islington
BIRDWATCHING
 The group makes trips to look at
birds, with occasional meetings to learn and
discuss.Group Coordinator: Derek Harwood (click to contact) |
| When Two visits a month. One will be
more of a local visit, the other may be further
afield. So one should be shorter in duration, the
other longer, generally.
|
| Where Good places to look at birds and
enjoy nature in or near London and slightly
further afield.
|
The iU3A Birdwatching group was established
in December 2014, and we now have over fifty signed up
members, ranging from complete beginners to a few with
several years' experience of birdwatching. However,
generally there are no more than about six on each visit.
New members are welcome, whatever their level of
expertise. We also welcome anyone with a broad interest in
nature, wildlife or other aspects of the countryside which
they would like to share or extend. Group members share
ideas they have for outings, and we do our best to follow
up all of them.
The emphasis is very much on getting out and
enjoying nature and birds in particular. We may also have
a few indoor meetings from time to time to share
experiences and perhaps also to hear expert speakers. It
depends entirely on what the group would like.
If you want to join the group and you are
already a iU3A member then you can sign up through Beacon
here. If you are not a member of
Islington U3A then you need to join that firstly. Go to
the Join Us web page and
download the Membership form.
Other
Information
British Bird List If you want to
print out a list for use during your visits to allow
ticking off what you see then the list is here.
Or to see what we've spotted on our previous
visits:
2017-18 look here
2018-19 look here
2019-20 look here.
To help plan your own trips, or to inspire suggestions for our visits, you might want to look at the London Bird Club Wiki here. To enjoy our bird visits to the maximum you will need decent binoculars (8×25 or 8×42 or 10 x 42 or 10 x 50 are good). The first number tells you the magnification (ie 8 or 10 times bigger), the second number is the size of the 'objective' (larger) lens which determines the amount of light (sharpness) of the image. Bigger numbers also mean bigger weight. There are also two forms — porro prism (offset lenses) or roof prism (in-line lenses). Porro type are generally cheaper but larger/heavier.
Appropriate footwear and rain gear if the weather threatens. Each of our visits will have a maximum of 10 participants (but normally we are a lot less than that).
Birds on the Edge — see here for information of birds at risk. To read the quarterly magazine from WWT, click here.
Also see the following link here to the local RSPB web page regarding their recent visits (to be updated).
To follow what the London Wildlife Trust are up to have a look here.
If you want to hear some particular bird song or call try using this site: here.
And to end, just a bit of humour, have a look at this video clip here. And another one: here.
What can you see in your back garden? See some goldfinches here.
Bird Quiz March 2021 — you can still take part in this quiz by yourself. The text, images and audio files used on the night can be viewed by yourself now. See the quiz web page here.
Blogs
This is a new section to provide some learning material in bite-size easy format. They are in no particular order.
Recent Visits
Stokers Lake, June: we headed out to Rickmansworth and Stoker’s Lake. It's a bit of a trek to actually get there and disruption on the Met line didn't help. But it was a sunny afternoon and it was a pleasant stroll along the Grand Union canal to the lake. We found a quite tranquil spot on the north side this time. Nothing to startling spotted but with a count overall of 24. Certainly plenty of sounds but too much greenery now to spot where many of the songs were coming from.
Regents Park, May: we always have a successful visit to this easy-to-reach destination. Of course there is the extra attraction of the foreign enclosure to see some more exotic or different birds. But even for British birds the count was a healthy 33.
Thurrock Thameside, May 2021: we always seem to get rain when we visit Thurrock. However, it was only a bit of drizzle this time. It's always something of a trek in from East Tilbury but we saw a few interesting things and heard lots more. There were plenty of swifts about and also house martins. While we'd expected the Centre to be still partly closed (due to Covid precautions) it was actually basically fully open. So that was a bonus. The tide was in however so we didn't see so many estuary birds as we have previously from the Centre, but the greenfinch on the feeder was a highlight. It was a smartish walk out before any more rain came in but our count kept creeping up, including a stonechat, ending in a healthy 30. Not bad!
Walthamstow Wetlands, April 2021: with the end of Lockdown 3 we were about to get out again. We kept it simple and just returned to this local reserve. But, as we were a biggish group all keen to get out and about again, we had a very good count. Many eyes make light works (or something).
Walthamstow Wetlands, December 2020: although we were in Tier 3 we were keen to get out for some fresh air and it certainly was a bit breezy. As we were a bit early for the opening of the Wetlands we diverted to The Paddock on the other side of the road. This piece of overgrown ground has been through a bit of a makeover (either by local volunteers or maybe by local developers putting some money into this green space), and it seemed a good place for longtailed tits. In the Wetlands we didn't see anything spectacular but the count ended up as 26, which is quite reasonable.
