Early Birding on the Heath

Field Notes

1 May

In this issue of Field Notes, Volunteer Liz Andrew writes about her experiences of birdwatching on Hampstead Heath during the first lockdown in May 2020.

This spring I’ve been out regularly on the Heath, trying to hone my bird-watching and listening skills and just to enjoy the extraordinary bird activity as they try to attract mates, build nests and keep competitors away through song. The best time to catch this wealth of endeavour is early in the morning – ideally about an hour after sunrise – so I drag my husband out of bed before 6am and we make an early start with the joggers, dog-walkers, and even a few other keen birders.

On this particular morning we went up the hill to an area of Beech trees east of the Viaduct Pond to see what the Great Spotted Woodpecker was doing. Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been watching a pair excavating a hole, first a shallow indent then large enough for the bird to completely disappear. Then only a muffled drumming lets us know they were still hard at work inside, but with the occasional appearance of a head as he or she chucked out a few wood shavings. Great Spotted Woodpeckers usually create a new hole each year, often below the previous one so it’s not uncommon to find several holes in the same dead tree that are subsequently used by Rose-ringed Parakeets and, in Kenwood, by Jackdaws. That morning, the female (identified by the lack of red on the back of her head) was perching outside her nest hole. As we watched her, about eight Wood Pigeons suddenly flew up from the surrounding trees, scattering in a panic in all directions. Looking up to see what had spooked them, a Buzzard was circling overhead. Buzzards, to my knowledge, are fairly recent arrivals on the Heath. At least two have been seen in Kenwood, so let’s hope they establish and breed in the woods there. I was lucky to spot one of the Buzzards in early March, motionless on a dead tree in the valley below the Vale of Health Pond, blending in so well that from the path by the pond it was almost invisible – thank goodness for binoculars and a zoom camera!

As we walked through the woods and along the hedges we tried to tune our ears to the multitude of bird songs and calls and work out where they were coming from. Listening, or catching a movement from the corner of your eye is often the best way to locate a bird. I don’t find this easy, especially as many bird species make a number of different sounds - a song to attract mates and mark their territory, a call to their mate, an aggravated or alarm call when threatened. What ecologists call the understory - the bushes, brambles and low ivy-covered trees - seemed to be full of low-nesting birds: the Robins, Wrens, Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs, the last two being mostly summer visitors. The Wrens don’t seem particularly perturbed by passers-by, and I’ve spotted them taking nesting material (large dead leaves) into ivy-covered trees right on the side of popular footpaths. As we passed the end of the Mixed Bathing Pond early that morning there was a rumpus of warbling song and flapping wings – three male Blackcaps were battling it out on top of the brambles. None of them were prepared to move too far away or to stop singing. Perhaps one of them had a mate or a nest nearby that the other two were each trying to take over. We didn’t find out. Spotting nests in that deep undergrowth is almost impossible.

Singing higher in the trees are the Song Thrushes, repeating each short phrase about three times, the more melodic Blackbirds, and almost everywhere the Blue Tits and Great Tits, and above all these the incessant and persistent calls as the parakeets keep in communication with each other. The Tits nest in holes in trees, and just about anywhere else (Blue Tits also like bat boxes and cracks between bricks in houses).

Birds that are less common and harder to spot are the Goldcrests – Europe’s tiniest bird – and the extraordinary Treecreepers that have long toes and a stiff tail (as do Woodpeckers) to help them grip onto the trunk as they work up a tree searching for insects. Near the top they then glide to the bottom of another tree nearby to work up again. We’ve been lucky enough recently to see a pair of Treecreepers in the trees near our Woodpecker hole, and this morning I heard the high-pitched tiny call of the Goldcrest that helped us to spot a pair picking up insects in the woods at the side of Lime Avenue. That, and the Buzzard were undoubtedly the highlights of today’s adventure, and worth every minute of the missed extra hour’s sleep.

If you’d like to find out more about the Heath’s nature, including birds, do check out our programme of walks and you can also look up the Hampstead Heath Bird Report.