 on 16th and 3 on 27th the only sightings! Only one Blackcap was seen during the whole month and that was a male seen on 24th. As previously mentioned a SNOW BUNTING was flushed from an animal pen behind Sheepwash Pond at 15:53 on 29th, before flying high and to the SE. This is only the 2nd record for the valley following one nearly 90 years earlier. As mentioned before a BARN OWL was seen at 17:15 in Cow field from the path towards Long Pond on the 30th making it the first in the valley for at least 5 years and made a welcome end to the rarer Owl drought that the valley has suffered in recent times! However staying with Owls the only Tawny Owl was noted on the 30th as well marking a rather poor month for them! Contributed by Samuel Levy 14/12/17
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What can I expect from this blog?A Monthly summary will be written each month starting from May 2017, with photo's and reports of interesting species that have been found, as well as an update on the bird life in the valley. Sightings can be contributed via uploading to London Bird Wiki under the heading Totteridge Valley. Any pictures that have been taken can be submitted by email (This can be found on the contact us page)!!! We thank everyone for their contributions so far! Good Luck! Archives
December 2018
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