Two
Tree Island, Leigh on Sea: Luckily
Essex is Covid Tier 2 also so we could travel out to
this good birding location. We are never disappointed
with Two Tree Island — it's only a question of how good
it will be. The weather threatened rain but 10 of us set
off from Leigh-on-Sea station along the creek to the
bridge on to Two Tree. Even at this early point we
always start to get a feel for how good the visit will
be, and this time at the bridge we immediately spotted
many teal, a couple of redshanks, an egret and a curlew.
So things were looking good. We knew the hot spot would
be at the western end of the island at the lagoon so we
tried not to linger too long on the way out; but the
cries of the curlews and redshanks kept us popping to
the creek bank to see what was there. Not the quantities
we've seen in the past but still the variety. Reaching
the lagoon we were not disappointed. Avocets, lapwings,
greenshanks, snipe and godwits were all there. We
managed to tear ourselves away and turned to head back.
The Benfleet creek offered us good sightings of more
curlews, a few sanderlings and some brent geese. Not to
mention all the regular more normal sightings. Apart
from a very light shower the rain stayed away and the
Golf Café was open to end the visit with a bacon roll.
Bliss!
Rye Meads: it was good to get back to this RSPB reserve following their reopening. However, soon we were less happy when we discovered that only three of the hides were open and these had such restrictive entrance limits that we didn't get into any. The other problem, not encountered previously here, was the number of mosquitoes around. For those in shorts (to appreciate the late summer sun) we were an attractive meal for them. Not getting into the hides meant we couldn't view some of the large lagoons and hence this limited our sightings. We were in two minds about turning back and giving up but we thought we would do the complete circuit, going through the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust's section. This proved to be a wise decision — the quantity of midges was less and we had our best sighting over this back section, including three (or was it four) marsh harriers swooping down and round. Then some saw the local Kestrel as well, so we ended with a respectable 20 species sightings. The meal deals at the local pub also changed it from a dubious start to a good day out.
Previous Visits
For a record of our other visits you can see the reports by the following links:
2019/20 here
2018/19 here
2017/18 here
2016/17 here
2015/16 here
2017-18 look here
2018-19 look here
2019-20 look here.
To help plan your own trips, or to inspire suggestions for our visits, you might want to look at the London Bird Club Wiki here. To enjoy our bird visits to the maximum you will need decent binoculars (8×25 or 8×42 or 10 x 42 or 10 x 50 are good). The first number tells you the magnification (ie 8 or 10 times bigger), the second number is the size of the 'objective' (larger) lens which determines the amount of light (sharpness) of the image. Bigger numbers also mean bigger weight. There are also two forms — porro prism (offset lenses) or roof prism (in-line lenses). Porro type are generally cheaper but larger/heavier.
Appropriate footwear and rain gear if the weather threatens. Each of our visits will have a maximum of 10 participants (but normally we are a lot less than that).
Birds on the Edge — see here for information of birds at risk. To read the quarterly magazine from WWT, click here.
Also see the following link here to the local RSPB web page regarding their recent visits (to be updated).
To follow what the London Wildlife Trust are up to have a look here.
If you want to hear some particular bird song or call try using this site: here.
And to end, just a bit of humour, have a look at this video clip here. And another one: here.
What can you see in your back garden? See some goldfinches here.
Bird Quiz March 2021 — you can still take part in this quiz by yourself. The text, images and audio files used on the night can be viewed by yourself now. See the quiz web page here.
Blogs
This is a new section to provide some learning material in bite-size easy format. They are in no particular order.
- Seeing Red (redwings, redstarts & redshanks) here
- Preying (identifying between birds of prey) here
- Gulling About (or more about gulls) here
The date information for our next
visits is normally visible in the 'Beacon' members
system. The link to Beacon for iU3A
members is here. However, during Covid-19
times this is not being updated.
Friday 25 June, Clissold Park and Abney Cemetery (sign up open) — meet at 10.00 am at the bottom of the steps in front of the main house in Clissold Park. We'll have a wonder through the park first then for those that want it we'll then meander along to Abney cemetery. Always an interesting place we'll see what we can spot between the headstones and mausoleums.
Monday 05 July — details to follow.
Friday 23 July — details to follow.
Please see our generic risk assessment of our group's activity under Covid-19 conditions here. You will be expected to 'accept' this risk assessment before taking part in any iU3A Birdwatching visits.
