Monthly ornithological summary for: October 2009

COMMON SCOTER - two female / immatures, Stoke Newington Reservoirs, 21st & 22nd;

BITTERN - one at Stoke Newington Reservoirs, 28th;

Cetti's Warbler - Clissold Park, 21st to month end;

Ring Ouzel - male, Stoke Newington Reservoirs, 19th;

Firecrests - two, Springfield Park, 11th & 12th; Stoke Newington Reservoirs, 13th; Abney Park Cemetery, 27th;

Yellow-legged Gull -SNR, 14th;

Common Buzzard - one over SNR, 3rd, one over Abney, 27th.

Despite coverage of the borough being somewhat reduced this month, a succession of excellent records made it another memorable October.

The month began relatively quietly, with common migrants occuring in reasonable numbers. Amongst expected sightings, Kingfishers were seen with more regularity at the reservoirs (and at Hackney Marshes along the Lea), and the flock of Wigeon remained throughout the month - typically up to ten were counted, with a high count of 14 on the 21st. Likewise Grey Wagtails were omnipresent, and a roost on a busy street in the north of the borough held up to nine birds.

The reservoirs also accounted for a late Common Buzzard over on the 2nd, and a late Yellow Wagtail on the 4th. Abney, Springfield Park, Middlesex Filter Beds and Clissold Park remained uneventful for the first half of the month, although expected migrants both overhead and on the ground included Redwings, Chiffchaffs, Song Thrushes, Goldcrests and Blackbirds, as well as small numbers of Siskins, Redpolls, Meadow Pipits, Jackdaws and Skylarks.

It wasn't until the 11th that passerines really became noteworthy, when Springfield Park's trees and scrub sheltered at least two Firecrests amongst the loose flocks of tits and other species. They remained the following day, as did a surprise visitor to the park, an Orange-winged Amazon - a south American parrot that made a pleasant change from the omnipresent and often deafening Rose-ringed Parakeets until at east the month's end....

The reservoirs instantly hit back with a single Firecrest in the LWT garden on the 13th (when an impressive 65 Jackdaws flew over Middlesex Filter Beds), an even later Yellow Wagtail on the 14th, and the autumn's first Yellow-legged Gull (which dropped in on the same day for several hours).

A quiet period followed, ended impressively by a Ring Ouzel feeding along the New River path on the 19th - just about annual in the borough, this handsome male was the first (and perhaps last?) of the year. However, two exceptional finds on the 21st really made the month a memorable one for local birders.

Common Scoters hardly live up to their name anywhere inland, let alone in Hackney, and so the discovery of two in the morning on the West Reservoir was extraordinary; nervously commuting between both reservoirs for the rest of the day, they represent the first borough records of this species for a least 30 years.

The same morning produced another Hackney rarity - a singing Cetti's Warbler in the somewhat unexpected surroundings of Clissold Park. Only the third borough record (after one in January, and one in 2007), the bird proved superbly accomodating in its chosen territory around Runtzmere lake; although going missing for several days at a time, it was still present by early November.

Another quiet few days followed before Abney provided its first, brief Firecrest of the autumn, also enjoyed by several members of the BBC's autumnwatch team as it dashed though with a tit flock on the 27th; minutes later and a late, oddly-plumaged Common Buzzard - with a rufous tail (reminiscent of the race known as 'Steppe Buzzard'...) - circled low overhead before eventually drifting north.

The cemetery also held the now ubiquitous Coal Tits throughout (but where doesn't this year in the borough?), up to two Tawny Owls, and an impressive fall of thrushes on the 27th; indeed by the end of the month, thrush passage was healthy throughout.

October seemed to have ended with a pleasing array of seasonal surprises, until the memorable sight of a Bittern drifting in from the west over the East Reservoir, against a blood red dusk, signed off the month in fine style.

Mark Pearson