Day Five - 5th May 2010

Another day, another prayer for suitable conditions....... but again, the weather gods chose to taunt us somewhat, with occasional windows of blue sky soon enveloped by dark grey cloud, and a moderate wind from very much the wrong direction (NNE); as such, expectations amongst our (typically small) troupe weren't especially high.

However, there were several silver linings to the dense Dickensian clouds. A Hobby flew west to the south of the tower late morning, bringing our raptor species tally to six for the project thus far, and another indication of movement through the very heart of the city. Common Swifts were pleasingly numerous throughout the session, with a minimum of 60 counted, mostly heading north - again, a fine sight against the backdrop of urban sprawl and almost blanket concrete.


Somewhat against the odds and late in the day, we managed to pull another large raptor out of the bag. Picked up over the Thames to the south-east, gunning north and almost clipping the summit of Thatcher's phallic monument to rampant greed (that's Canary Wharf to you dear readers), a Common Buzzard made haste over the inner city before relaxing a little and soaring over Hackney for several minutes. Trying desperately to be something a little more interesting - very darkly-plumaged and flying on deeply V-shaped wings - it eventually submitted to being a welcome but common buteo.


So, a well-earned score draw by all accounts. Our results so far have been pleasingly successful; aside from a perfect storm of ideal conditions, visibility and timing, our records thus far have been arguably above expectations. Context is all important - this isn't Eilat or Hawk Mountain, after all - but it is a pioneering study with no precedents.

Mark Pearson

(photos - Common Buzzard, Tower 42, 5th May 2010 c Mark Pearson)

Day Six - 20th May 2010 - solid gold, easy action

One look out of the window this morning did enough to lower expectations for today's watch - thick grey cloud, without a break in sight. So up the tower (just the three of us, with a lot of sky to cover for the early shift) and out onto the roof - apocalyptic skies and a thick shroud of hazy cloud around the horizon. At least it was warm; very humid in fact, with temperatures already high by 10 a.m., and higher than at ground level, with a light and variable wind.





Musing on the numerous thermalling gulls picking off the multitudes of newly-hatched flying ants, three of us waited to be ushered up onto the roof. We'd barely set up scopes and settled in before, lolloping out of the battleship-grey haze to the south-east, a very promising-looking large raptor appeared, roughly following the river and half-approaching the tower..... Even at first glance, it looked good; a lazy, flapping flight on long, broad wings, just below the horizon and heading west.




Evidently expending plenty of energy and finding itself surrounded on all sides by the most unforgiving of environments outside of a sea-crossing, the bird headed purposefully for a thermal-full of gulls just to the south-west of the tower and roughly over the Thames. Joining the gulls for the next couple of minutes (and inevitably hassled by a few), even in far-from-ideal light, all the features fell into place.....

..... a dark(ish)-morph Honey-buzzard, out of nowhere, pausing only to gain height alongside us, and then clean through the heart of the city and west out beyond Wembley. Jackpot.

The weather continued to mess around, with the cloud slowly retreating and then encroaching again, the light winds changing direction regularly, odd spots of rain, and odd rays of sunshine.... not that any of that really mattered, when at around 1215, another large raptor approached, again from the south-east and again just below the horizon.



Following a similar path to #1, the bird looked to be heading along a similar route out of town, until something extraordinary happened. Honey-buzzard #2 (a 'medium-morph' this time, with strong, striking barring and paler areas across the underparts) gave beautiful views as it steadily dropped altitude, turning around before reaching the Barbican (close-by to the north-west), banking in full view against a backdrop of offices, descending suddenly again, and then closing its wings, bulleting diagonally towards the river.

Following the bird's flight path closely, we watched as it passed directly against the facade of Parliament (pun almost intended), and incredibly, dropped like a stone - almost certainly landing on the South Bank, apparently in the grounds of either Lambeth Palace or the Imperial War Museum. An absurdly unique experience.




Of the rest of the day? Well, there were a few Swallows, plenty of Swifts, and a Common Buzzard west over the mid-Lea valley at 1230; the afternoon became sunnier and even warmer as it wore on, but somewhat ironically the skies were progressively quieter. Who cares?

A vindicating day, and a marvel to watch such impressive trans-Saharan birds of prey from a skyscraper in the heart of Babylon.

Mark Pearson


(photos - Honey-buzzard, Tower 42, 20th May 2010 - c Mark Pearson)

Office politics

If you've already read the entry below about last week's excellent session at the top of the tower, you'll know we were lucky enough to watch the second of two Honey-buzzards drop dramatically into central London while being pursued by crows. We lost the bird amongst buildings in the Waterloo area, just south-west of our watchpoint - assuming it'd made landfall in the only nearby trees, in the grounds of either Lambeth Palace or the Imperial War Museum.


As it turns out, we were a few hundred metres out... thanks to Nick Cooper, who was at work in his office at the time, we now know the bird's adventures in the big city were even more dramatic than we thought. Hearing a loud thud against his third-floor office window, Nick and his colleagues found the Honey-buzzard, stunned but otherwise unhurt, sat on the pebbled ledge beneath the window... Nick had the good sense to take these incredible photos while a colleague called the RSPCA.



Thankfully they weren't required, as the bird composed itself, took flight and headed south-east, hopefully none the worse for it's 'welcome to London' tourist experience - getting mugged in broad daylight and then crashing while trying to escape is bad luck by any standards.


To put the story in context, Honey-buzzards are rare passage migrants in the Greater London area and always an exciting quarry for the network of birders looking up across the capital. Occasionally there are larger influxes during peak migration periods when weather conditions conspire to push birds into southern and eastern England, but these influxes are few and far between, and just a handful of records is normal for most years.


An amazing final chapter to a memorable day in our spring studies.

Special thanks to Nick for kindly allowing us to reproduce his pictures here. His blog entry of the event can be read here.

Mark Pearson

Day Seven - 27th May 2010

Our last session of the spring, and (you guessed it) the weather was far from ideal - after several preceding days of promising conditions, Thursday was all about the westerlies, aka the devil's wind in skywatching terms. So a short and sweet four hours or so on the roof with no large raptors for company unfortunately, but the beeb again instead (this time for a BBC London piece, apparently to be aired next Tuesday).



And, of course, Peregrines - who frankly make it all worthwhile on their own. Somewhat reminiscent of a poor seawatch but with close-up plunging Gannets for compensation.

Also recorded - a House Martin, plenty of Swifts, and an extraordinarily high Grey Heron heading SSW. Check back soon for a summary of sightings throughout the spring.

Mark Pearson