Friday 25 June, Clissold Park and Abney Cemetery (sign up open) — meet at 10.00 am at the bottom of the steps in front of the main house in Clissold Park. We'll have a wonder through the park first then for those that want it we'll then meander along to Abney cemetery. Always an interesting place we'll see what we can spot between the headstones and mausoleums.
Monday 05 July — details to follow.
Friday 23 July — details to follow.
Please see our generic risk assessment of our group's activity under Covid-19 conditions here. You will be expected to 'accept' this risk assessment before taking part in any iU3A Birdwatching visits.
Recent Visits
Stokers Lake, June: we headed out to Rickmansworth and Stoker’s Lake. It's a bit of a trek to actually get there and disruption on the Met line didn't help. But it was a sunny afternoon and it was a pleasant stroll along the Grand Union canal to the lake. We found a quite tranquil spot on the north side this time. Nothing to startling spotted but with a count overall of 24. Certainly plenty of sounds but too much greenery now to spot where many of the songs were coming from.
Regents Park, May: we always have a successful visit to this easy-to-reach destination. Of course there is the extra attraction of the foreign enclosure to see some more exotic or different birds. But even for British birds the count was a healthy 33.
Thurrock Thameside, May 2021: we always seem to get rain when we visit Thurrock. However, it was only a bit of drizzle this time. It's always something of a trek in from East Tilbury but we saw a few interesting things and heard lots more. There were plenty of swifts about and also house martins. While we'd expected the Centre to be still partly closed (due to Covid precautions) it was actually basically fully open. So that was a bonus. The tide was in however so we didn't see so many estuary birds as we have previously from the Centre, but the greenfinch on the feeder was a highlight. It was a smartish walk out before any more rain came in but our count kept creeping up, including a stonechat, ending in a healthy 30. Not bad!
Walthamstow Wetlands, April 2021: with the end of Lockdown 3 we were about to get out again. We kept it simple and just returned to this local reserve. But, as we were a biggish group all keen to get out and about again, we had a very good count. Many eyes make light works (or something).
Walthamstow Wetlands, December 2020: although we were in Tier 3 we were keen to get out for some fresh air and it certainly was a bit breezy. As we were a bit early for the opening of the Wetlands we diverted to The Paddock on the other side of the road. This piece of overgrown ground has been through a bit of a makeover (either by local volunteers or maybe by local developers putting some money into this green space), and it seemed a good place for longtailed tits. In the Wetlands we didn't see anything spectacular but the count ended up as 26, which is quite reasonable.
Two
Tree Island, Leigh on Sea: Luckily
Essex is Covid Tier 2 also so we could travel out to
this good birding location. We are never disappointed
with Two Tree Island — it's only a question of how good
it will be. The weather threatened rain but 10 of us set
off from Leigh-on-Sea station along the creek to the
bridge on to Two Tree. Even at this early point we
always start to get a feel for how good the visit will
be, and this time at the bridge we immediately spotted
many teal, a couple of redshanks, an egret and a curlew.
So things were looking good. We knew the hot spot would
be at the western end of the island at the lagoon so we
tried not to linger too long on the way out; but the
cries of the curlews and redshanks kept us popping to
the creek bank to see what was there. Not the quantities
we've seen in the past but still the variety. Reaching
the lagoon we were not disappointed. Avocets, lapwings,
greenshanks, snipe and godwits were all there. We
managed to tear ourselves away and turned to head back.
The Benfleet creek offered us good sightings of more
curlews, a few sanderlings and some brent geese. Not to
mention all the regular more normal sightings. Apart
from a very light shower the rain stayed away and the
Golf Café was open to end the visit with a bacon roll.
Bliss! Rye Meads: it was good to get back to this RSPB reserve following their reopening. However, soon we were less happy when we discovered that only three of the hides were open and these had such restrictive entrance limits that we didn't get into any. The other problem, not encountered previously here, was the number of mosquitoes around. For those in shorts (to appreciate the late summer sun) we were an attractive meal for them. Not getting into the hides meant we couldn't view some of the large lagoons and hence this limited our sightings. We were in two minds about turning back and giving up but we thought we would do the complete circuit, going through the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust's section. This proved to be a wise decision — the quantity of midges was less and we had our best sighting over this back section, including three (or was it four) marsh harriers swooping down and round. Then some saw the local Kestrel as well, so we ended with a respectable 20 species sightings. The meal deals at the local pub also changed it from a dubious start to a good day out.
Previous Visits
For a record of our other visits you can see the reports by the following links:
2019/20 here
2018/19 here
2017/18 here
2016/17 here
2015/16 here
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