26/1/11: Highgate Siskins steal show

Up to north London today to help the Green Party Office move from Archway down to the Old Street area, and had decided a couple of days ago to take the opportunity to have a last look (for a while anyway) around Waterlow Park in Highgate. Co-incidentally, a report appeared on the London Bird Club wiki that Siskins and Bullfinches had been seen there yesterday.

I got off the Northern Line at Tufnell Park and walked up Dartmouth Park Hill, stopping off at Dartmouth Park (Upper Holloway) part way up. A Mistle Thrush was showing well near the main road and 4 Blue Tit and a Great Tit were in trees. The view over central London from the slope on the east side of the park is as good as from Parliament Hill, and since my last visit the Shard at London Bridge has appeared on the horizon.

In Waterlow Park the first stand-out was a prominent Song Thrush singing with great gusto. A lone Long-tailed Tit was foraging nearby, and later 2 Great Tit and several Blue Tit were seen. Blackbird, Robin, Carrion Crow, Magpies, several Wood Pigeon and several Feral Pigeon were also noted. On the two larger lakes were a total of 8 Tufted Duck, 5 Moorhen, 3 Coot, 27 Mallard and 18 Black-headed Gull.

The best was pretty much last, with excellent and very close views of circa 15 Siskins feeding on Alder cones in the Upper Pond Nature Area at around 11.45 a.m.

Later a Pied Wagtail was seen on an office building in Leonard St., Shoreditch.

12/6/09: Archway to Ally Pally

This evening I walked up Archway Road to Highgate to look for access to the trackbed of the former Great Northern Railway Alexandra Palace branch, north of Highgate station. South of the station, behind the fence on the east side of the road just up from Shepherd's Hill, was this attractive plant (left)- which from web searches looks to be the non-native, perennial, Straw Foxglove (Digitalis lutea). Although there are several other cultivated species on this former cutting side, a hunt around revealed no other specimens.

Further up Archway Rd., past Muswell Hill Rd., there was a good selection of herbaceous plants in the strip of land between the raod and the Northern line, now at the surface. These included Purple Toadflax, Mugwort, Common St. John's Wort, at least 5 Common Figwort, Feverfew, Cow Parsley and Hogweed.

I was pleased to see Meadow Vetchling, and there was a large swathe of another legume, Hairy Tare with its downy, two-seeded pods, some of which was climbing the chain link fence (left) opposite 477 Archway Rd. More unusually, there was also a plant of Black Bryony (Tamus communis), a relative of the Yam, at this same spot (below left).

Unfortunately there isn't much of the trackbed you can get at - it's breached twice and is inaccessible where it skirts Highgate Wood, so I cut through this Pedunculate Oak and Hornbeam wood to get to the access point where Cranley Gardens joins Muswell Hill Rd. The saving grace of the short section beyond is a viaduct with panoramic views, from which one can see Canary Wharf and just make out the top of the Gherkin next to the Nat West tower.

[Temporary posting - to be added to]