19/3/11: Pining for Coal Tits as Starlings vanish

Another roundabout sortie to the local shops on a sunny spring afternoon.

I have been hoping to find Coal Tits and/or Goldcrest in the large pines on the east side of Erith Cemetery for some time and, after exercising a fair bit of patience, I was rewarded with long-lasting views of a pair of Coal Tits foraging and, at one point sat still preening in close proximity to one another.

Other birds seen were Great Tit, Blue Tit, 2 Long-tailed Tits, Blackbirds, Robin, Carrion Crows and 3 Magpie. House Sparrows were heard by the gatehouse. The absence of the Starlings from the nearby Poplars was evident, but I did eventually stumble upon a rather bemused-looking lone individual which was very tolerant of my approach. Overall, species numbers were down on visits earlier in the year.

Grape Hyacinths were coming up in the gravelly tops of several memorials and I could only assume that they hadn't got wider traction on account of frequent mowing. A few moments of intensive searching found a couple of leaves of Birds-foot, mirroring its occurence on Hollyhill Open Space on the other side of the same valley.

The 'laughing' call of a Green Woodpecker and drumming of a Great Spotted Woodpecker were heard emanating from the nearby Erith Quarry site, and the stand of Gorse towards the north-west corner could be seen in flower through my binoculars.

The Council has lately made some improvements to the 'front' part of Northumberland Heath Recreation Ground with patches of Crocus and Daffodils in the grass, and several newly planted trees. But there is still much scope for improvement in terms of wildlife-friendly features - a strip of unmown grass round the margins would help. There were 2 Long-tailed Tits in the evergreens near the car park - where the native Gorse in the shrub bed - was flowering nicely and a Pied Wagtail and a couple of Starlings flying over, plus the usual House Sparrows and Carrion Crows. Starling numbers have suddenly declined markedly in this area too. Presumably most were winter immigrants.

I had been thinking earlier in the day that, after a long period of largely overcast weather (albeit with little rain) it felt like the sort of conditions in which one might get to see a butterfly and, lo and behold, there was a Peacock on the wing in the 'rear' section of the site - though nothing for it to feed on across the swathes of closely mown turf.

21/2/2011: Northumberland (Heath ....) / Erith - golden Gorse and booming bird

There was a Common Gull on North Heath Recreation Ground.

In Erith Cemetery (east side) were circa 40 Redwing making quite a lot of noise, but being quite skittish, 5 Chaffinch, 2 Greenfinch, 2 Magpie, 2 Blue Tit, 1 Great Tit, Blackbird and lots of Wood Pigeon. There were about 70 Starlings in Poplars between the cemetery and Carlton Rd.

I went a little further up Brook Street to Hollyhill Open Space, first because I could hear a Song Thrush there, and second, because I wanted to check whether the Gorse were wild single-flowered plants, or the double-flowered cultivar which I'd previously found the ones by Gravel Hill at Hall Place North to be.

The Song Thrush was singing from a copse at the foot of Hollyhill, but I couldn't get a visual on it. The song was echo-ing within the valley, making it sound very loud indeed, and even more difficult to get a precise fix on the bird's location. There's a good chance it was the same individual heard singing from the Brook Street allotment site recently.

The Gorse, in a stony, apparently weeded 'shrub bed' was all single-flowered, and had recovered from the burning a couple of years ago. At this time of year the way huge numbers of Common Stork's-bill carpet the ground really stands out, and I was able to spot some of the Bird's-foot (Ornithopus perpusillus), which I knew was also listed as being present on the site. Both the latter species are classed as 'notable' for London.

The site as a whole is decribed as 'former heathland' in the 2004 draft 'Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation in Bexley', which raises questions and possibilities in respect of the Council's existing and re-written Heathland Biodiversity Action Plan. This talks about increasing the amount of heathland in the Borough, but in immediate practical terms, or any site-specific prescription for future action, fails to look beyond extending that within Lesnes Abbey Wood.

Edge of the Gorse bed on Hollyhill Open Space, looking south across the eastern section of Erith Cemetery. The three blocks of flats in the right distance are near the southern end of Brook Street.

Looking east-south-east over the Gorse bed at Hollyhill Open Space, across the land-filled and re-greened Erith Quarry site to the right beyond the houses. There's a glimpse of the River Thames in the distance, just left of centre, whilst the church spire in the centre of the picture is that of Christ Church, Erith.

19/1/11: North Heath Rec and Erith Cemetery birds include Redwing and Greenfinch

There were 15 Wood Pigeon on North Heath recreation ground, around 60 Starlings - mainly in a large tree, but also on house chimneys and TV aerials - where the gardens of houses on Brook Street form part of the park's boundary, and also at least 8 House Sparrows here.

Further along Brook Street, in the eastern part of Erith Cemetery, there were 6 (and possibly one or two more) Redwing - of which I've seen none so far this winter, except on or by Crayford Marshes and, very pleasingly a group of 12 Greenfinch. The latter most probably make use of the nearby Erith Quarry site, which is now mainly secondary scrub. 14 House Sparrows were utilising a feeder in adjoining garden. There were also 20+ Wood Pigeon, 4 Ring-necked Parakeet, 3 Magpie, 2 Carrion Crow, several Starlings, Blue Tit and a Robin.

7/1/11: Erith Cemetery flora and avifauna

Went into Erith Cemetery on Brook Street for the first time, on this occasion the eastern side.

The flora was to some extent typical of the dry, sandy soil in this part of Bexley Borough. There was a huge amount of Common Stork's-bill (Erodium cicutarium), a small amount of Bird's-foot (Ornithopus perpusillus), Sheep's Sorrel, Parsley Piert sp., quite a lot of Mouse-ear Hawkweed, Henbit Deadnettle and a lot of Sedum acre and Sedum (probably) album, the latter two presumably escaped out of the gravel on top of some of the graves.

3 Goldfinch were seen, circa 44 Starlings in Poplars between here and Carlton Rd., Blackbird, Blue Tit, Great Tit, House Sparrows, Carrion Crow and about 25 Wood Pigeons.

On leaving, House Sparrows were heard in bushes in the western section.

Towards dusk about 34 House Sparrows were counted flitting into shrubbery by the car park in Northumberland Heath recreation ground.