Great crested grebe
Photo credit: Chris Farthing
Chris Farthing’s Woodberry bird highlights: February 2024
Kingfisher
Photo credit: Chris Farthing
February here is usually the last quiet birding month of winter before spring migration gets underway in March. If the weather is mild there is little reason for birds to move around, so most of the interest here comes from birds preparing for the upcoming breeding season.
Great crested grebe (above) is a significant species for this site because in the days when they were a scarce species in the UK, this was the first suburban London site where they bred, back in 1912. Their elaborate courtship display is well known, and february is generally the peak month for this. We had two pairs displaying fairly frequently through the month.
Birdsong really ramps up during February as birds establish territories and try to attract mates. By the end of the month multiple numbers of both chiffchaff and blackcap were singing, as were all three of our regular finches (chaffinch, greenfinch and goldfinch). Great spotted woodpeckers could be seen and heard drumming, mostly in the mature oaks around the site.
A female kingfisher (below) was a frequent visitor all month, and had a very regular perch in the channel between the main reed-bed and the first island, as viewed from the boardwalk.
Kingfisher
Photo credit: Chris Farthing
Unusually for February, we didn’t get any visits from more unusual ducks (shelduck and red-crested pochard can usually be expected) but shoveler and teal were present all month, with shoveler numbers peaking at around twenty and teal at about a dozen.
Snipe and water rail were both seen occasionally through the month. Perhaps the reason that snipe are seen so infrequently can be seen in the photo below (scroll down to see the location of the bird).
Can you spot the snipe?
Photo credit: Chris Farthing
Winter is the most likely time to see the more unusual gulls and an adult yellow-legged gull which had been seen in january was here again at least twice in february. A small flock of redwing have probably been roosting here all winter and could be seen and heard along the woodland trail, particularly in the early morning. A fieldfare also spent a day here on the 12th. Jackdaws seem to be on the increase locally and we had a flyover here on the 14th.
Reed bunting is a species which has been on the decline in the London area for a number of years, but this year we might be bucking the trend. Up to four birds have been here in february, with two females sometimes being seen at the bird feeders, whilst the two males have been establishing territories.
The total number of bird species seen here in february 2024 was 58, a fairly typical total for a mild february here.
